Easter is one of the most important festivities on the Cyprus calendar. And delicious food makes up a huge part of the celebrations. Succulent Souvla on the grill, tender lamb cooked in fragrant herbs and a whole array of mouth-watering baked-goods, sweets and desserts.
After 40 days of fasting, Easter in Cyprus begins on Holy Monday and ends on Easter Sunday. On Holy Thursday people prepare and dye eggs for cracking. The eggs are dyed red to symbolise the blood of Christ and the egg itself symbolises Jesus’ tomb. On Easter Sunday when families gather to eat, everyone picks an egg to compete in a game of tapping the eggs together to see which one will crack first. The cracking of the egg represents Jesus’ resurrection.
Holy Thursday is also the day to start preparing some of the freshly baked delicacies of the Easter period, such as stavrokouloura (cross-shaped buns) and the famous Easter flaounes (cheese pies). Flaounes are another symbol of the resurrection of Jesus and the tradition dates all the way back to ancient times when the iconic cheese and raisin pie was called ‘palathi’ and was offered to children who went door-to-door singing to welcome the spring.
At Prinos Farm&Deli, we’re all about providing you with the freshest and best quality ingredients to make every meal special, but for this Easter Sunday, our Chef has picked out his top two recipes created using ingredients found on our shelves. Vine Growers Lamb and Easter Buns. Enjoy your cooking and Kalo Pasxa!
VINE GROWERS LAMB WITH HALLOUMI, MINT SAUCE AND GRILLED ROOT VEGETABLES
INGREDIENTS:
For the lamb:
- 5kg filleted leg of lamb
- 400gr Halloumi
- 25 vine leaves
- 2 ripe tomatoes
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 large red onion
- 1/3 bunch of parsley
- 200ml olive oil
- 120ml white wine
- Fresh mint
- 200gr breadcrumbs
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the vegetables:
- 200gr beetroots
- 150gr red onions
- 250gr potatoes
- 250gr carrots
- 250gr pumpkin
- Salt, pepper and thyme
- Olive oil
METHOD
For the lamb:
- First, take your fillets of lamb, place them on a plate and season well with salt and pepper.
- Chop the tomatoes, onions, fresh mint and parsley, before adding to a large bowl and mixing well with garlic, wine, olive oil and salt and pepper until the mixture becomes a sauce. Set to one side.
- Next stuff the meat with the halloumi, the breadcrumbs and your previously mixed sauce, then wrap the stuffed meat with the vine leaves and cover in greaseproof paper.
- Bake the meat in the oven at 170°C for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Take the lamb out of the oven and remove the greaseproof paper carefully to preserve the juices from the baking.
- Pour these juices into a small jug, add a little sprinkle of chopped tomato and mint and serve alongside the meal as a sauce or gravy.
For the vegetables:
- First, peel and cut the vegetables into medium-sized cubes.
- Place them in a large over dish and add salt, pepper, thyme and olive oil and mix well.
- Cover the dish with tinfoil, place in the oven and bake at 180°C for 25-30 minutes or until soft.
- Remove the foil and bake for a further 15 minutes until they turn a light golden brown.
EASTER BUNS (KOULOURAKIA)
INGREDIENTS:
- 400gr all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 80gr Bio Zanneti butter (at room temperature)
- 120gr powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 75gr fresh whole milk
- 3 Bio primes eggs (2 for dough, 1 for spread)
METHOD:
- Add all the ingredients apart from one of eggs together in a large mixing bowl and knead well until a smooth, even dough has been formed. Cover the bowl and leave it to cool in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Once the dough has set, remove from the fridge, separate into small balls and shape each ball into a long, narrow sausage shape of around 14cm long and 1cm thick. Take each dough sausage and fold it in half, then twist each half into a braid shape.
- Place your braided dough buns onto a greaseproof paper lined oven dish.
- Beat the remaining egg together with 1 tbsp of water or milk, then spread this mixture on the buns.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Find your nearest Prinos shop in Nicosia and Larnaca.
Don’t forget that you can always put your order online at shop.prinos.eu.
