Normally when I shoot my food shots, I’m generally alone in the kitchen, but a few weeks ago, I was joined by the amazing Pearl from Pearl and Godiva, along with her daughter, the very cute Tallulah, and 3 rabbits who came over to style an Easter Sunday spread for the Irish Independent. We were later joined by the equally amazing Iseult from The Cake Stand who makes the best Macarons I have ever tasted, to pose with Tallulah for some of the pics. We had a lot of fun shooting this one, as you can imagine!
When I was growing up, Easter Sunday lunch was always one of the big eating events of the year for my family. Surprising really, given the amount of chocolate that was sneakily scoffed before the big meal! There was never a doubt in our house that a big leg of roast lamb would be present.
I loved being in the kitchen when I was younger, and one of the jobs I was given on Easter morning was to push little slices of garlic and sprigs of rosemary into the lamb, which I did with great pride. The day wouldn’t have been complete without my mom fussing over the cooking times, with lots of hardcore sums to calculate when to put it in the oven. Along with the centrepiece of lamb, the accompaniments were essential, and my creamy, cheesy cauliflower and broccoli bake always goes down a storm.
In later years, I got promoted to desserts after impressing with a few efforts at Christmas. As an ode to the day that was in it, I kept the theme strictly to chocolate and eggs. As a young fella growing up with an obsession with food, a crush on a certain domestic goddess meant that my regular Easter cake was adapted from Nigella Lawson’s fantastic chocolate cloud cake, with the addition of espresso powder to emphasise the flavour of the chocolate.
I hope the recipes here inspire you to cook up a mega Easter meal for your family, if you’re not too tired from the egg hunts!
Continue to the recipe for Simple Roast Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic…
Continue to the recipe for Creamy Cauliflower and Broccoli Bake…
Continue to the recipe for Mocha Chocolate Crater Cake…
Two Simple Accompaniments:
Roast Parmesan Asparagus
Snap the ends off two bunches of asparagus, place in a roasting tin, toss in a little olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, ground black pepper and a good handful of grated Parmesan cheese. Roast in the oven for about 15 mins at 200oC.
Honey and Thyme Roast Carrots
Chop about 6-8 carrots and tumble into a roasting tin, toss with a little olive oil, a few sprigs of thyme and sprinkle with a little sea salt and ground black pepper. Drizzle with a little honey and dot with a few knobs of butter. Pop in the oven at 200oC for about 35 mins or until the carrots are tender.
