Easter sorted:

My Go-To Recipes for a Long Weekend Feast

Apr 12, 2025

Hello friends,
I’m grateful that Easter is so late this year, it’s given me a bit more time to prepare than usual. So much so that I’m running a 12-day Easter recipe series on Instagram (in case you haven’t seen it yet).

I’m sharing one recipe a day for 12 days to hopefully inspire your holiday cooking. With two long weekends coming up, April and May feel like the perfect time to get away, slow down, and gather around a table with family and friends.

Here are a few recipe ideas that I hope will inspire.

Starters & sides

My twice-baked make-ahead cheese souffle is perfect. Serve with a mixed salad and vinegary sultanas.

I love this Kale salad with Pecorino, sultanas, walnuts and toasted breadcrumbs. It’s a versatile side to so many dishes.

The best duck-fat roast potatoes are always a good idea. They are also delicious made with sunflower oil if you are vegetarian or can’t get hold of duck fat.

Alternatively, I am still obsessed with my roasted smashed potatoes with brown butter and sage I created last year to go with my butter-basted, pan-seared rib-eye steak. Just so good.

Since we are in full autumn mode, a few hearty dishes will not go amiss.

Roasted pumpkin with chilli yoghurt and coriander sauce is a hearty side dish from Ottolenghi.

Roast carrot & barley salad with pickled sultanas.

The main meal

Instant Pot lamb shanks with red wine and rosemary and now my other new favourite, lamb shanks Asian-style, with soy, ginger, garlic, honey and garlic are both amazing recipes that can be made in the oven or your Instant Pot.

A slow-roasted shoulder of lamb with harissa is always a good idea over Easter, as is a Greek lamb moussaka for something more Mediterranean.

I will be sharing one new roast leg of lamb recipe next week with more classic flavours.

Desserts

This Hot cross bun pudding with chocolate and orange is my go-to Easter pud. An orange-infused custard dotted with dark chocolate makes it ultra-indulgent and delicious.

The chocolate nemesis from The River Cafe in London is right up there amongst the most decadent chocolate desserts.

My chocolate malva pudding is probably the best chocolate dessert I have ever made.

Easter baking

Home-made Hot cross buns are so much better than store-bought. My stout hot cross buns are the best and are fairly low-effort. You just need to rest the fruit overnight. Making one loaf and a few buns is the best way to roll with this. Toasting slices is so much easier than toasting buns.

The hot cross cinnamon sticky buns or biscotti with hot cross bun flavours are another two delicious options.

Chunky New York Bakery-style chocolate chip cookies

Hot cross scones

This is the most recent recipe on my website. I have added all the fruit, citrus peel and spices you would find in a hot cross bun and added that to scones. They are so delicious and come together in under 30 minutes.

Chocolate & orange hot cross buns

These orange chocolate hot cross buns are a delicious twist on an Easter classic. Orange zest and dark chocolate chunks are added to the dough to give amazing flavour. Warming spices of cinnamon, vanilla and cloves are infused into every delicious bite, along with sherry and orange-soaked raisins. These are so delicious! Slather with salted caramel whipped butter to take things to another level.