A Bank Holiday bonanza!

Whatever your Easter tradition, chances are it will involve food - and lots of it.

But pleasing the crowd isn’t always as simple as plying them with hot cross buns and chocolate goodies (although this is highly encouraged, as well).

If you’re feeling inspired all you need are some top recipes.

And here’s onethat Mike Bates, executive head chef of The Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales, has whipped up just for us.

SALT-BAKED CRUSTED WELSH LAMB

(Serves 6)

Ingredients

1 leg of Welsh lamb, tunnel boned (ask the butcher to do this for you). Choose a leg of spring lamb no more than 2.5kg in weight

For the salt crust (makes enough to cover 2 legs of lamb):

1kg plain flour

600g water

400g smoked sea salt

4 sprigs of thyme

10 twists of a black pepper mill

4 sprigs of rosemary

For the wild garlic gremolata:

1 lemon zest

1 cup of picked flat parsley

1 cup of wild garlic leaves (available from Ocado as well as growing wild)

1tsp of salt

1/4 cup of olive oil

Method

lFirst, make your dough. Combine all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, add water slowly to form a smooth dough, and then cover with cling film and refrigerate until needed.

lWhen ready to make the gremolata, place all the ingredients, except the olive oil, into a food processor and blend. Slowly add the olive oil until a smooth consistency is achieved, reserve until needed.

lRoll out the dough with a rolling pin into a size that will cover the whole leg of lamb.

lRub the leg of lamb with the wild garlic gremolata, including the cavity. Then place the rolled out dough over the lamb, ensuring it is totally covered.

lPlace onto a baking/roasting tray and put into a preheated oven at 180C, and cook for one hour and 35 minutes.

lRemove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

lCrack open and remove the crust. Carve the lamb and enjoy.