Are you hosting a gathering this Easter? I don’t know about you but I find there’s quite a large amount of stress attached to hosting an event, even if it’s just a casual get together for you and your family members. 

One of the ways to minimise this is to plan simple meals that decrease your workload, and the food shopping and costs associated that tend to add up very quickly when feeding a group.

Most people stick to seafood on good Friday but it doesn’t have to be extensive.

Here a few SIMPLE ideas:

NATURAL OYSTERS

There aren’t many seafood options that are easier than oysters. Simply serve them natural on a fancy serving dish with lemon. The oysters in the photo have caviar on top which is certainly a great option if you’re not trying to minimise the budget. 

WHOLE BAKED FISH

Ingredients:

-Whole local pink snapper 
-1 lemon, cut in half, one half sliced into rounds
-3 garlic cloves peeled
-Fresh rosemary or thyme
-Olive oil
-Salt
-Pepper
-Half red onion sliced thin
-Handful of cherry tomatoes

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C
2. Rinse and pat dry your fish
3. Score the fish, cut slits about an inch apart (not very deep, just cut through the skin)
4. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper
5. Brush the fish with olive oil inside and out
6. Stuff the cavity of the fish with garlic, lemon slices, half the onion and tomatoes and all of the herbs.
7. Season the fish with salt and pepper inside and out and scatter the remaining onion and tomatoes. 
8. Cooking time is going to vary depending on the size of your fish. I prefer to use a meat thermometer and cook until the internal temp is 63C, this is by far the best way to get optimal results for all your animal meats. Otherwise you can cook until the fish pulls away from the bone easily but roughly 25-30mins (or more for a larger fish).

BBQ’D PRAWNS

Ingredients:

-500gm raw peeled prawns 
-Olive oil 
-Salt
-Pepper

Method:

1. Place BBQ on high heat
2. Cook prawns on 2 mins each side until golden and crispy
3. Serve

Now for the rest of your long weekend, here are some other non seafood recipes…

SIMPLE SLOW COOKED LAMB SHOULDER

There really aren’t many more recipes that provide such a delicious meal with less work than a slow cooked lamb shoulder. The result is mouth watering tender lamb that the whole family can enjoy. Serve it with roast veggies or salad. I’ve included a roast cauliflower, sweet potato salad below that would make a great side.

Ingredients:

-Lamb shoulder (size dependant on how many ppl you are feeding but I always go big so I can have leftovers for following days)
-Salt
-Pepper
-½ cup water

Method:

1. Place lamb in slow cooker
2. Season with salt and pepper
3. Add water
4. Place on low for 8 hours

ROAST CAULIFLOWER, SWEET POTATO AND ALMOND SALAD

Ingredients:

-1 large sweet potato chopped into 2cm cubes
-½ head of cauliflower cut into small florets
-Olive oil
-100gm almonds
-1 handful of green beans cut in half
-2 cups of spinach
-½ tsp cumin
-½ tsp paprika

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Pour 1 Tbsp olive oil in baking tray and add sweet potato and cauliflower
3. Sprinkle cumin and paprika over vegetables and stir to incorporate
4. Bake in oven for 25 mins (or until cooked but with sweet potato still slightly firm so it holds up stirred through the salad)
5. In a frypan, add some olive oil, the almonds, beans and ½ tsp salt. Stir fry them until cooked (about 5 mins). Beans should still be slightly crunchy.
6. In a large bowl combine all ingredients.

QUICK, EASY AND HEALTHY CHOCOLATE

Ingredients:

-5 Tbsp almond butter (or you can use peanut butter)
-2 Tbsp honey
-3 Tbsp melted coconut oil
-2 Tbsp cacao
-½ cup chopped nuts (I use almonds and cashews)

Method:

1. Mix ingredients together in a bowl
2. Spoon into silicone moulds, or even in a loaf tin if you want it to be even quicker. 
3. Place in the freezer for 30 mins or until ready.