Local school children create Easter window

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Children from 2H, 2S, 2SB and Rainbow class at Primrose Hill Primary School are behind the amazing Easter Egg window display at our Gloucester Avenue store this year.

The children from Key Stage One, aged 5-7 years, painted the eggs for the display as part of a ‘Signs of Spring’ project.

Working on the project, the children said; “We have already learnt about the life cycle of a chicken, and watched some eggs hatch in our Nursery and Reception classes, so we could all talk about where the eggs had come from. We all designed our eggs on paper and chose the colours before we coloured them in with either felt tip pens or acrylic paint. We all enjoyed mixing the acrylic paints to see if we could change the shade of the paint. We found it trickier than we expected, as we’re not used to painting on curved surfaces and the eggs sometimes cracked.“

Spiced Easter Biscuits

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With Easter entertaining all sewn up, why not make time to squeeze in a little light baking? We love these Spiced Easter Biscuits – golden and delicious and a great recipe for the kids to get involved in.

You will need a 7cm pastry cutter. Makes 20 biscuits:

160g Doves Farm plain flour

1/2 tsp Doves Farm baking powder

1/2 tsp Steenbergs ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp Steenbergs mixed spice

80g caster sugar

80g slightly salted Netherend butter

50g currants

1 Fenton Farm egg

25g Steenbergs vanilla sugar

Method:

  • Sift flour, spices and baking powder together and rub the butter in lightly with your fingertips.
  • Once at the crumb stage, stir in the sugar and currants.
  • Once incorporated, add the beaten eggs and combine till you have a firm dough.
  • Lightly knead the dough on a floured surface then roll it out till you have a large sheet about 3mm thickness.
  • Use your pastry cutter to cut out circles of the dough and place them on greased baking sheet making sure to leave room for them to spread.
  • Bake at 175 degrees for 12-13 min till baked but still light golden.
  • Sprinkle with vanilla sugar whilst still slightly warm from the oven then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

These would make a lovely gift stacked together and tied with some ribbon.

As a fun alternative, leave out the currants and cut into Easter shapes and get the kids to decorate the cooled biscuits with coloured icing, edible baubles or what ever takes their fancy.

Easter Egg Hunt

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Every year, as kids, we’d tumble down to the coast to hunt for Easter eggs at our grandparents’ house. In the garden, hidden amongst tree stumps and bushes were lovely local hens eggs each with a caricature of one of the ten grand children. The challenge was finding the eggs and identifying yours from the unlikely likeness and racing back to the house as quickly as possible to get it on to boil for breakfast.

Of course this was all a pre-amble to the real hunt – chocolate Easter rabbits and eggs – that were also hidden around the house. Not surprisingly we would be delirious with excitement.

Aside from the anticipated chocolate fix, looking back, part of what made it so special was the coinciding change in season – a peep of sunshine, budding trees and yellow daffs. Spring time in all its pregnant possibilities.

The story of the Easter rabbit and hunting eggs at Easter come from Pagan traditions. Rabbits, for their prolific breeding abilities and eggs, representing new life, have always been strong fertility symbols. Easter is a time of rebirth and new beginnings, both in the Christian calendar and for the birds, trees, flowers and the land.

Easter is named after a Saxon goddess of fertility and Spring known as Ostara, Eastre or Oestre. Amongst the many stories connecting Spring to the Easter bunny, legend has it that Ostara, feeling guilty about arriving late one Spring, saved the life of a bird whose wings had been frozen by the snow.

As he could no longer fly she turned him into a snow hare so that he could still escape from hunters. In remembrance of his earlier bird form she also allowed him to lay eggs on one day of the year.

Eventually the hare angered Ostara and she cast him to the skies to remain as the constellation Lepus (the Hare). From there he was allowed to return to earth once a year but only to give away his multi coloured eggs to children at festivals held each Spring.

This year as a special treat we will be hiding Madame Oiseau and Rococo handmade chocolate eggs and rabbits in our garden. And for breakfast Fenton Farm Eggs will no doubt be crudely drawn to depict our faces.

Boiled eggs followed swiftly by chocolate – some traditions are definitely worth keeping alive.

Madame Oiseau and Rococo chocolates and Fenton Farm Eggs are available to buy in both our shops.

 

Parmesan as it should be

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A couple of week’s ago we were invited to the launch of a new Cravero Parmesan from Neal’s Yard Dairy at Quo Vadis. Quite an event in the cheese world as for the last ten years nothing has met the standard of the Cravero Baruffi, the only other Parmesan Neal’s Yard carry.

To show off the new San Pietro Reggiano, Jeremy Lee had put together some fantastic salsify nibbles wrapped in crispy little parcels and covered in a fine grating of the Parmesan and olive oil. All washed down with a glass of bubbly and really delicious.

As we jostled and devoured more chunks of the deep savoury, brothy San Pietro, I had a chance to chat to Giorgio Cravero – from a long line of ‘Giorgio’ and ‘Giacomo’ Cravero’s (yes his father and son are both Giacomo and his grandfather of course another Giorgio) who have been selecting and maturing Italian cheese near Piedmont since 1855.

Giorgio is emphatic about his Baruffi and new San Pietro, but he’s also utterly committed to protecting the heritage of the artisanal Parmesan industry. Over 1,000 artisan Parmesan producers in the region have dwindled to nearer 300 in recent years, where commodity prices have forced farms to join forces or just sell up to larger creameries.

His mission is to protect and foster the few remaining real artisans so we can continue to taste the intense, complex flavours of Parmesan as it should be – quite literally a world away from the dry, dull, powder that most of us grew up on in the UK.

San Pietro is one of these exceptional cheeses – made by the Libbra family at their tiny farm in Modena, it is quite different from the fruity, aromatic sweetness of the Baruffi made by their neighbouring producers, with its rich, beefy flavours.

Massimo and Laura Libbra make only six wheels of Parmesan a day using unpasteurised milk from cows fed on the sweet tasting local forage, which gives the cheese is distinctive characteristics.

Best eaten just as it is with a glass of dry white wine.

Available at both our stores now at £36.05/kg

Spring Lamb Hot Pot

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Spring has sprung and that means delicious new season lamb. Look out for new Spring Lamb Hotpot on our shelves later this month – in the meantime here is a cheeky glimpse of our recipe for you to have a go at at home.

Ingredients: 

800g lamb neck fillet (diced and dusted in seasoned flour)

5 tbsp vegetable oil

500g onions

65g butter

800ml dark chicken stock

1 tsp chopped rosemary

1 kg potatoes thinly sliced

250g carrots thinly sliced

250g leeks wash and chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180oC. Cut the lamb roughly into 3-4cm chunks, season with salt and pepper and dust, with flour Season and lightly.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy-based frying pan and fry the lamb, a few pieces at a time, over a high heat until they are nicely coloured. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Wipe the pan clean. Heat another 2 tbsp oil in the pan and fry the onions over a high heat until they begin to colour. Add the butter and continue to cook for a few minutes until the onions soften. Add the carrots and leeks and continue to colour. Dust them with 1 tbsp of flour, stir well, then gradually add the stock, stirring to avoid lumps. Sprinkle in the chopped rosemary. Bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Now you’re ready to assemble the pot. Cover the bottom of a casserole dish with a layer of potatoes, then add a layer of meat with a little sauce, then another layer of potatoes. Continue until the meat has all been used.

Finish the top with a layer of nicely overlapping potato slices. Brush the top layer of potatoes with a little of the sauce. Cover and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 120°C and cook for a farther 2 hours.

Remove the lid from the pot and turn the oven back up to 220°o. Brush the top with a little melted butter and cook uncovered, for a further 16-20 minutes to brown the potatoes.

Serves 6