Gigot 'qui Pleure (weeping leg of lamb)

Easter day is always on a Sunday but the date varies unlike Christmas which is always on December 25.

Many years ago, Christians decided that Easter day would always be on the Sunday following the first full moon after the first day of spring around March 21. This means that Easter can be as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.

In fact, not only is Easter a movable feast but it happens on different dates depending where in the world you live.

The reason for this is, in Western churches such as in the UK, America and Australia, we use the Gregorian calendar and is also known as the Western calendar or the Christian calendar.

It was named after the man who first introduced it in February 1582, Pope Gregory the X111. The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 bc (705 AUC) it is used in Eastern Churches.

Easter is the most important Christian Festival — at Easter time Christians remember the last week of Jesus's life.

A lovely dish for Easter, which is a family favourite, is 'Gigot qui Pieure' — or weeping leg of lamb.

It is such a simple and effective way of cooking lamb, in some ways the idea is akin to the old Yorkshire method of roasting beef where the dripping falls into the pudding batter which is cooked underneath the beef.

INGREDIENTS

2 ½ kg lamb

3 tbsp olive oil

75g butter

3 garlic cloves

fresh rosemary

maldon sea salt

freshly milled pepper

8 medium potatoes

4 medium onions

¾ pt chicken stock (stock cube)

sprig of thyme

METHOD

1. Slice each clove of garlic into slithers. Using a small sharp knife plunge this in the flesh at intervals across and down the leg of lamb on the topside.

2. Slide a slither of garlic and a sprig of rosemary into the cavity and rub the butter all over the leg, stand the leg in a roasting tin, place the sprig of thyme on the leg, spoon over the oil. In a pre-heated oven 200c/400f/gas mark 6 for half an hour.

3. Meanwhile peel and finely slice the potatoes and onion, mix them well in a bowl and season lightly with salt and pepper and more garlic if you like.

4. After the initial half hour take the leg from the oven remove it from the pan while you lay the potatoes and onions in the fats in the baking tin now pour over the stock, return the tin to the oven on a lower shelf, slide in the next shelf immediately over the tin and arrange the leg over this so that the juices will drip (weep) into the potatoes as the roasting continues.

5. Continue to roast the leg for a further hour or more if you like it well-done. Depending on the size and type of oven you may have to reduce the temperature if it starts to brown too quickly.

6. Take the leg out and wrap in foil leave to rest for at least half and hour, place the potatoes and onions back in the oven for another 20 minutes to crisp up.

I serve 'Gigot qui Pleure' with garden peas, no need for gravy or mint sauce but an apple jelly goes beautifully.

Serve with a Cabernet Sauvignon