Easter eggstravaganza!

Easter is a solemn celebration of the resurrection of Christ on the third day after he was crucified. It’s a symbol of his sacrifice for humanity on Good Friday and his providing eternal hope by rising again on the third day, Sunday. Unlike Christmas, which is all about happiness, the month of Lent that precedes Easter consists of 40 days of abstinence, culminating with the holy week where we revisit the core values of Christianity.

The 40 days of fasting during Lent are symbolic of Jesus fasting for 40 days in the Judean desert where he prayed and grew spiritually — it’s a sign for us to do the same for spiritual growth and to withstand temptation through prayer. Rising again is the promise of life after death spiritually and also proof to Christians that he was the chosen one.

Easter Sunday starts with Mass in the morning and usually consists of a lunch feast, where we gather with our families. There is always an Easter egg hunt, with lots of Easter bunnies for the children. The eggs are made of marzipan with little goodies hidden inside while the bunnies are most often made with chocolate.

The Easter bunny is similar to Santa Claus at Christmas, as he judges children for their behaviour and hands over the eggs to them. Decorations at Easter include summer time flowers, lots of colour and freshness, and homes are usually full of noise and cheer with the sounds of children running amuck. Decorative symbols include Easter bunnies and colourful hard-boiled Easter eggs.

SUMMER TRIFLE PUDDING
Ingredients
500 gm sponge cake
2 cup fresh chopped fruits (banana, mango, apples, whole grapes, strawberries, kiwi etc)
2 cup apple or mango juice
A Handful of chopped cherries and nuts
200 gm fresh cream whipped with 4 tbsp of icing sugar
4 tbsp jam

Method
Chop the cake or break into pieces and place as the bottom layer in a flat glass dish.
Mix the jam and juice and pour half the quantity of juice over the cake.
Spread a layer of fruit and top with a layer of fresh cream.
Smoothen the top of the cream and repeat the layering process.
Finally add chopped cherries and nuts as your garnish.
Another variation is to replace cream with whipped vanilla ice cream.
Chill till you serve.

FOR THE GLAZE
Ingredients
4 tbsp of
brown sugar
3 tablespoons of honey
½ cup orange juice (any good quality tetra packed juice)
1 tablespoon of finely chopped ginger
1 stick of
cinnamon

Method
Boil all the ingredients till they all combine and the sugars start to cause the liquid to thicken.
Take the pan off the heat when the liquid coats the back of the spoon thickly.
Using a basting brush glaze the ham making sure you glaze all the visible bits. Pour the balance glaze on top of the ham and place in a hot oven — 2000C.
Keep basting the ham with the runny glaze till the ham gets a lovely caramel brown.
Serve the ham with boiled whole potato sautéed with oregano, boiled baby carrots sautéed with dill.

Glazed Ham
Ingredients
2 kg of smoked cured
ham with the skin
1 litre beer
1 litre water
1 litre chicken or
vegetable stock
2 whole onions
2 carrots cut in chunks
10 cloves
2 sticks of cinnamon
3 bay leaves
2 tsp of pepper corns
1 tbsp of salt

Method
Place all ingredients in a large pot, bring
to a boil and simmer for one hour, regularly basting the ham with liquid.
Leave to cool.
Remove the ham from the liquid and gently pry away the skin, leaving a layer of the fat.
Make diamond shapes in the fat using a sharp knife and put in a clove at every intersection in the pattern.
Seal with cling film and put in the fridge overnight for the clove to infuse the ham.

Devilled eggs
A favourite at Easter time
Ingredients
6 hard boiled eggs
3 rashers of bacon cut into tiny bits
Two tablespoons of chopped chives or dill
2 teaspoons of English mustard
1 table spoon of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 tablespoon cream cheese
Salt and coarsely crushed pepper to taste

Method  
Halve the eggs and scoop out the yolks.
Lightly sauté the tiny bits of bacon.
Add the bacon, chives or dill, mustard, mayonnaise, sour cream and cream cheese to the yolks.
Mix thoroughly till all ingredients are combined, season with salt and pepper to taste.
Put the creamy mixture into an icing bag and pipe back into the egg whites.
Top off with a sprinkling of paprika or chilli powder.