Easter is here again. And so for the benefit of our readers in many lands we thought we’d come up with an all-time Sunday favourite: Roast Chicken. Except we are going to trim it round with a few extras to make your family’s day really special. And just to get things right, all our recipes come with the help of top BBC chefs who will show you how easy it can be to turn out some really good food.
Background Music (Cocktails/Starter) :You won’t do better than The Gothic Voices’ version of A Feather on the Breath of God by Hildegard of Bingen Great sacred/ medieval/spring vibe.
Cocktail If you can’t stand yet another gin and tonic, and you think Pimms is a bit rich, we recommend this Hugo Spritz from Good Food as a possible runner
Starter We will go with this tasty pea and mint soup recipe from Mark Sargeant. Its got that lovely green spring vibe but without filling you up
Pea and mint soup recipe – BBC Food
Background Music (Main Course): St Matthew Passion by JS Bach. Proper Easter-y and all that! We hand the choice of version over to Classical Music as they probably know what they’re talking about.
Bach St Matthew Passion: guide and best recordings – Classical Music
Main Course There are so many variations of the central theme of roast chicken that all we could do was to stick a finger in the wind and recommend this version by Simon Hopkinson
Perfect roast chicken dinner recipe – BBC Food
Wines We’ll go with this Mâcon Villages Les Pierres Blanches from Majestic. But really any good supermarket white burgundy will do, especially if you have a lot of thirsty diners and prize quantity over quality.
Mâcon-Villages Blanc ‘Les Pierres Blanches’ 2018 Cave de Lugny – Majestic Wine
Dessert what’s more English than apple crumble? And the beauty of it is, it’ll go with custard or ice cream!
Easy apple crumble recipe – BBC Food
Dessert Wine We’ll recommend that old favourite Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. Waitrose have this excellent half bottle which will still stretch to six or so normal guests
Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 1348 | Waitrose & Partners
Port When it comes to the word port everyone means Ruby or thinks they do. To be fair there are thousands of good rubies out there at incredibly good prices. So why not stick your neck out and just for once serve up this tawn from Sainsurys If nothing else it’l get them talking -the ones who are still awake
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-tawny-port-75cl?
Cheeses Naturally we’ve got a cheddar and a stilton, both from Marks, as you’d expect nothing less. But just to be daring can we alsoslip in this Brighton Blue from our own county of Sussex?
5 Year Old Cornish Cruncher Vintage Cheddar | M&S
Brighton Blue Cheese – High Weald Dairy
Music (Post prandial)After the earlier high moral tone we thought we’d try something a little more rela,xing. Maye we suggest a couple from Frank himself? What is more Sinatra-moody than One for my baby(and one more for the road)? Or In the Wee small hours of the morning? Nat King Cole’s Stardust or Ella Fitzgerald’s Angel eyes often play well to the après-dejeuner crowd. But given our Hispanic connections we might offer Roberto Goyeneche’s version of Ventanita florida finishing off with Oblivion by the late great Astor Piazzolla.
Well there’s our Easter menu for this fateful year of 2026. We look forward to presenting the Christmas one. If we are all still here and there is any food left in the shops.
#food #wine #cheese #roast chicken #cocktails #easter #music
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