How do you celebrate Easter? Do hot cross buns still warm from the oven and local fish feature on Good Friday? What about delicious handcrafted chocolate eggs and a roast dinner on Sunday? Stop by Cricket Square for a selection of traditional tasty goods before The Brasserie and Market close for the four-day long weekend. Normal opening hours resume on Tuesday 2 April.
Our experienced hot cross bun connoisseurs know that we tend to sell out of our house baked Easter goodies quickly, so call the Market to place your order ahead of time. According to ancient superstition, gifting of a hot cross bun guarantees ongoing friendship for the coming year. Being the world’s best pal might just be as easy as collecting a batch of warm Easter bread from Cricket Square.
Painted and papier-mâché eggs filled with little gifts were all the rage before chocolate eggs won over the sweet tooth in all of us. While picking up your hot cross buns, grab some Easter eggs and decorative sugar cookies. On this delightful topic, get a CI$12 Valrhona Mudslide at the Brasserie Bar and your second one is half price. Six wines for CI$109 is just another sweet Easter deal we have on offer.
Lamb has thrived as a time-tested Easter menu item for millennia thanks to the original association with the biblical story of Passover. The Brasserie’s Consultant Chef, Dean Max, shares his popular Roast Lamb Chop recipe perfect for Easter Sunday. The recipe calls for asparagus but with so many tomatoes bursting from the vines in the restaurant garden, we recommend choosing what is available and in season.
Roasted Lamb Chops with Braised Shoulder & Local Tomatoes
Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 lamb chops
5 lbs. lamb shoulder
½ cup onion, diced
½ cup carrot, diced
½ cup celery, diced
½ cup leek, diced
1 garlic bulb, halved
1 bunch thyme
1 bunch rosemary
½ bottle red wine
2 cups chicken or veal stock
2 tbsp fennel seed
1 tbsp coriander seed
1 bay leaf
6 tbsp olive oil
Season the chops with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and chopped rosemary. In a roasting pan, sear the lamb shoulder on all sides with oil over a medium high heat to seal in its juices. Remove the lamb and sauté the onion, carrot, celery, leek, garlic, thyme, and spices in the same pan for 2 minutes. Add the lamb shoulder back to the roasting pan and put in the red wine and stock. Bring the liquid to a boil and place the whole pan covered in a 275-degree oven. Cook the lamb shoulder for 6 hours on this low temperature. Remove the lamb from the oven and place it on a cutting board to cool. Break the shoulder up and discard any large amounts of fat. Place the picked meat in a baking dish and strain the pan juices over it. Keep warm for serving. Grill the chops over an open fire for 4 minutes on each side. Keep them warm with the lamb until needed.
3 lbs. fingerling potato
1 bunch asparagus (you can swap out for in-season tomatoes)
2 tbsp butter
2 lemons, juiced
2 tbsp olive oil
bay leaf
leftover rosemary from above
Place the fingerling potatoes with the bay leaf in a pot of salted water. Bring the potatoes to a boil and cook them for 2 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the potatoes cool in the liquid. Place the asparagus (or tomatoes) and potatoes in a baking dish and season with the olive oil, butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of chopped rosemary. Roast the vegetables in a 400-degree oven for 8 minutes. Remove the vegetables and keep warm until serving.
½ cup crème fraiche (or sour cream)
1 shallot, minced
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp horseradish
salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients together.
Serve the lamb shoulder onto plates and put one chop on top. Spoon the vegetables around the lamb and garnish with the crème fraiche mixture. Spoon the cooking juices over the lamb.