Ingredients >
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
3 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs honey
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp anise
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs olive oil
oil for brushing
6 whole nuts

Method >
The night before baking, mix the yeast with some warm water and 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir well, and set aside, covered, in a warm place. The next morning, in a bowl sift the remaining flour. Make a well in the center and pour in the starter, sugar, honey, spices, salt, oil and water.

Knead well till the dough becomes elastic and shiny. Cover it and let it rise for 2 hours. When the dough is doubled in size, divide it in seven pieces. One of them must be larger than the others. Roll the six smaller pieces into cords.

Stick a nut in one end of each cord. Cut the larger piece of dough in 12 ropes. Stick the ends of 2 ropes near each nut and braid forming an ancient shroud. Place the breads on an oiled baking pan and cover them. Let them rise for 2 hours. Brush the Lazarakia with olive oil and bake them in a pre-heated oven of 200 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Chef Mike Isabella of Zaytinya (701 Ninth St. NW; Washington DC, www.zaytinya.com, 202/638-0800) will give a demonstration of roasting lamb Greek style at 11 a.m. April 13 at the Freshfarm Market at Dupont Circle, 20th Street and Massachusetts Avenue Northwest. Mr. Isabella also will offer tips on cooking lamb at home.

This is part of Zaytinya’s two-week Greek Easter festival; the Orthodox Easter falls on April 27 this year. April 24 through 27, Zaytinya will be selling, by special order, tsoureki, the traditional Greek Easter bread. Reservations are required for the April 22 festival opening when complimentary wine and minimezze are passed from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The special Greek dishes available during the festival cost $9 to $12.

On April 29, Zaytinya will offer a four-course wine dinner, $75 per person. Dishes include melon salad and chilled swordfish marinated with Meyer lemon, chili, basil oil and micro verbena for the first course; artichoke avgolemono and a crispy squash blossom with lamb mialo for the second; roasted baby spring lamb, oregano potatoes, and pea shoots lemonata for the third; and for dessert, baby banana kataifi with Greek honey, and also apricot yogurt. Four Greek wines accompany the courses.

UPDATE > 11 April 2008 > Don’t forget this coming Sunday April 13, at the Dupont FreshFarm farmer’s market, Zaytinya chef Mike Isabella will be doing the Chef at Market demonstration, a special Greek Easter celebration. Isabella will spit-roast a whole lamb and give tips on how to prepare lamb at home. The event precedes Zaytinya’s two-week Greek Easter festival, which kicks off April 22 with complimentary wine and mini mezze served at the restaurant from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Greek Easter falls on April 27 this year, according to the Orthodox calendar. Look forward to lots of tsoureki, the traditional Easter bread.

» Dupont FreshFarm Market, 20th Street between Massachusetts Avenue and Q Street NW; 202-362-8889.
» Zaytinya, 701 9th St. NW; 202-638-0800. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)

This is another version and a short cut method for making this traditional soup which it is usually made with the inner parts of a sheep or goat or lamb [generally is made of meat, not fish]. By using canned tuna you will still get all of the flavor without the time consuming work of boiling down the whole fish. Serves 10.

Ingredients >
Extra virgin olive oil
5 scallions, chopped fine
3 carrot, peeled and cubed
1 cup parsley, chopped fine
1/4 cup dill, chopped fine
3 stalks celery, cubed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 gallon water
1 can of tuna in water
3 eggs
3 cups sour cream
2 cups rice, cooked
2 lemons, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

Method >
Sauté scallions, carrots, celery and garlic in oil in a pot. When translucent add water to pot and bring to a rolling boil. Add parsley, dill, tuna, rice lemon juice. Temper in eggs and sour cream. Reduce the heat to low, simmer and serve.

It is a Greek tradition at Easter to spit-roast a lamb outside before the big feast. Here’s an easy way to enjoy the flavor of lamb without roasting it on an open fire outdoors. Serves 10.

Ingredients >
2 heads garlic, minced or pressed
3 cups red wine
2 cups lemon juice
3 tablespoons oregano
Kosher salt and pepper
1 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup clarified butter
1/2 cup butter
8 pounds leg of lamb
2 carrots, chopped roughly
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tablespoon roux
2 rosemary sprigs

Method >
Pulverize pressed garlic with a mortar and pestle then combine in a bowl with mustard and lemon juice. Mix well. Trim extra fat from lamb, add salt and pepper and rub with garlic mixture. In a roasting pan, saute carrots, celery and onions with butter until soft; then sear lamb and place in a 350 degree oven for about 1 and 1/2 hours or until desired temperature. Remove lamb from roasting pan and allow to rest 15 minutes before carving. Deglaze roasting pan with red wine and strain juices and drippings into a sauce pan with rosemary. Add roux to sauce and whisk over medium heat until sauce thickens. Serve lamb drizzled with sauce and vegetables on the side.

Ingredients >
3 each eggs
1 each egg yolk
5 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons mastic
1 teaspoon mahlepi
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 each egg
water as needed
sesame seeds for garnish

Method >
Mix eggs, egg yolk, one cup of flour, yeast, mastic and mahlepi in a mixer with a whip attachment until everything is well incorporated. Take off the mixer, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the yeast mixture should have increased in size and look bubbly.
Once this has been achieved, put the bowl back on the mixer, and add the sugar, butter and the rest of the flour. Mix until incorporated and a dough begins to form. If necessary, stop the machine and scrape the sides with a spatula. Once the dough begins to pull of the sides of the bowl, scrape the mixture onto a clean surface. Knead until gluten is fully developed and let rest covered for 10 minutes. Flour a clean surface and roll dough to desired shape. Once rolled, place on a buttered pan and let rest at room temperature to proof for 1 - 1.5 hours. Brush dough with an egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake at 320 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. 

Happy Easter, the Greek way!

If you feel like cooking up something eggs-tremely delicious this Easter Sunday (today for non-Orthodox Christians), why not stick to tradition and serve eggs, but do something different with them? Rather than simply hard-boiling, colouring and offering them whole, make them the centerpiece of your celebrative cuisine.

When we think of an egg, in general, most of us picture a chicken’s egg. Bird eggs are a common food and one of the most versatile ingredients used in cooking, and it’s true that the most commonly used are those from chickens. Bird eggs have proved valuable foodstuff since prehistory, in both hunting societies and more recent cultures where birds were domesticated. In ancient Rome, they were preserved using a number of methods, and meals often started with an egg course. In the Middle Ages, eggs were forbidden during Lent because of their richness. Egg scrambled with acidic fruit juices was popular in France in the 17th century and may have been the origin of lemon curd.

Chicken eggs are widely used in many types of dishes, both sweet and savoury. Eggs can be pickled, by boiling them first and immersing them in a mixture of vinegar, salt and spices (including ginger or allspice). They can also be hard-boiled, poached, scrambled, fried and refrigerated. Sometimes they are even eaten raw, though this is not recommended for people who may be especially susceptible to salmonella, such as the elderly or pregnant women. As an ingredient, egg yolks are an important emulsifier in the kitchen. Egg white contains protein but little or no fat, and can be whipped to a light, fluffy consistency. Beaten egg whites are used in desserts such as meringues and mousse. Even ground egg shells are sometimes used as a food additive to deliver calcium. However, the protein of cooked eggs is nearly twice as absorbable as that from raw eggs.

Now let’s talk recipes. Since trendy and delicious Deviled Eggs may not be the most appropriate food for Catholic Easter, instead, why not add an Asian theme to your dishes with starters like Ham and Egg Drop Soup, After Easter Shrimp Toast or Curried Egg Puffs? How about Orange Spice Pickled Eggs or Oven-Style Scotch Eggs for added flair? Perhaps Zesty Vegetable Egg Spread is more your thing? When it comes to entr?es, forget the omelet. Opt for Cajun Quiche instead or Easy Broccoli Custard Bake. How about fun Egg Salad Pizza Cones for the kids? A Fajita Frittata or an Italian Spinach & Egg Roll-Up will most definitely impress your guests, as will the all time classic favourite, Eggs Florentine.

For dessert, try twists on traditional custard recipes. Frosty Blueberry or Meringue-Capped Kiwi Custard will satisfy any sweet tooth, and Lemon Pudding Custard or Strawberry Rhubarb Custard Pie will certainly add that eggs-tra special touch to your festivities!

For recipes above visit > www.aeb.org/

The Simnel cake comes from Medieval times and is similar to the cake we enjoy at Christmas time, but this one is reserved for Easter and sometimes Mother’s Day, where it would be served as part of Mothering Sunday tradition to test a young woman’s baking skills.

A layer of homemade marzipan is baked into the middle of the cake and another layer is placed on the top along with 11 small balls of marzipan to represent the true apostles of Jesus. Apparently, Judas is omitted because he was a betrayer of Jesus.

Nowadays this deliciously fruity and spicy cake can be decorated with the traditional 11 balls and fluffy little chicks or hand-crafted marzipan Easter novelties. For those of us who are trying to avoid too many chocolatey treats, this is a lovely way to acknowledge the real meaning of Easter.

You will need an 18cm springform pan, they are available at most cook-shops or large hypermarkets and supermarkets, not many recipes call for a pan of this size, take into consideration it can be used if making cakes with multiple tiers. Almond meal or ground almonds can be bought through some bulk-bin stockists or in 70g packets at the supermarket in the baking section. It is really simple to make this marzipan, but it does need to be cooked because it contains raw egg so don’t store it for later.

SIMNEL CAKE >
Ingredients >
120g unsalted butter
120g brown sugar
3 whole eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
175g flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mixed spice
150g raisins
100g sultanas
100g currants
60g mixed peel
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp apricot jam
beaten egg for glazing (egg wash)

For the Marzipan >
140g ground almonds
140g caster sugar
20g icing sugar
1 small egg, beaten
1/2 - 1 tsp almond essence

To make the marzipan > Combine almonds and sugars in the bowl of a food processor. Slowly add the beaten egg to bring the ingredients together into a ball. Add almond essence to taste. Remove from the food processor, and knead gently with a little icing sugar on the benchtop to prevent sticking. Divide the marzipan in half and roll one half out to an 18cm diameter.

To make the cake > Cream the butter and sugar. Add one egg at a time and vanilla essence and continue to beat to combine. Fold in the sifted flour, salt and spices then the dried fruits, peel and lemon zest.

Put half the mixture into a greased and lined 18cm springform round tin. Flatten out mixture with the back of a spoon. Place the pre-rolled circle of marzipan on top of the cake batter, then cover with the remaining batter.

Bake at 120C for 1 1/2-2 hours, or until skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool. Halve the remaining marzipan and roll one piece into another 18cm circle. The balance of marzipan needs to be rolled into 11 small balls. Brush the cake with apricot jam and place the circle of marzipan on top. Place the individual balls evenly around the sides.

Finish by brushing with egg wash before placing in a preheated 180C oven and baking for a further 10 minutes or until the marzipan starts to turn a light golden brown. Cool then store in an airtight container.