Nigel Slater's Easter recipes | Food (2024)

Get the butcher to bone and roll the leg of lamb, and ask him to tie it loosely.

Serves 6-8
a leg of lamb, boned and rolled 2.5kg
olive oil
fennel seeds 2 tbsp
garlic 3 whole bulbs
dry Marsala 175ml

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Place the lamb in a roasting tin, rub the meat all over with olive oil, salt and pepper, then press the fennel seeds over the surface. Place the bulbs of garlic, still in their skin, in the roasting tin. Roast for 1 hour, then remove the garlic and return the lamb to the oven.

Remove the skin of the garlic, pop the soft white flesh out of each skin and return the garlic to the roasting tin. Let the lamb roast for a further half hour. Remove the lamb from the roasting tin and leave in a warm place, covered with a piece of foil, to rest for 20 minutes. Return the pan to the oven and leave for 15 minutes until the garlic is sweet, golden and glossy. Remove them from the tin with a draining spoon and keep warm with the lamb.

Put the pan over a moderate heat and pour in the Marsala. Scrape away at the crusty bits and stir them into the bubbling Marsala. Allow the liquid to reduce a little, then season and pour into a warm jug. Slice the lamb thickly and serve with the garlic and gravy.

Clams with chive oil and rocket

The chive oil mixes with the juices from the clams here to make a potent liquor for the seafood. You don't need much of it, just enough to moisten the clams and to blot up a little with some crusty white bread. A baguette or some sourdough would be ideal.

Serves 2 as a main course
small clams 500g
chives 20g
olive oil 50ml
rocket a couple of handfuls

Put a deep, heavy-based pan with a lid on the stove, pour in the chive oil then add the clams. Cover tightly with a lid and steam for 3 or 4 minutes till the clams open. Put the rocket on a serving plate, then lift the clams on to the rocket with a draining spoon. Pour over a little of the chive oil and clam juices and serve.

Chicken, leek and parsley pie

A big, informal pie for a family gathering. Use cooked, roasted chicken if you wish, but this is something worth roasting your chicken pieces for. By all means crimp and primp your pastry if you wish, but I prefer the simpler approach of laying a ready-made pastry sheet over the top, brushing it with seasoned egg and milk for a good shine.

Serves 6
chicken pieces 800g on the bone
leeks 4
butter a thick slice
plain flour 3 heaped tbsp
hot stock 650ml
bay leaves 3
parsley a small handful, chopped
all butter puff pastry a 350g sheet
beaten egg and milk, seasoned for brushing

Spoon the chicken and leek filling in to a pie dish. Unroll the pastry and place it over the top of the dish, overhanging the sides. Brush the pastry with the seasoned beaten egg and milk, cut three small slits in the top to let out the steam and bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden.

Goat's cheese and lemon thyme omelette

A soft and fudgy textured goat's cheese is perfect for this. Ideally it needs to melt slightly in the heat of the grill. Use the smallest frying pan you have.

Makes 1
eggs 2
butter a little
soft goat's cheese 120g
lemon thyme a few sprigs

Chocolate pannacotta with hazelnut fingers

Whether you want a dark and sumptuous dessert or an altogether creamier thing is up to you and is purely down to the chocolate you choose. Anything less than 60% cocoa solids will give a pale and mild result. I recommend about 80% for a good chocolate flavour. Use the small gelatine sheets for this, measuring 12cm x 9cm. If you want a deeper vanilla flavour then scrape the seeds out of the pods with the point of a knife and stir into the cream.

Makes 4
gelatine 3 sheets
double cream 250ml
milk 200ml
caster sugar 90g
vanilla pod 1, split lengthways
dark chocolate, at least 70% 200g

Put the gelatine into a bowl of cold water and leave to soften. Pour the cream and milk into a pan, add the sugar and the split vanilla pod and warm thoroughly. Just before it comes to the boil, stir to dissolve the sugar, then set aside for a minute or two to infuse, covered with a lid.

Hazelnut fingers

Makes about 20
golden caster sugar 100g
butter 170g
skinned hazelnuts 60g
ground almonds 40g
plain flour 200g
light muscovado sugar a little

Set the oven at 170C/gas mark 3.

Cream the sugar and butter together in a mixer till light and fluffy. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan till fragrant then chop roughly and add to the butter and sugar with the almonds and flour. Mix carefully but thoroughly.

nigel.slater@observer.co.uk