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Happy Easter everybody! I hope you have all had a lovely bank holiday weekend. I have really enjoyed having four days off. I've managed to catch up with family, some friends and some house stuff as well as catch a few moments with my elusive hubby whom I seem to have hardly seen recently. The only draw backs to this weekend have been the ridiculously cold weather and the change of clocks. Both of which have made me a bit tired and a bit grumpy. To still be wearing my winter coat, wollen scarf, gloves and ear muffs in April is just a joke. In fact I donned all the above mentioned items just to go out to the garden for 5 minutes to water some plants that were looking about as miserable as I was feeling.
The good thing about the arctic weather is that it made me stay indoors a bit more. N and I managed to catch up with some chores we had been meaning to do since we moved in almost a year ago like hang some mirrors. Finally I will get to check my reflection before I leave for work, I'm sure my work colleagues will all breathe a sigh of relief tomorrow! I also managed to spend some time in the kitchen. Yesterday I cooked a lovely roast dinner for my in-laws. Roast chicken, roast potatoes and home-made yorkshire puds, just perfect for Easter Sunday. I used my trusted roast chicken with lemon, garlic rosemary and thyme, but this time I left out the new potatoes and cooked some separate roast potatoes.
Roast potatoes are the easiest thing to make. Just preheat some oil in an oven proof dish in an oven set to 180 degrees fan. Peel and quarter some large floury potatoes such as Maris Piper or King Edwards. Bring these to the boil in a pan of salted water and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and shake in the pan to make them look a bit more 'rustic'. Tip them into the hot oil, sprinke with sea salt and shake them around carefully to make sure they are well coated will oil. Place in the oven for about 1hour checking and shaking the tray half way through.
Yorkshire puddings are even easier. I was planning to buy some ready made ones as I was feeling a bit lazy but fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Tescos had run out. So I made my own. They really are so simple. I just used the batter recipe from my Toad-in-the-Hole post. That quantity of batter makes 6 yorkies. Place a teaspoon of oil in the bottom of each hole in a muffin tray and heat at 180 degrees till the oil is hot. Remove from the oven and quickly pour in the batter till the case is 2/3 full. Return to the oven and cook for about 40 mins until the yorkies have risen and turned brown. You may want to increase the temperature of the oven to 200-210 degrees for 5 minutes at the end to make them crispy.
And finally, Easter cupcakes! I just used my heavenly vanilla cupcake recipe but instead of just decorating with chocolate sprinkles I sent N to the shops to buy me a pack of Cadbury's Mini Eggs. They went down an absolute treat!
And now after all that eating I guess I'd better go for a walk. Mustn't forget the ear muffs though! Roll on summer...