"easter recipes" news and stories

Ham this good, and well-spiced with chili powder, cinnamon, allspice, and Dijon mustard, will do your Easter table proud. KitchenDaily contributor Melissa Clark's recipe tempers the spices with a healthy dose of brown sugar, which creates a beautiful caramelized effect.

Get the recipe for Brown Sugar and Spice Baked Ham.

Get our Traditional Easter Menu.

• Still tweaking your Easter Sunday menu? The Times offers up its recipe archives.
• "People don't just throw away an entire food culture after centuries." But with Irish cooking, they came pretty close.
• Which one's greener: the field tomato shipped from Mexico, or the greenhouse one grown in-state? We know which one is redder...
• At Recette in the West Village, hyperboles abound. (How often is head cheese compared to Johnny Depp?)
• Last time, 20 bottles of Loire wines; this time, 20 bottles of Riojas. Life is tough for wine panelists.

Whenever I'm at Costco, I pick up one of their New Zealand boneless legs of lamb. One of the reasons why I love this particular item is that the lamb has been de-boned, and is then formed into a compact roll (like a tenderloin), secured with netting and ready to roast. Without the bone, it'll cook much faster.

But, the best thing I like about the Costco lamb is that you can remove the netting, then stuff the lamb, re-roll it, and then stretch the netting back over the lamb before sticking it into the oven. The netting surrounding the lamb is elasticized so it's easily removable. (Just be careful not to let it snap back or else you and your immediate surroundings will be spattered with raw lamb juice.) Could you tie it with butcher's twine instead? Sure. But I'm lazy and I like re-using the netting. Plus it holds the lamb leg more evenly and snugly than twine would.

I like to stuff my leg of lamb with a combination of olive oil, garlic, rosemary, parsley, sage, marjoram, Meyer lemon zest,  sea salt, and freshly ground pepper that has been whizzed into a thick paste. I simply shmear the paste all over the lamb, roll it up, and secure with netting. Salt and pepper the outside before roasting and cook to an internal temperature of 160º.

If you are cooking lamb for Easter, why not give this a try? There are endless possibilities for stuffing— perhaps fresh bread crumbs and dried apricots or a simple-yet-flavorful dry rub. What ever you choose it's sure to be easy-peasy, and deeelicious.