Easter Sunday Lunch

‹ Back to Blog

Easter Sunday was traditionally a great feast after forty days of Lenten abstinence.  From the first day of Lent Irish people would stop eating meat, so meat had to take centre stage on Easter Sunday.  Somehow, I tend to manage the feast on Easter Sunday but tend to neglect the 40 days of discipline and denial!  It’s great that some foods are still treats though, a leg of lamb is a definitely a treat, a good roast chicken (with stuffing) is a treat, a slow roasted pork belly, a great treat.  I still think some food must be occasion food.  I remember seeing one of my friends cooking a leg of lamb on a regular Wednesday evening, and being slightly shocked at the excess!  However, that all said, I’m not that mad about ‘Spring’ Lamb, i.e. lambs born in the death of winter for the Easter market.  The flavour is never great.  These poor little winter born lambs are usually ‘nut’ fed, unlike their cousins yet to come, and are often kept indoors during the harshest of weather.  I am very willing to wait till June or July when the March born lovelies will have spent time on the side of the Mayo mountains bouncing around eating wild herbs, grass and heather and waiting to hop into my pot as yummy flavoursome things, not at all like the bland winter relations.  Mountain Lamb is one of Ireland’s legendary speciality foods.  Connemara Hill Lamb has achieved PGI (protected Geographical Indication) status.  And while Mayo Mountain Lamb has not yet achieved this, it really ought to.  In protecting the traditional origins of our regional foodstuffs, we strengthen our regional identities and reinforce the link that Irish people hold with the land.  Achill Heather Lamb (July-October is another one to look out for and if you find your self on Achill Island make your way to Calvey’s butchers and purchase as much of this stuff as you can.  It’s a wonderful product. So back to the Easter Sunday feast…what to cook if not lamb?  I’m going to cook rabbit this Easter, just for the fun of it!   Easter Sunday menu: Watercress Soup, Rabbit Pie with Parsley Cream, Chocolate Terrine. This is a lovely seasonal menu and I can’t wait to get started on it.  Soup is so easy to make as it the pie.  I’d get started on the Chocolate Terrine the day before and you can dress it up with those yummy mini eggs.  You’ll find the recipes for all of these in our Cookery School.  Happy Easter!

‹ Back to Blog