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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 MARCH 2015 14 Food Easter with Gourmet Today TV Easter is just around the corner, and this means it's time to get planning for that Easter feast. Gourmet Today TV's Easter show, aired on 20 March, featured some great ideas for Easter lunch. Try Sean Gravina's leg of lamb, stuffed with pistachio pesto. Pippa Mattei shares her recipe for traditional figolli. Pippa Mattei finds the best way to make the Figolli is in stages. First make the biscuit dough, roll it out and cut the shapes. Prepare the almond filling and assemble the biscuits. Then place them on the baking trays and bake them. Finally allow to cool on racks. Then decorate, first by covering in glacé icing or chocolate, and finally with royal icing. Sean Gravina Ingredients 1x 800g leg of lamb • 2 cloves garlic • 1 onion • 600g potatoes • 150g aged pecorino, grated • Extra virgin oil • Salt and pepper • Knob of butter • Handful fresh oregano • A few sprigs rosemary • 1 tot Madeira • Pistachio pesto 150g pistachio nuts • 1 small bunch basil • Extra virgin oil • Salt and pepper • Method To make the pistachio pesto put 1. the pistachios into a blender with the basil salt and pepper and add the olive oil slowly. Set aside. Bone the leg and even out the 2. meat as much as possible. Season the lamb well on the 3. inside. Mix the cheese with olive oil 4. and garlic, and distribute evenly inside the lamb. Spoon on the pistachio pesto 5. and roll the lamb carefully and tie with butcher's string. Rub the outside of the lamb 6. with salt and pepper. Heat some oil in an oven-proof 7. pan dish and brown the lamb on all sides. Add the garlic and the onion. 8. Add a knob of butter and 9. oregano and rosemary. Remove the meat from the pan. 10. Add the Madeira and de-glaze 11. the pan. Slice the potatoes and lay at 12. the bottom of the pan to act as a pivot. Add the onions 13. and garlic that you removed from the pan. Replace the 14. meat and add a little water to create some gravy. Roast in a 15. preheated oven at 150°C for approx 40 mins. When cooked 16. allow the meat to rest for 10 mins and slice to serve. This recipe first appeared on Gourmet Today TV, aired on TVM on 13 March, 2015. Ingredients Makes 3-4 figolli Biscuit 350g plain flour • 175g sugar • 175g margarine or butter • 1 lemon, zest only • 1 orange, zest only • 2 egg yolks • A little cold water if necessary • Filling 175g blanched almonds ground in a • processor 80g sugar • Lemon juice • 1 egg white • 1 tsp orange blossom water (Ilma • zahar) Glacé Icing 400g icing sugar, sifted • 50ml water • Juice of one lemon • Royal Icing 1 egg white • 225g icing sugar, sifted • 1 tsp lemon juice • ½ tsp glycerine • To decorate Halved Easter eggs • Dragee balls • Method 1. To make the pastry sift the flour, 1. Mix flour and sugar in a bowl, add the margarine or butter cut up into pieces and mix altogether until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 2. Add the grated rinds and then the egg yolks. 3. Mix well until it becomes a fairly soft but firm dough, only adding water if necessary. Set aside. 4. To make the filling, mix the ground almonds with the sugar, lemon juice, egg white and blossom water. 5. Mix very well by hand or in a processor. Set aside. 6. Roll out some of your dough onto a floured surface, to 0.5cm thick. 7. Carefully place your chosen metal shape on the rolled out dough and cut two identical shapes. 8. Take two or three tablespoons of the almond filling and spread this onto the inner part of one of the shapes, flattening it slightly. 9. Now carefully brush the circumference of this shape with beaten egg, milk or water, and put the other identical shape over this, pressing down the edges you have moistened. 10. When this is ready, carefully lift the double shape with a gateau or pie lifter if you have one, or an angled spatula, and place on a non-stick baking tray. 11. Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C and bake the Figolli for approximately 20 mins until they are golden brown. 12. Remove from oven and allow them to cool before placing them on cooling racks to get completely cold. 13. To make the glace icing, mix all the ingredients together. 14. When smooth and thick divide into four bowls. Choose four colours and put drops of different colours in different bowls, to create pastel shades. Do this little by little, as once mixed the colour spreads and you do not want your colours too bright. 15. Using a pastry brush or a spatula, spread one of the glacé icings on the cooled Figolla. Cover each Figolla with a different coloured icing and when all done, place your Easter egg halves exactly in the middle of the shape, pressing down to secure. Leave to cool and set. 16. If you prefer to cover your Figolli with chocolate, simply melt the chocolate covering over simmering water, and spread over Figolli. You need 100g chocolate per Figolla 17. When the glacé icing or chocolate has dried you can carefully place your Figolli onto the cake boards. 18. To make the royal icing, whisk the egg white until slightly frothy. 19. Beat in about a quarter of the icing sugar with a wooden spoon, then, using a whisk, add the sugar gradually, beating well after each addition, until about three quarters has been added. 20. Beat in the lemon juice and continue beating for about 10 mins until the icing is smooth, glossy and white. 21. Beat in the remaining sugar and the glycerine to the required consistency (when a wooden spoon placed upright in the icing falls slowly to one side, do not over beat). 22. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave sometime to allow bubbles to rise to the surface (a few hours or overnight). 23. With your piping equipment, fit the large star nozzle in the piping bag, fill with your royal icing and with a steady hand, pipe stars all around the outer circumference of your Figolli in such a way that this icing not only decorates the edges, but attaches the Figolli to the boards they are placed on. 24. You can decorate the Figolli with more piped icing to mark out eyes, ears, flowers etc. Immediately add all the coloured balls onto this icing anyway you fancy. 25. Leave the Figolli overnight to allow the piped icing to harden. 26. Carefully cover the Figolli with transparent paper or slide into clear plastic food bags, and tie with thin ribbon. This and more of Pippa Mattei's recipes are available in her book Pippa's Festa. This recipe first appeared on Gourmet Today TV, aired on TVM on 20 March, 2015. covering over simmering water, and overnight). Roasted leg of lamb with pistachio pesto Figolli