This weekend I’m giving you the ultimate Easter roast. It’s the first time families are back together, which will be fantastic. And it looks like we could have good weather – so get your chairs and tables out in the garden and smash this out. This is your birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s and Mother’s Day all rolled into one.
You’ll make an incredible leg of lamb filled with lots of garden herbs and some English or Dijon mustard, depending on what you fancy. Then there’s some buttery potatoes. Really amazing, rich mashed potatoes that would make anyone drool like Beethoven the dog from the 90s. There are carrots cooked with chamomile to give a fragrant spring flavour. You can use chamomile teabags. Just cut off the top and whack them in with the whole roasted and they are to die for.
I’m also including a recipe for an amazing mint sauce with anchovies and fresh mint and Norfolk rapeseed oil – you can just now start to see the yellow heads of the flowers bobbing in the fields. The sauce gives an amazing lift to the dish.
As ever, support your local butcher. Ask them what’s best at the moment. I often think Easter is a bit early for spring lamb, but there’s some amazing mutton and hogget about at the moment. Mutton is fantastic – it's still really tender.
And I love a really nice buttery Chardonnay with this rather than the traditional red wine.
Of all the recipes I’ve shared with you guys over the last five years this is the most important for me. So happy Easter. Enjoy every moment.
Richard’s best-ever Easter roast
(serves 4-6)
The lamb
1 boned leg of lamb
4tbsps Dijon mustard
Handful roughly chopped herbs
Butcher’s string
Salt and pepper
1 carrot, 1 celery stick, half an onion all roughly chopped
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
Place the boned lamb leg on the table and season the inside of the leg with salt and pepper. Smear the mustard into the centre of the leg, then the herbs and tie up with string, closing the open end. Add all the vegetables to a large roasting tray.
Heat a pan and add a splash of rapeseed oil. Add the lamb and colour all over, then place in the tray with the vegetables and bake in the oven for around 70 minutes or until the centre of the leg is warm. Allow to rest for 30 minutes. When ready to serve place back in the oven for 10 minutes to just warm through. Make a gravy with the pan juices and serve with the mash, carrots and some greens.
The sauce
Ingredients
½ banana shallot, finely chopped
1tbsp sherry vinegar
2 bunches fresh mint
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
1tbsp lemon juice
100ml Norfolk rapeseed oil
100ml olive oil
Seasoning
Method
Place all the dry ingredients in a blender and blend on a medium speed. Mix the lemon juice and oils together and start slowly pouring into the blender until you have a smooth, split dip, similar to pesto. Place in a bowl and cover. Keep in the fridge until needed.
The potatoes
Ingredients
1kg red potatoes
100g milk
100g double cream
100g salted butter at room temperature
Seasoning and nutmeg
Tray of table salt
Method
Place the whole potatoes on the tray of salt and bake in a high oven for 45 to 90 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the oven and rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Warm the milk and cream in a pan to simmer.
Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh. Mash with a potato ricer or pass through a sieve into a clean pot. Beat the potato with the butter and slowly add the warm cream mixture until you have a smooth consistency. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. If not needed straight away cover with cling film and leave to cool. You may need to add a bit of milk while warming before serving.
For the carrots
1 large carrot per person, peeled but left whole
100g salted butter
Contents of two chamomile tea bags
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Place a small tray in the oven for around 10 minutes to get hot. Remove and add the butter, allowing it to foam. Add the carrots and chamomile. Place back in the oven for around one hour, occasionally stirring the carrots until golden brown, coloured all over and tender.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here