It’s difficult to believe we’re already in the third month of the year – Valentines Day has passed and Easter looms…

I always find the Easter weekend, especially if we go away, a great time to get down to some serious cooking.  It’s perfect for long lazy lunches and afternoon siestas or late morning breakfasts and blustery afternoon walks (the weather in the Western Cape is never good over that particular weekend).  It’s the perfect time for roast chicken with all the trimmings, piping hot bowls of rich, garlicky tomato soup with homemade bread and chunks of good cheese (see the cheese section of Eat In for inspiration). It’s also the time to buy all the wines you’ve been meaning to try and gently sipping on them throughout the day.

You need look no further than this newsletter for the best ever chicken roasted in Verjuice and fresh herbs. Verjuice is the juice of unfermented green grapes and is available from supermarkets and delis.  Use as you would vinegar or lemons in both sweet and savoury dishes. This is my most favourite chicken dish and a popular standard in our house, Easter weekend or not.

Now some of you may not be able to think of anything worse than spending half the day in the kitchen, so I’ve also included a recipe for 8-hour lamb (you can cook it for up to 12 hours), which simply needs to be placed in the oven and forgotten.  The result is meltingly tender lamb that literally falls off the bone, great as is with roast potatoes and vegetables or shredded and stuffed into pita breads with tzatziki and a chopped salad.
But whatever you cook or don’t cook and where ever you are at Easter may it be happy, safe and peaceful.

So when you are next out and about and if you come across something or someone fabulous, whom you think deserves an award, write it down and take time to nominate them on our website, in any or all of the categories.

For the awards to be truly successful we need to cover as many bases and regions as possible and we can’t do it without you. Your nomination will remain confidential and you can even vote for yourself! Take time to read the instructions on how to vote as we have changed the format slightly this year.

The coffee pages Whilst you’re dreaming about cooking up some fabulous meals in your state of the art pasta pot, why not indulge in a decadent helping of delicious coffee recipes. The coffee pages - brought to you by Lavazza - are an informative, four-part exploration of coffee in all its 'caffeinated magnificence'. Part 1: The history of coffee: a visual timeline Part 2: The A to Z of coffee Part 3: Coffee recipes

Roast Chicken with herbs and Verjuice

Don't panic about the amount of liquid called for; as the chicken roasts it reduces and becomes the most heavenly gravy.

1 large free-range chicken
1 C (250ml) Verjuice
½ C (125ml) chicken stock
½ C (125ml) finely chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, parsley)
3 fat cloves garlic, crushed
2 t (20ml) dijon mustard
sea salt and milled black pepper

SERVES 4
Heat the oven to 200ºC.  Wash the chicken and place it in a roasting pan. Mix together the verjuice, chicken stock, herbs, garlic and mustard, and season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over chicken – don't forget to pour a little into the cavity. Roast uncovered for about 1½ hours until it’s cooked through.  If you can find shallots, peel away the tough outer skin and toss them into the roasting pan when you pop the bird into the oven.

Go to our Recipe and Fresh ideas sections for more fabulous ways to cook up a storm.

Best-ever tomato soup
8 Hour forget about it' Greek Lamb

The winner of the Tapenade Olive Shop Olive Hamper is Nina Evans from Sandton, Johannesburg.

About Tapenade Olive Shop: This award winning shop – situated in Cresta Shopping Centre, Randburg - is where here everything that has everything to do with olives comes together: the best South African extra virgin olive oils, olives in any form imaginable, beauty products based on olive oil and much more. Go to tapenade for more

The winner of the food hamper from Main Ingredient is Timony Siebert from Stellenbosch.

About Main Ingredient: If you love food, living in South Africa can sometimes be a challenge. We don’t yet have access to all the exciting ingredients and products that we all see in recipe books or on the food programmes. But things are changing. Main Ingredient was set up to fulfill that need - to find the best and most unusual ingredients customers were looking for and put them in one shop.
Go to EatIn for more.

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