I was very pleased and honoured when asked to submit a cookery item for The Sacred Heart Messenger.
This month we celebrate the most important feast in the Christian calendar and so my recipes were chosen with Easter very much in mind. Easter is synonymous with Spring and signifies rebirth and new growth. There are many food allegories associated with Easter. An example of this is the little chick appearing out of the egg symbolising rebirth. The roast lamb dinner which many of us cook on Easter Sunday is symbolic of the Jewish Passover. Early Christian converts brought along the Hebrew tradition of the sacrificial lamb and so to this day many of us still carry on that tradition.
LOIN OF LAMB WITH BACON CHAMP AND TOMATO JUS
Serves 6
2 loins of lamb with bones and fat removed
2 tbsps olive oil
Fresh rosemary
Seasoning
Champ
8 potatoes peeled
4 spring onions chopped
4 rashers streaky bacon chopped and cooked on a dry pan
2 oz (25g) butter
4-6 fluid oz of hot milk
Salt and black pepper
Tomato Jus
1 Spanish onion cut in rings
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tin of plum tomatoes
2 tsps sugar
Salt and pepper
METHOD
• Have your butcher prepare the loins of lamb. Heat the oil in a fry pan and sear the loins in hot fat to seal. Place in a roasting tin and cook for 30 – 40 mins depending on whether you like your meat medium or well done 200°C 400°F No.6 Gas.
• Meanwhile cook potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water.
• Heat oil in pan and slowly soften onions being careful not to brown.
• Drain potatoes when cooked and mash finely. Add butter, milk and seasoning, mix in cooked rashers and spring onions. Keep warm.
• When onions are soft add tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper and cook until reduced to a thick pulpy sauce.
• Allow lamb to rest for 10 mins when cooked and then slice. Place a portion of champ in the centre of plate; arrange slices of lamb on top and spoon tomato mixture around the outside. Sprinkle with parsley and garnish with rosemary.
The season of Lent is a time of fasting and preparation for Easter and what better way to celebrate the end of the fasting than with a Simnel cake. This cake originates back to the early 17th century when girls in service were given a fruit cake to take home to their families on the 4th Sunday in Lent. The cake was decorated with 12 almond balls to symbolise the 12 apostles (or 11 if you leave Judas out!)
SIMNEL CAKE
6 oz (175g) butter
6 oz (175g) caster sugar
3 eggs
8 oz (225g) flour
Rind of ½ lemon
Rind of ½ orange
Little orange juice
½ lb (225g) sultanas
½ lb (225g) raisins
2 oz (50g) mixed peel
1 lb (475g) almond paste or white marzipan
Apricot jam heated and passed through a sieve
8 oz (225g) white roll on icing if desired
METHOD
1. Roll 4 oz (125g) of white marzipan into an 8” circle.
2. Line an 8” (20cm) cake tin.
3. Cream the butter and sugar; beat in the eggs slowly only adding a little flour if the mixture begins to curdle. Fold in the remaining flour and spice.
4. Pour the orange juice and the rinds on top of the dried fruit and mix well.
5. Add the cake batter to the fruits and mix well by hand. Pour half into prepared tin and then set the circle of almond paste on top.
6. Press down firmly and then place the remainder of the mixture on top.
7. Bake in a slow oven for 2-2½ hours. 130°C 300°F Gas 2. Cool in tin.
8. Brush the top of cooled cake with apricot glaze.
9. Use half of the remainder of the almond paste to cover the top of the cake and make 12 balls with the rest. Stick the balls around the outside of the cake with egg white and place under the grill to brown.
10. Tie a yellow ribbon around the centre of the cake before serving. Alternately the white roll on icing may be used to decorate the cake with an Easter theme.