The indispensable guide to feasting at Easter

From an easy but ever-so-delicious main course to a no-fail baking project for kids, and ideas for what to do with the inevitable leftovers, Emily Price offers a guide to eating this Easter

When it comes to the main Easter meal, not all meat is created equal, with history and seasonality both suggesting that lamb should be the focus of this particular feast. For context, the idea of the sacrificial lamb and the tradition for eating the roast meat at Easter is believed to predate Christianity, and is first associated with the Jewish Passover celebration. Additionally, many say that the flavour of spring lamb is coming into its own right about now.

Acclaimed British chef Tom

Aikens, who has restaurants in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, is inclined to agree. “At this time of year, there’s nothing better than a leg or shoulder of lamb. I love cooking the leg medium-rare, with plenty of thyme and rosemary, as well as crushed garlic. I’ll serve it with English asparagus and peas, finished with some lettuce and parsley, and a traditional mint sauce,” he says.

Alternatively, Aikens says that his seven-hour lamb shoulder – something of a signature recipe – remains a go-to. “The shoulder is first seared really well and then cooked with lots of balsamic vinegar, thyme, rosemary and garlic,” he explains. “The balsamic reduces down, and becomes all sticky and sweet, and the thyme and garlic give it a lovely flavour.”

For anyone on the hunt for an impressive-looking (and tasting) main, which demands little hands-on effort but delivers flavour in abundance, look to Aikens’s recipe on the opposite page, even as you keep the kids busy with the chocolate nest recipe detailed on the right.