Easter Feast Recipes & Olly’s wine pairings
Everyone (especially the cook!) will love Eleanor Maidment’s tasty fuss-free menu and Olly Smith’s sublime supermarket wines.
Charred asparagus, cherry tomatoes and burrata
British asparagus comes into season soon and is star of this colourful, warm salad. If serving eight, use three balls of burrata, otherwise two will happily feed six as a starter.
Olly’s wine pairing: The Best, Verdicchio 2020 (12.5%), £7, Morrisons.
A breezy bargain to kick off your feast! This oft overlooked Italian white pairs wonderfully with aromatic asparagus. It also delivers a cooling cascade of refreshment to work with the zingy tomatoes and rich texture to complement that creamy lush burrata.
Courgette, leek and spinach tart recipe
This makes a fantastic vegetarian main course or could happily be served as a starter. Assembling the tart in an ovenproof frying pan and starting it cooking on the hob helps to crisp up the pastry base, but you could also make it in a 23cm springform cake tin and pop it straight in the oven.
Olly’s wine pairing: Loved & Found Bukettraube 2020 (12.5%), £8.99, Waitrose.
What a wine! Extremely rare and sensationally fruity, this liquid splendour from South Africa has all the joyful ripeness to round out the veggies in this dish and finishes with a gorgeous uptick in freshness. A white to make everyone’s day.
Roast leg of lamb and pumpkin seed salsa verde recipe
Leg of lamb is an Easter lunch classic, and here it is pepped up with a punchy rosemary, garlic, lemon and anchovy paste. Roasting it on a bed of vegetables helps with even cooking and creates a lovely gravy too.
Olly’s wine pairing: Quinta de Fafide Estate Reserva 2019 (14%), £10 from M&S
While Rioja is a classic match for roast lamb, this year I just can’t resist the wow factor of this roaring red gem from Portugal. Quinta de Fafide Estate Reserva 2019, is a beautiful wine with perfume, scent, oomph and depth. It’s the whole package in one glug and so sleek it gleams in the glass like a polished black cherry. Bold and brilliant.
Rhubarb and ginger cheesecake recipe
Baked cheesecakes are best made a day in advance and left to chill and settle in the fridge overnight.
Olly’s wine pairing: Finest Dessert Semillon 2017 (10%), £6.25, Tesco.
Sweet wine isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but try serving this Australian ace in tumblers over heaps of crushed ice alongside your cheesecake and just wait for the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ to begin. It’s sweet and round as an apricot the size of the moon – and just as memorable.
This article was originally published in YOU Magazine, Mail on Sunday, 3rd April 2022 – Prices, stockists and vintages correct at time of publication.
