We love Easter feasts! It's the perfect family holiday to get together and create a beautiful, delicious meal together.You can deliver a showstopping lunch without spending hours in the kitchen, dicing, chopping and stirring. Here are a few of our favourite recipes:
STARTERS
Blue Cheese & Citrus Salad
Brought to you by Checkers, we love this recipe's combonation of refreshing citrus and creamy blue cheese. The colours are also very beautiful and will look super pretty on your lunch table!
Ingredients
- 2 red navels (Cara Cara/blood orange); peeled and sliced
- Handful of rocket leaves
- 1 punnet mangetout
- ½ cup walnuts
- 100 g blue cheese
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
2. Gently toast the walnuts for 5 min. or until slightly oily and deepened in flavour.
3. Allow cooling.
4. Blanch the mangetout in boiled water until electric green in colour, then immediately submerge in iced water to stop the cooking process. This helps to retain the lovely colour and crunchy texture.
5. To assemble the salad, combine the orange slices, rocket leaves, mangetout and walnuts.
6. Season, toss with olive oil and lemon juice and top the salad with crumbled blue cheese.
7. Serve
MAINS
Rack of Lamb with Homemade Fruit Chutney
We really LOVE this Lamb Roast that we found on Woolworths' Easter Recipe page. Find that recipe right here > Woolworths Roast Lamb and enjoy the video that's easy to follow along in the kitchen!
Ingredients
- 3 ripe peaches
- 2 ripe nectarines
- 3 T castor sugar
- 3 T Woolworths white balsamic vinegar
- Woolworths Easy to Cook free range rack of lamb with prune stuffing and prune-and-citrus sauce
Method:
- To make the stone fruit chutney, slice the fruit into wedges, place in a saucepan with the remaining ingredients, and simmer for 5–10 minutes until tender and soft but still quite chunky. Set aside to cool to room temperature to serve.
- To make the lamb, preheat the oven to 160°C. Remove all the outer packaging. Remove the lamb from the vacuum bag and set aside the dried orange slices.
- Place into a roasting pan with the arched, trimmed bones facing downward and the fat-side facing up. Place on top of the root veggies and roast for 25 minutes per 500 g, plus an additional 20 minutes.
- Place the orange slices onto the centre of the lamb 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. While resting, heat the glaze in a medium-sized saucepan for 2 minutes, then serve with the rack of lamb and chutney.
The Ultimate Whole Chicken Roast
Checkers says that the secret to The Ultimate Whole Chicken Roast recipe is to cook it at 200 °C for 20 minutes per 500 g plus another 20 minutes for resting. Are you going to try this recipe this Easter?
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. ground coriander
- 1 tbsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 tbsp. dried oregano
- 1 tbsp. parsley; chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
- Butter
- 2 kg Simple Truth Free-Range Whole Chicken
For the Butter Rub:
- Butter
- 1 tbsp. parsley; chopped
- Salt and black pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
2. Season the room temperature butter with black pepper, salt and parsley and use a fork to combine the ingredients.
3. Then pull the skin away from the chicken breasts and add the butter mixture underneath the skin, on top of the breasts. This will baste the meat while it cooks to ensure a succulent and flavourful end result.
4. Mix together coriander, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt, olive oil and mustard, then rub all over the chicken.
5 Place the chicken into a roasting dish and cook breast side down for one hour, then turn the chicken over and cook for another 40 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven, tent with foil and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.
DESSERTS
Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding
On the hunt for a new dessert to serve this Easter? We love the twist to a firm, South African favourite. We'd definitely serve it with a drizzle of speckled eggs for even more colour and cheer!
Ingredients
- 4 The Bakery Traditional Hot Cross Buns; sliced in half
- 3 tbsp. (45 ml) butter; softened
- 2 free-range eggs; at room temperature
- ½ cup (125 ml) cream
- ½ cup (125 ml) milk
- 1 tsp. (5 ml) vanilla paste
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp. (45 ml) castor sugar
- 4 Eggs Galore Milk Chocolate Mallow Eggs
- Variety of Easter eggs; for garnish
- Custard or ice cream; for serving (optional)
Method
1. Lightly grease a 20 cm ovenproof serving dish with a little melted butter.
2. Butter the hot cross bun slices and arrange tightly in the serving dish, allowing each slice to overlap.
3. Place the marshmallow eggs in-between a couple of slices.
4. Place eggs, cream, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and castor sugar into a bowl and whisk until combined.
5. Carefully pour cream mixture over the hot cross bun slices and cover the entire dish in foil.
6. Place the dish onto a wire rack in your pressure cooker and carefully fill with water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the dish.
7. Allow to cook for 30 minutes.
8. Once done, release the pressure valve and carefully remove the hot pudding from the cooker.
9. Serve warm with extra Easter eggs for garnish and either some custard or ice cream for a little extra indulgence.
Wishing all our patrons, guests and shoppers a hopping-good Easter. May it be filled with love, celebration and togetherness; not to mention delicious food! Shop all your favourite recipe ingredients at our Checkers and Woolworths Food!
