2 Easter Recipes: Share Yours On Patch

Now, it's not that my family is especially religious, but gathering together to spend some time and share food on Easter Sunday is nevertheless a tradition.

Also fast becoming a tradition is that I participate in the cooking of said food; for the last three years running (at least) it's been Easter tradition that I make a roasted leg of lamb and some kind of macaroni and cheese.

In the interest of sharing what I think are a couple of awesome recipes and seeing what's cooking in your kitchen, I'll be sharing a white wine/orange juice marinated leg of lamb and scratch-made cheddar macaroni and cheese.

I also invite you to share your Easter recipes in the comments, or better yet start a blog and document what goes down in your kitchen.

Oven Roasted Marinated Leg of Lamb (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 (6 pound) bone-in leg of lamb, trimmed
• salt and black pepper

Method

So, the secret to this leg of lamb is really in the marinade, which I like to start at least a full 12 hours before actually cooking the meat; or overnight if it's easier (and it usually is).

To make the marinade, combine the orange juice, white wine, garlic, ground black pepper, thyme and rosemary to a blender and mix.

Generally, once the marinade is made I put it into a vacuum-seal bag along with the leg of lamb, coat the meat, seal it using my vacuum sealer and stick it in the refrigerator.

A really large Ziploc-style bag would also work, but make sure you squeeze out as much air as you can.

To actually roast the leg of lamb, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Take the lamb out of the marinade, pat it dry with paper towels and season it with salt and pepper.

Then place the leg of lamb into a roasting pan (preferably something with a wire rack in it to keep the lamb out of it's own juices while it cooks) and into the oven. Make sure the fatty side of the lamb is facing up, so that as the fat melts it bastes the roast.

In the interest of full disclosure, the recipe actually suggests that you arrange two empty oven racks and place the lamb directly onto one with an empty roasting pan underneath to catch the drippings.

In preparing this recipe, that seemed like it had the potential to be very messy though and I've never followed that particular instruction.

The lamb will roast for 30 minutes at 425 before you reduce the heat to 300 and roast for another 10-12 minutes per pound or until a thermometer reads 130-135 degrees at its thickest part.

Remove it from the oven and cover with foil for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Bonus: Those drippings in the pan can be used to make an awesome gravy. I usually place the drippings over heat on the stove and add red wine and rosemary, then allow it to reduce. To thicken the sauce, I mix flour and water to make a slurry and add that to the mixture of fat and red wine over heat until a sauce comes together.

Macaroni & Cheese

It's pretty much the ultimate comfort food and if you've never made it from scratch before you'll be amazed at how easy it is and how much better it is than the out-of-the-box kind.

You'll need:

Ingredients

• A bag of pasta (macaroni would be traditional, but rotini holds the cheese sauce really well)
• 1 cup of whole milk (for the health conscious use 2 percent or even skim, but at the cost of some flavor)
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 cup (or more) of your choice of cheese, (I generally opt for a cheddar)
• a dash of nutmeg
• 1 tsp. of paprika
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 a medium onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Tools

• a whisk (this bit is important, you'll be whisking a lot for this recipe)
• a saucepan
• a pot to boil pasta
• if you opt to go the baked route, an oven-safe baking dish.

Method

In a saucepan on your stovetop over medium heat, add butter and cook until melted. Then add your onions and garlic and saute until translucent, about 2-3 minutes.

To the pan, add one tablespoon of flour and whisk to combine with the butter, onions and garlic. This is called making a roux and the combination of flour and butter will help to thicken the sauce.

Once your flour and butter have combined, add the milk to the pan and whisk away to combine the roux into the milk. Bring gently to a boil. If you bring it to a boil too quickly, the sauce will break (and while it will still be delicious it will have a grainy texture).

Once the milk reaches a boil, reduce the heat so that the milk mixture is held at a gentle simmer and begin adding the shredded cheese a bit at a time, while whisking.

At this point, you should have your pasta cooking in a separate pot per the directions on the box or bag. Drain it and set it aside after tossing with a little bit of olive oil to prevent it from sticking.

Back to the sauce.

Continue to add the cheese while whisking until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the nutmeg and paprika and season with salt and pepper.

Combine the cheese sauce and the pasta in either:

• a) a serving dish, you're done!  ... or ...
• b) an oven-safe baking dish

If you opted for b), then you've got a little longer still.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Top the pasta and cheese sauce with bread crumbs (I use panko combined with a little melted butter to help them brown) to give the macaroni and cheese a crunch, and a little bit of Parmesan cheese.

Pop it into the oven until the bread crumbs turn golden brown, let it cool and then serve.

What recipes do you serve year after year for Easter? Tell us in the comments. Also, leave some feedback about whether or not you'd like to see more recipes here on Patch.