Easter Feasting

In the run up to Easter I planned a marathon of baking and cooking to provide for the various guests that would be coming through our doors. I just love the cooking and baking that each annual festivity demands if we are to meet its culinary traditions. Unfortunately, however, I am suffering for it now. By the time Easter Sunday night came round all my visitors had eaten sumptuously in their prior visits of the day and just passed themselves politely at my table by nibbling a few bites. Thus, I have been left with a hoard of sugar-laden delights to share with my husband. Needless to say, right now all I wish for is a slice of plain bread and butter.

Easter Sunday is the day when everyone is focused on the Lamb. (I opted for a leg of lamb and was lazy enough to get my butcher to bone it for me.) While the lamb was a success I was secretly most pleased with the stuffing. It was a moist, fruity stuffing which accompanied the lamb perfectly. It's been a while since I've cooked a leg of lamb and I had in my memory some vague recollection of a stuffing I made at the time consisting of apricots, dates and pinenuts. With this in mind, I set about to create a similar stuffing. I had attempted to make hot cross buns the day before, with less than perfect results, so being determined not to let them go to waste I decided I would use them in my stuffing. I can vaguely remember what it tasted like before so, while I am not sure if this is similar, I do know it was delicious.

Apricot, Date and Pinenut Stuffing (for Lamb)

Ingredients:

2 stale hot cross buns

1 onion

handful of apricots

5/6 dates

1 rosemary sprig

Method:

1. Process each of the above ingredients individually in a food processor. As each ingredient is processed add it to a large bowl.

2. Mix all the ingredients together (the mixture should be damp).

3. Stuff your leg of lamb with the stuffing and put any extra in a small dish.

4. Cook the lamb according to your timings and the extra dish for 20-30mins uncovered in the same oven as your lamb.

Fruity Lamb Tagine

I am blessed with a son whose will eat just about anything. Apart from licking the spatula after I've been baking, this seems to be his favourite meal. Now for all conisseurs of Moroccan food this does not adhere to the strict rules of making a tagine (firstly, it has been made in a casserole dish) but it is for a baby whose palate can't quite manage ras-el-hanout or preserved lemons! And it is an extremely tasty alternative if I do say so myself. It may also suit someone who would like to give a tagine a go but has a more reserved palate.

Firstly, I sweated an onion in a casserole dish then added about 500g of diced lean* lamb which I had dusted in a tablespoon of plain flour. Then I added a tin of chopped tomatoes, about 150ml of chicken stock**, 200g of chopped apricots, 50g of sultanas and 1 tsp of mixed dried herbs. For the mixed herbs I used a mixture of basil, thyme and oregano simply because that's what I had in the cupboard. These would not be the herbs of choice for a tagine but I needed something mellow that my sons taste buds could cope with. The apricots can be as big or finely chopped as you like depending on your dinner guests. The whole thing then went in the oven at 180 degrees for a couple of hours (I had it in for 2hrs today). Obviously, the longer you have it in the more tender your lamb will be but do keep checking it to make sure it hasn't dried up. Serve with rice.

*When choosing meat for babies it needs to be lean.

**You may need to add some water when the dish is in the oven if it starts to dry up.