Good Friday marks the end of Lent and the beginning of Easter. This sombre period is one of the holiest in the Christian calendar marking the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In a secular fashion, it is also a long weekend where many families get together for the holidays and cook up a storm. Children also look forward to Easter eggs, whether hunting for them, painting them or stuffing their cute faces with the chocolate variety. Easter is especially important to me as I was born on a Good Friday and consider myself to be an Easter Baby!

My Lenten vow was to go meatless for 40 days. I actually enjoyed it. Going meatless made me feel lighter inside and it is now actually second nature for me to cook vegetarian-based meals. I’m not missing meat as much as I was in the beginning of my Lenten dietary plan. The smell of bacon would make me swoon and seeing a lovely stewed chicken would make my mouth salivate in lust for a fat, succulent leg.

I’m looking forward to my return to meat, but I know for a fact I will be eating it less or using it as an accent to the meal, rather than the main feature, much like the Chinese in their cuisine or in a healthy Southern Mediterranean style. Of course, it goes without saying that I will be adding Jamaican flair by continuing to use locally grown produce and lots of spice. Fret not, meat eaters, this column will continue to feature lovely dishes with animal protein, but I will also try to make my vegetarian friends feel included by creating and developing dishes to suit them. Now I am going to seek more of a balance to please both segments: carnivores and vegetarians.

My recent meatless piece struck a chord with the Meatless Mondays organisation in New York. I was very touched and honoured that they reached out to me. They would like for me to be their Jamaican voice in the campaign for dietary and environmental change. Jamaica, let’s do it for our national health! Thursday Food readers are the trendiest when it comes to food issues. Let us start going meatless once a week for our health and to protect the environment. I will let you know more soon as things develop.

I’ve had numerous requests to do a menu for an Easter lunch. Many of you pointed out, quite rightly, that I was due to create a menu idea. So in order to please you and satiate your appetite for home entertaining this week, I will create a transitional menu from Lent into Easter. As of next week I will be returning to normal and creating everyday dishes using poultry and meat and everything else in between.

Bon Appétit!

My warmest thanks to Megamart for supplying my weekly needs for this column.

Please contact me at juicychef@gmail.com

JuicyChef’s Light Easter Menu 2010Ginger Rum Syrup

Tuna Plate with Lime Dill Cream This starter can be made using a good quality canned tuna or if your budget will allow, fresh grilled tuna. It will please both meat eaters and those vegetarians who will occasionally have fish.

Ingredients: 3 cans of tuna 1 small tub of sour cream Grated rind of lime A couple sprigs of dill, roughly chopped or 1tbsp dried dill weed 2 tbsps capers 1/2 red onion, sliced 1 tub cherry tomatoes, cut in half Mixed lettuce leaves Toasted pine nuts, to garnish (optional) Method: On a large platter arrange tuna, capers, onion, tomatoes and mixed lettuce leaves. In a separate bowl mix sour cream, dill and lime zest. Season mixture with salt and pepper. Garnish with nuts. Serve as a starter with bread, should be enough to feed eight.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Home-made Black Mint Sauce (Meat Option) Lamb is traditionally eaten in a lot of countries to celebrate Easter. I believe that this is symbolising Jesus who is also known as the Lamb of God. Lamb goes very well with mint. Simply season your chops with salt and pepper and grill to your desired doneness.

Home-Made Black Mint Sauce I love Black Mint. I use it often as a garnish or mixed into beverages. This sauce is easy-peasy and requires no cooking! You can also toss this sauce with some boiled potatoes as an alternative to a potato salad.

Ingredients: 1 bunch of Black Mint, washed and leaves stripped (reserve the stalks to make a refreshing cup of mint tea!) Pinch of salt 1 tbsp of caster sugar 4 tbsps white wine vinegar 4 tbsps boiling water

Method: Finely chop mint leaves and add to a heatproof bowl with a pinch of salt. Add boiling water and sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the vinegar, stir and taste. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Let the sauce sit for at least 15 minutes for the flavour to develop. Serve with lamb chops.

OR

Eggplant Parmigiana (Vegetable Option) Since eggplants which resemble eggs, a symbol of Easter, are in season and quite cheap at the moment, I thought this traditional Italian dish would be a treat for a group who don’t eat meat. Again, this is one of those dishes that has many variations in the cooking method. This one is quite straightforward.

Ingredients: 1kg eggplant 500g Mozzarella cheese (you can use the whole variety and slice it, or the grated depending on what is available in your area) 150g Parmesan cheese, grated 1 jar of Marinara sauce 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or more if you like heat) 1 bunch of basil, roughly chopped Olive oil Salt to taste

Method: Set your oven to grilling temperature. Trim ends of eggplants, and slice lengthways into about three or four slices, depending on the thickness and brush with olive oil. Grill for at least five minutes turning over midway during cooking time, remove from oven and transfer to a plate. In a frying pan, sauté garlic and red pepper flakes in a tablespoon of oil until fragrant and add tomato sauce and cook until heated through and remove from heat. Add parmesan cheese and basil. In a baking pan, layer half the eggplant slices. Top with tomato sauce, and mozzarella. Add the other slices on top and repeat with more sauce and cheese. Place the baking tray and grill for another five minutes or until cheese is melted. Fruit Salad with Ginger Rum Syrup

Cleanse your palate with a luscious fruit salad with mixed seasonal fruit in ginger rum syrup. There are so many fruits to choose from: bananas, oranges, mangoes, otaheites which are in abundance, pineapples, papayas and so many others. The following is a recipe for the rum syrup which you will pour over your fruit.

Ingredients: 125g sugar 1 inch piece of ginger, washed, peeled and grated 150ml Dark Rum Juice and grated zest of 2 limes 250ml water

Method: In a saucepan add water, sugar, ginger and lime juice. Gently cook over medium heat until sugar has dissolved and the liquid is syrupy, remove from heat then cool down. Add the lime zest and rum to syrup.