Is there a secret to perfectly boiled eggs? A little trick I have learned through the years claims that adding a tablespoon of olive oil to the water while boiling the eggs, helps the oil to penetrate through the shell and make the eggs easy to peel. In addition, I always put the boiled eggs to cool in cold water. As a result, when I am ready to serve, the shells are indeed easy to peel and the egg retains its perfect form.

The little touch of Champagne Vinaigrette adds a level of luxury to the dish. We take a bite, we smile, we crack a joke and before we know it is time to serve the main course – a succulent and moist Rosemary-garlic Crust Rack of Lamb, served with creamy white wine sauce, green salad and croquettes. Delicious and festive home food at its best!

Ingredients

For the Asparagus:

• 20 green asparagus
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 125g bacon
• 1/3 cup water
• 30g butter
• 50g Asian crispy fried onion
• Salt
• Black pepper

For the Vinaigrette:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• ½ tsp Champagne Vinegar
• ½ tsp Dijon mustard

For Decoration:

• Spring flowers

Method

1. In a medium-size pot bring plenty of water to a boil. Add one tablespoon of olive oil and gently place in the eggs. Boil for 7 minutes. Take the eggs out of the pot and place in another dish, filled with cold water. Late them cool completely before taking out and peeling.

2. Trim the hard edges of the asparagus. Place them in a large sauce pan with 1/3 cup of water. Cover with a lid and let them simmer for 5-10 minutes. Pierce the edge of the asparagus with a fork, if it enters easily the asparagus are ready. Add the butter and season with salt and black pepper. Mix well.

3. Chop the bacon in small pieces and add in a large sauce pan. Cook for 10 minutes over a medium-high heat until the bacon turns golden brown.

4. Make the vinaigrette by mixing together olive oil, Champaign vinegar and mustard.

5. Serve by arranging the asparagus on a dish, cover with crispy bacon, crispy Asian fried onion, drizzle with the vinaigrette, place the egg in the center and season with extra salt and black pepper. Optionally, decorate with spring flowers.

I have been hesitant regarding the sauce. Traditionally, I would serve the lamb with mint Béarnaise sauce. Mint fits so well to a tender piece of lamb. However, considering the calories, I am opting for a lighter sauce version today. I am making a white wine sauce with aromatic wild game stock. Only once the liquid reduces by ¾ I add the cream and let the sauce thicken. The sauce is flavour-rich yet tender and does not overpower the already delicious lamb.

You may serve the dish with green asparagus, potato mash, green pea mash, green salad or roast veggies. I am opting for a light green salad in champagne vinaigrette and classic croquettes. Prepared in the air-fryer, the golden-brown croquettes are ready in a few minutes. Finally, it is a pleasure to join the family, sit down and enjoy. Happy Easter, everyone!

Ingredients

Rack of Lamb:

• 800g, 2 racks of lamb
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Dijon Mustard “Glue”:

• 3 tsp egg
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves

Rosemary Crumb:

• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 3 tbsp parmesan
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
• 30g butter

Creamy White Wine Sauce:

• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup wild game stock
• 1 cup heavy/thickened cream
• 1/8 tsp each salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

2. Prepare the Lamb: Sprinkle the lamb rack with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy based skillet over high heat. Sear the lamb rack all over until nicely browned – including each short end. It will be still fully raw inside. Transfer to a plate and let the meat cool for 10 minutes, uncovered.

3. Mustard Spread: Finely chop the rosemary. Lightly beat one egg. Mix the Dijon mustard, the rosemary and three teaspoons from the egg in a small bowl.

4. Rosemary Crumb: Grate the parmesan. Finely chop fresh the rosemary leaves. Mince one garlic clove. Melt the butter. Spread the Panco bread crumbs over a large dinning plate and mix with parmesan, garlic, rosemary and melted butter. Cover the racks of lamb with the mustard mix. Press into breadcrumb mixture on all sides.

5. Transfer the lamb racks on a tray and roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Once cooked, place the lamb on a cutting board, loosely cover with foil and let it rest for 5 minutes.

6. For the Sauce: Boil the wine and chicken stock together until reduced by 3/4, then whisk in the cream and simmer for 5 minutes until thickened.

7. Serve the rosemary crust rack of lamb with the creamy white wine sauce, fresh green salad and croquettes.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1kg plain flour
• 300ml milk
• 350g sugar
• 11g instant dry east (or 30g fresh yeast)
• 1tsp of salt
• 100g butter
• 16g Vanilla sugar
• Zest of one lemon and one orange
• 1tsp of lemon juice
• 100g Marzipan (chopped in small pieces)
• 100g sultanas (24 hours soaked in Apricot Brandy)
• Handful of almonds

Method

1. Sift the plain flour into a large bowl.
2. Warm the milk (it should not be hot to a touch), pour in a deep bowl the instant dry yeast, adding one spoon of sugar and mixing well until the sugar and the yeast have been dissolved. Add two spoons of flour and mix well with a wooden spoon. Let the yeast rise for at least 15-20 min.
3. In another bowl whisk with a mixer the remaining sugar, the vanilla sugar and the 5 eggs and one egg white, leaving the egg yoke aside. Beat the mixture until light and fluffy. Add the lemon and orange zest and the lemon juice into the egg mixture.
4. In the meantime, the yeast mixture should have risen. It not visibly enlarged, wait a few more minutes until the yeast have had sufficient time to activate. Add the salt into the flour bowl. Add the egg mixture into the flour bowl mixing with a wooden spoon the liquids and the flour. Add the yeast mixture into the flour bowl and continue to mix with a wooden spoon. Add the melted butter into the bowl and continue mixing. When all liquids have been absorbed into the flour, take away the wooden spoon and start folding the dough within the bowl with your hands until all the flour has been absorbed.
5. Lightly cover a table surface with flour and take the sweet easter bread dough out of the bowl and start kneading the dough with a strong but light touch. Knead for 2-3 minutes than stop, take the dough into your hands, raise it high and slam it into the surface with force several times. This will enable air to get into the dough and let it rise even more. Repeat this process for at least 15 minutes.
6. Grease the inside of a large bowl and let the dough rest inside until it has doubled its size (at least one hour). Let the dough rest somewhere at a warm place as the warmth will help it rise.
7. When risen, take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a lightly greased surface. Cut it into three equal parts. Spread each part open by stretching the dough aside and fill the inside with sultanas and marzipan. Roll the surface of the dough until all the inside filling has been covered. Twist the dough ribbons and bind in a braid.
8. Grease the surface of a deep baking tin where the sweet bread will be baked. Place the sweet bread dough inside and let it rest for at least one hour until doubling its size. When risen, cover the surface with beaten egg yoke, sprinkle with sugar and almonds.
9. Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the sweet bread inside and let it bake for 10 min then decrease the oven temperature to 160C. Bake for additional 30 minutes until golden brown on top and baked inside (a tooth pic should come out clean when inserted inside the pastry).
10. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 2 min in the baking tin, then take it out of the tin and let it cool.
11. Keep in dry place and the sweet easter bread could last for a week.

Ingredients

For the White Dough:

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 60 g sugar
• 170 g flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 4 g instant dry yeast
• 20 ml warm milk
• 60 g butter, melted
• 8g vanilla sugar Dr. Oetker extract

For the Chocolate Dough:

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 60 g sugar
• 150 g flour
• 50 g cacao powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 4 g instant dry yeast
• 20 ml warm milk
• 60 g butter, melted
• 8g vanilla sugar Dr. Oetker extract

For the Filling

• 30g melted butter
• powder sugar
• candied orange peels
• marzipan
• almond flakes
• dry cranberries

Method

1. For the White Dough: Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar on high speed until light, fluffy and doubled in size.
In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, yeast and salt. Add the beaten eggs into the flour mixture together with the milk and soft butter. I find it helpful to bring the dough together using the stand mixer, helping with a spatula just to get things going. Then it’s about 10-12 minutes on the mixer with a dough hook to knead. If you prefer kneading by hand, the dough will feel very soft and wet. It will feel like you need to add more flour, but don’t. We want to achieve a very stretchy consistency that doesn’t stick to your hands, so a mixer is really helpful. Keep kneading until the dough is soft, elastic and stretchy. If you try pulling on it slightly, it should not break.
2. Repeat the same as step 1 preparing the chocolate dough.
2. Place the dough into two bowls, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Once the dough has risen transfer it onto a working surface slightly dusted with flour. Divide in the dough half if you want to bake two smaller breads. Or leave as is for one bigger bread.
3. Working with one half at a time, roll out the white dough into a thin sheet. Smear it with melted butter, sprinkle with candied orange peel, cranberries, almond flakes and marzipan. Roll out the chocolate dough into a thin sheet as well. Lay the chocolate dough over the white dough. Roll the dough into a log and using a sharp knife cut it in half to split it into 2 strands.
4. To make one big bread, carefully bring the first strand curling it around itself to form the base of the bread. Then curl the second strand around the first one going upwards. Cut side always should be facing out, so we can see all the beautiful layers on the finished product. Hide the end of the second strand inside the formed dome. To make smaller breads cut the roll into equal portions and twist to achieve a similar effect like as described above.
5. Carefully transfer the bread into panettone springform. This will make 1 big bread or 12 small bread, muffin size. Cover the bread with plastic wrap and let rise for another hour or so.
6. Bake at 175C for 30 minutes for smaller breads. And for larger one bake first 10 minutes at 200C, the reduce heat to 175C and bake for 20-25 minutes more. If you see the top starting to burn cover it with foil and continue baking. Let the breads rest for 10 minutes in the form then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Dust cooled breads with powdered sugar and serve.