MONITOR:MY CHILDHOOD Easter eggs were hidden about the garden of my grandmother's Sligo house and the hunt was always weather dependent. Whatever way the day started, weather-wise, our breakfast was painted eggs. Eggs from the farm, soda bread made that morning and laced with homemade butter, fashioned into balls. Easter of a decidedly non-commercial variety.
Easter – provided it doesn’t fall in a ridiculously early part of March – is such an uplifting holiday. While the religious side might be focused on redemption and regeneration, I am hooked on nature. Fit to bursting with the slightest sunshine, buds are tantalisingly close to opening.
Tradition dictates that we eat lamb, but how much of it is really spring lamb? In Spain some years ago, we feasted on legs of baby lamb the size of our plates, roasted to a sweet, milky succulence and accompanied by light, white wines. Here, the legs are the size of tree trunks, so hardly spring-like.
Part of the joy of Easter is that it comes with so much free time. It is the longest holiday of the year, with two bank holidays shouldering an entire weekend, and with lengthening days there is a real sense of having more time. So why not bake? Hot cross buns are easy, a chocolate cake might help wean smaller people off commercial eggs, and then there is simnel cake (above).
This fruit cake, not dissimilar to Christmas cake, originally had nothing to do with Easter, but was linked to the fourth Sunday of Lent or Mothering Sunday. When the older version of Mothering Sunday existed, simnel cake was taken by children working as servants and apprentices back to their families.
If you are tempted to make this marzipan-topped delight, tradition dictates balls of marzipan used as decoration and a nod to the apostles. The question is how many. Twelve of course, but many omit one, to signify Judas, while others insist on 13, so Christ is included. Worried you have left things too late? This is a cake that takes an hour to make and while it bakes, for about two hours, the house is filled with the heady aromas of cinnamon and ginger, almonds and dried fruit.
Hot cross buns are another Easter tradition and, while they do require proving time, they are not difficult to make. Not difficult to buy, either, I hear you say – and you have a point. But, like so many foods, it really is only when you make them yourself that you can see the difference.
With hot cross buns, the difference is in the details. Free-range eggs, freshly ground spices – star anise is a favourite – and full-fat milk all contribute to something that is essentially the sum of so many small parts. You may only be using half a teaspoon of nutmeg, but it makes such a difference when you grate the spice as you bake.
A good recipe for simnel cake (with some Irish background) can be found in Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookery Course (Gill and Macmillan, €44.99). Hot cross buns are well handled in Nigella Lawson’s Feast (€30, Chatto and Windus) and sit across from a recipe for hot cross bunny, an excellent recipe for rabbit (or chicken) curry.
