Bumper Easter weekend magazine

Get your feast on... and more

SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE April 08, 2023 View in browser Good morning, Our bumper Easter IndyEats special dropped this morning on our app. Download the digital magazine now for a complete guide to putting on your Easter feast, including a roundup of some of our favourite lamb recipes, from the traditional to the more unusual, sweet treats for sweet tooths such as simnel swirls, Creme Egg brookies and Easter chocolate cookies, and what to do with the leftovers. Our favourite? Turn hot cross buns into an oozing breakfast bap, McMuffin-style. Thank us later. We also chat to food waste king Max La Manna about how low-waste cooking can help during the cost of living crisis and why he prefers to live in the here and now. The team also tries some of his fan favourites from the new book: crispy smashed potatoes with spicy lemon mayo, beetroot bucatini and salted chocolate, peanut butter and tahini brownies. To mention just a few others, this month's Budget Bites brings you three affordable, seasonal recipes for spring, from roast courgette with rocket gnocchi and roast feta to butter roast cabbage with herby mash. Food blogger Zubda Malik shares her essential recipes for keeping full throughout the day during Ramadan, of which the Adana kebab and budget-friendly spinach and feta borek cannot be missed. And Kate Ng speaks to the brains behind London restaurant chain BAO, who have just released a new book that reveals the secret to some of their most loved recipes. Fans will be delighted to see not just the classic pork bao, but also the Gram-famous 40-day aged beef and Taipei butter rice, and the Taiwanese fried chicken.   Get all that and more in this month's magazine, available here. Uncorked: How much should I spend on a bottle of wine? Price isn't always an indicator of quality when it comes to buying wine, says head guru Tom Harrow. Here's my advice for your next purchase Q. How much should I be spending on a bottle of wine? A. It would be nice to say that there is a bullseye price for a great bottle of wine but the reality is, there just isn't.   First off, what you spend on wine is of course, personal and if it works for you – that's what matters. It is interesting to look at where your money could be going when you buy a bottle of wine, and to see if it is actually being distributed behind the scenes in the way that you think it might be. The price tag of a bottle of wine also includes the cost of transport, duty and tax, winemaking labour and the seller's margin.   Spend much less than £10 a bottle, there is very little left on the actual wine (some reports suggest as little as 30p at the £5 a bottle mark). As you go up the shelf, you can be reasonably confident that the liquid in the bottle is taking up a larger percentage of the overall cost.   It's hard to say what the exact sweet spot is, and there are certainly some great wines available under £10 a bottle (Côtes du Rhône springs to mind). In our experience, though, you can find wonderful, artisanal, sustainable wines at around the £20 a bottle mark. On the menu Budget Bites: Three affordable, seasonal recipes for spring Our favourite lamb recipes for Easter These 4-ingredient simnel swirl buns are the perfect Easter treat £99 £20 for 1 year ✓ Full access to Premium news analysis ✓ Advert-free reading across web and app ✓ The Independent Daily Edition newspaper ✓ Puzzles, virtual event tickets and more SUBSCRIBE NOW READ IT AND EAT BAO by Erchen Chang, Shing Tat Chung and Wai Ting Chung Since its humble beginnings as a London food stall, BAO has amassed a cult following of hungry fans with its Taiwanese-inspired cuisine and sleek design sensibility. BAO's first book reveals the top-secret recipes behind 100 of its most beloved dishes. INDYBEST /BEST BUYS Last-minute Easter eggs From luxury gifts and hot cross buns to M&S' chocolate puppy and cheese eggs, there's so many Easter treats and deals to buy. 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