Easter traditions

As you know Easter is always a favourite time in my culinary year.  There are traditional favourites we have every year and there is always the time to try something new.
I have been making Nigella Lawson's hot cross buns from Feast for many years but this year I thought I would try Cuisine's proclaimed best-ever hot cross buns.
These will be my go to recipe for the next few years.  They were spicy perfection.  The only improvement could be my crosses which were a bit too runny and elicited the following from Phoebe - "I don't think Jesus died on a blob".  It didn't stop her from eating them on Friday and Saturday and taking some home.  I used to try and make these for breakfast but it was always a bit pressured so I now go for a late morning brunch which carries us through to an early supper.  We can reheat what's left for breakfast on Saturday...and Sunday if necessary. They kept very well.
Our Good Friday supper was, as usual, smoked fish pie.  I don't really vary the recipe although I might vary the type of fish.  This year we used smoked hoki and warehou.  Both were perfectly flaky.
I used to make this regularly as a family meal and it was once a great favourite with the children but alas they all outgrew it and it has been relegated to Good Friday.  Much as I enjoy both making it and eating it, I don't mind that it has become only an annual event.  We all look forward to the meal, enjoy it and then put it aside until next year. 
Easter Sunday is always a good opportunity to have friends over and share some kind of slow cooked lamb.  We have usually enjoyed a leisurely but also industrious three days and we can still enjoy an evening with friends and a sleep-in the next day.
We started the meal with some Pascal's smoked paprika pate served with a selection of cheeses - tome de savoir, manchego and a Waimate brie, on grilled slices of  home-made sourdough. The pate is excellent - Pascal's grandmother's recipe, he tells me.  We got it at the City Market.  Try it.  I had just read about serving torn pieces of very ripe figs with rocket so we had that to accompany and I recommend it.
I often go for the middle eastern-style lamb but this year we looked to Jamie Oliver and a very British approach with a slow roasted shoulder of lamb and smashed root vegetables and greens.   Earlier in the day we had been tidying up the garden to get in some winter crops and came across the last of the agrias that had been missed.  That went in our mash along with the last of the garden carrots.  I have to mention here that it has been an outstanding year for carrots.  We have had a bumper crop with the largest carrot weighing in at 750g.  It was still sweet and delicious, not at all woody.  A bit like last years giant radishes which definitely didn't perform as well this year.
I also love swede in a mash.  It brings a lovely creaminess and a little goes a long way.  I often add swede to pumpkin soup as well.  For our greens we had red kale, cavalo nero and savoy cabbage.  There is a stall at the vege market that sells incredible kale and cavalo and can usually be relied on for outstanding cabbages and leeks.
As usual I thought we needed something else but in the end I refrained and I am glad because we had a delicious meal with very little effort.  There was enough to feed the seven of us at the table and on Monday I turned what was left into a delicious hash/bubble and squeak.
At Easter I like something apple-y to herald autumn.  I enjoyed the seasonal aspect of Easter in the northern hemisphere and I was thinking of Harriet, Max and Jasper  heralding the arrival of spring in their respective locations.  Here I like my Easter meal to represent the autumn bounty. I made an apple and blackberry crumble.  It is only recently we have been able to buy fresh blackberries and I am making the most of them.  Lightly stew 1/2 dozen apples in butter and three tbsp golden caster sugar, or any caster sugar, covered for 15 mins.  I used Cox's Orange plus a couple of windfalls off our tree.  Add about three punnets of blackberries and simmer with the lid off for five mins.  Strain the fruit, retaining the liquid.  Layer the fruit in a dish and top with a crumble mix.  I often add spices but on this occasion I simply rubbed butter into flour, added caster sugar and a little Demerara along with a handful of rolled oats.  Keep the crumble in the fridge until you need to top the fruit and bake.  I poured a little of the reserved juice over the fruit just before baking.  I served this with home made vanilla ice cream.
We had another success this Easter.  For the first time we had enough crabapples to make crabapple jelly.  Not a lot but enough to make 1/2 a dozen jars.  For the first few years of the life of the tress I was reduced to improvising cranbapple chutney. This was nice enough but does not compare to jars of delicious fruity jelly.  My Grandma always made crabapple jelly and I can't eat it without thinking of here which is an excellent reason to make it.