Easter is almost upon us and we’re now thinking about the food we’ll prepare for our families to enjoy on the most holy festival in the Christian year.

Good Friday generally means a fish dinner, as in the past the consuming of meat was forbidden on Fridays. Recipes such as Sole Cushions, Lobster Thermidor, Brill Soufflé, Turbot Au Gratin, Fish pie or Baked Hake were traditionally eaten on Good Friday.

Of course in the meantime mom will be making hard boiled eggs for the children to decorate. Some of us will go to extreme lengths to achieve the perfect egg, such as boiling them in spinach water to dye them green or with raw beets to turn them red. You could also make use of Onion skins and flower petals by winding them around the eggs with brown string to give mottled effects.

Then there’ll be those of us that simply put some food coloring into a pan of water and boil the eggs.

Whichever route you choose once your eggs are hardboiled you need to polish them with a little olive oil. Then let the kids go wild.

For an extra wonderful surprise for the children, try piercing the widest end of an egg and shake out the white and yolk then leave it to dry out thoroughly. Once the shell is completely dry using a small funnel pour in melted chocolate, imagine their delight when they crack the egg open.

Easter Sunday is traditionally a Lamb dinner, as lamb symbolizes the innocence of Christ. However nowadays though, a lot of families will be enjoying a ham or roast turkey. A traditional menu for your Easter Sunday Dinner would include Stuffed Eggs, Saddle of Lamb with Wine Sauce, Vegetables of Your Choice, Green Salad and Grapefruit in Brandy.

Hot Cross buns are another huge Easter tradition, and if you are like me you don't need to wait until Easter to eat them!

Easter Cakes vary throughout the world. A few examples are…

The SIMNEL CAKE which was originally made for Mothering Sunday is now made in Britain for Easter.

The Russians bake a yeast cake known as KULICH.

The Portuguese the traditional sweet is Angel's Hair.

The Italians Bake COLOMBA and the Sicilians make CASSATA ALLA SICILIANA.

I wish every-one a Happy Easter.