Cyprus Easter table all wrapped up

Easter Lamb Shanks with Cyprus Potatoes
Big flavour, minimal effort. This slow roasted lamb dish captures the essence of a traditional Cypriot Easter: tender meat, rich juices and potatoes soaked in all the goodness. No spit needed, just your oven.

Serves 4
4 medium lamb shanks
1kg Cyprus potatoes, halved
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2 ripe tomatoes, quartered
3 bay leaves
Fresh thyme or oregano
Salt & black pepper
100ml olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 glass white wine
1 cup warm meat stock
2 tbsp parsley

Heat oven to 180C.
Layer potatoes in a roasting dish. Stud lamb with garlic and place on top. Add onion, tomatoes, herbs, seasoning.
Pour over olive oil, lemon, wine and stock. Cover and roast for 3 hours until tender.
Uncover and roast 30 minutes more until golden.
Serve hot with salad, tahini or tzatziki.

Sharlotta (Cyprus Trifle)

Sharlotta is a classic Cypriot dessert, and it takes its name from the French word Charlotte, that somehow found its way into the Greek culinary vocabulary.
Housewives used to save leftover home-baked cakes and use them as a base.
This trifle used to be on the menu at my restaurant The Kosmos Taverna for 40 years, and I have also cooked it on Granada TV.

Serves 6-8
100g trifle sponge fingers or Madeira cake or any cake you have in the house
400g canned fruit slices, pears, peaches or apricots
2 tbsp apricot jam
1 liqueur glass of Filfar (Cyprus liqueur), Cointreau or brandy
2 tbsp rose water
For the custard:
1lt full fat milk
100g caster sugar
60g corn flour
2 egg yolks
To decorate:
Ground cinnamon
Finely chopped pistachios
Dry rose petals

Drain the fruit and keep the juice. Crumble the sponge or cake, place in a large trifle bowl.
Mix the jam with the fruit juices and liqueur, pour over the sponge. Chop the fruit into chunks and spread the fruit on top of the sponge.
Reserve one cup of the milk, heat the rest until almost boiling and remove from the heat.
Mix the cornflour into the reserved cold milk, add the sugar, egg yolks and rosewater.
Pour into the hot milk, place back on the heat and stir continuously until the custard has thickened.
Pour the custard over the fruit, cool a little and sprinkle with cinnamon and decorate with chopped pistachios around the rim of the bowl. Cover the trifle with cling film and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Just before serving, sprinkle with rose petals on top.

Greek Easter Cookies

These traditional, buttery biscuits are typically made to be eaten after Holy Saturday.
They are always found on the Easter table and are eaten for weeks after, dunked in coffee or tea.
The shape of this biscuit varies dependent on the region they come from, and from family to family but the recipe is basically the same.
I remember the first time I made these cookies, I was on a BBC2 children’s programme for Easter. If you make them, get the kids or grandkids involved, they can make them any shape they like.

250g butter softened
250g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
2 egg yolks
100ml full fat milk
Few tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp brandy
1 orange, zest and juice
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1kg plain flour, approx
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
For the glaze:
1 egg yolk mixed with a little milk
To decorate:
Sugar, chopped flaked almonds or sesame seeds

With an electric hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time.
Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the orange juice and orange zest. Add to egg mixture with the vanilla, brandy and milk.
Slowly add the sifted flour, salt, baking powder and mix with a wooden spoon. If it is too soft and sticks to your hands add a little more flour. Kneed lightly with your hands for a few minutes to make a soft dough. Do not overwork the mixture. Cover and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Break off walnut sized pieces and roll on an un-floured pastry board to form long thin strips approximately 30cm long. Fold the rope strips in half, twist and press the end together or shape into S or any shape you like but make them of equal size to ensure even baking.
Arrange the biscuits on a greased baking tray, lined with baking paper not too close together and brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame or almonds.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C for 20-25 minutes or until light golden. Do not overcook.
Cool on a wire rack and store in a biscuit tin.

Loulla’s book My Kosmos My Kitchen can be ordered from www.amazon.com or www.austinmacauley.com/book/my-kosmos-my-kitchen. For more traditional Greek and Cypriot recipes and inspiration, join Loulla’s Facebook group Loulla’s Recipe Share