A Greek Easter celebration

Via Chow.

Lamb, potatoes and Mediterranean vegetables

I made a simple, easy dinner for the family. Grilled lamb loin chops with lemon and rosemary, baked jacket potatoes, and a salad of grilled eggplant, capsicum, oregano and mushroom. Kind of Greek, kind of Provencal, kind of northern European... but really yum, and great for a warm evening, especially outdoors.

For the vegetables

• 1 huge red capsicum
• About 3 medium-sized mushrooms per person
• 2 mini eggplants per person
• A splash of olive oil
• Handful of fresh oregano

For the rest

• Lamb loin chops, trimmed
• Scrubbed plain potatoes
• 1 lemon
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 220C. Prick potatoes and bake for up to 2 hours, lowering heat if the skins are getting too crisp.

Trim eggplants and halve them lengthwise. If you have used normal (big) eggplant, slice it into rings, put them in a colander, salt liberally, and leave for half an hour, rinsing before use. Otherwise, mini eggplant won't need salting.

Meanwhile, slice the capsicum into thick strips. Grill the strips under the oven grill, skin side up, until black and cratery all over. Try to have no red parts left. Put the grilled strips into a plastic container with a lid and seal them up for about 10-15 minutes. This loosens the skin and finishes cooking the underside of the capsicum. Peel the skin off and discard. You might then want to halve each strip lengthwise, or leave as they are. Arrange on large flat plate.

Heat a cast-iron pan, either flat or ridged. Add olive oil, and eggplant, cut side down, and mushrooms, thickly sliced. Cook over medium heat for up to 15 minutes, turning occasionally, until eggplant is well-coloured, soft and charred and mushrooms are soft. Take mushrooms out early if they start to lose their juice. Arrange vegetables with capsicum.

Using same pan, wipe over with paper towel, and grill lamb over high heat until done to your liking. Turn off heat. Squeeze juice of half the lemon over lamb in pan. Slice other half of lemon into rings. Arrange lamb in a serving dish with lemon rings, and fresh rosemary sprinked over.

Retrieve potatoes from their fiery storage facility and tumble them into a bowl. Season and serve.

Greek islands salad

Not just a Greek salad: but a sexed-up, more specialer one. I like to pretend I'm on Santorini, having lunch as I watch Stavros fix my scooter.

Greek islands salad

• cos or butter lettuce
• torn basil leaves
• kalamata olives
• fresh feta, crumbled
• Lebanese cucumber, diced
• lemon zest
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• half a clove of garlic, grated
• salt (if needed)
• pepper

Combine all ingredients to taste.

Greek roast lamb

Yeah, it was good. A leg of lamb, stabbed and impaled with garlic like so, stuffed with rosemary sprigs, rubbed with olive oil and roasted as above for approx 2 hours at 190C.
Meanwhile, cube some unpeeled scrubbed potatoes, toss in a bowl with juice of 1 lemon, olive oil and a little salt and pepper.
When lamb has about 40 minutes to go, put potatoes in around the lamb. When lamb is done, remove it, wrap it in foil to rest, and crank the heat up to about 220C to finish crisping up the potatoes.
Also meanwhile, prepare a salad of chopped peeled Lebanese cucumber, plain yoghurt and fresh oregano leaves. Dismember lanb and serve as you will. Pass the ouzo!

Semolina lemon cake

From the March 2007 edition of delicious, the same one from whence came the yummy vodka penne. Made this and took it to work: big, big hit. I left out the ricotta cream and the lemon curd and the glace peaches. Mine was just the cake with the lemon syrup poured over the top. Very, very good. I made it in a bigger tin than I should have, so it was a tad flat, but next time I will make sure I have a 25cm tin instead of 29cm.

Semolina cake with ricotta cream and lemon syrup (serves 8 - 10)

• 225g caster sugar
• 5 separated eggs
• 100g fine semolina
• 50g almond meal
• 1 tbs each grated lemon zest, lemon juice and Cointreau
• 150g ricotta
• 150ml whipped thickened cream
• half cup lemon curd, plus extra to serve
• glace peaches (optional)

For the lemon syrup:

• Half cup caster sugar
• Rind of 1 lemon, sliced into thin strips
• Half cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 24cm or 25cm cake tin. Beat 150g of the sugar and the yolks in the electric mixer for 3-4 minutes, or until thick and pale. Fold in semolina, meal, zest, juice, Cointreau and pinch of salt.

Whisk eggwhites in mixer until firm peaks form. Gently fold into yolk mixture. Pour into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Stand for 2 minutes, then turn out to cool on a rack.

For the filling, beat the ricotta, the other 75g of sugar and the cream till smooth and refrigerate.

For the syrup, put all the ingredients in a small saucepan, plus half a cup of water. Stir over low heat to dissolve sugar, then bring to the boil. Turn it down and simmer without stirring for about 10 minutes, or until suitably syrupy. Cool slightly.

Split the cooled cake in two with serrated knife. Spread base with lemon curd, then ricotta cream, then top. Stab a few holes in the top with a skewer and pour over the syrup. Serve with extra curd and peaches.