The Lamb Once Slain and Raised Again

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

I want to wish a blessed Easter to everyone.  Christ is victorious over sin, death, and the devil!  That is a reason to celebrate.  Besides spending a lot of time in church (at least, we do), another way people tend to celebrate is with food.  So, today I am going to verge a bit off the normal path for this blog (although, considering that my posting has been few and far between lately, nothing is really normal) and talk about Easter food.  And, how can I talk about Easter food without a recipe?
One long held tradition in the church is to eat lamb for Easter.  "Lamb?" you say.  "I thought the traditional food was ham?"  (Especially in Southern Illinois, where most people have never eaten lamb, and some think that is is gross, even though they have never tasted it.)  Frankly, in the scope of church history, ham is a newer tradition.  I'm not sure where the idea of eating ham on Easter came from, even.  However, the tradition of eating lamb has deep roots.  When the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, God sent an angel to kill the first born son of everyone in Egypt.  Everyone except for those who put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts.  The angel "passed over" these homes.  This, of course, is where the Jewish celebration of Passover comes from.  Jesus also celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples.  At this meal, Jesus gave the disciples his own body and blood.  The next day, Jesus, the one and true sacrificial lamb, died on a cross to save all mankind.  On the third day, this Lamb rose from the grave.  Now we can say with Paul, "O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55, ESV)
On Easter we celebrate the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world and has victory over death.  What better way to do this than to eat lamb, the same way the Israelites did when the Angel of Death passed over their homes?

There are many different ways you could prepare lamb for Easter.  I love a good leg of lamb or rack of lamb, but, they are a bit out of our budget.  Plus, there are only two of us in our household.  We need something that is a bit more practical.  The recipe I am about to share comes mostly out of the cookbook For One or Two (Parragon Publishing, 2004).  However, I have made a few small modifications.  And, in tribute to my friend Dan over at The Narnian Chef (http://narnianchef.wordpress.com/), I have a couple of pictures I took while cooking this meal yesterday.

Roast Lamb and Tomato Packets (serves 2)

olive oil
2 large (or 4 small) lamb chops
8 cherry tomatoes (or 4 roma)
2 cloves of garlic (diced) (The original recipe calls for crushed garlic, but I like my garlic a little stronger, so dicing it helps with that.)
fresh torn oregano (about 4 tsp, but I never measure it)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Salt and pepper the lamb chops to taste.
Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over high heat and brown the lamb chops on both sides.

Cut a large square of aluminum foil.  Drain the meat and place in the center of the foil.  Spread garlic over the lamb.  Arrange tomatoes on top of the meat and sprinkle with the torn oregano.  Fold the foil to seal the packet and transfer to a cookie shete.

Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes.
Opening the packet carefully, transfer the lamb and tomatoes to a plate or serving dish.  Spoon on the juices from the meat.

Next Easter, consider lamb a must-have for your Easter table.  Have a blessed Easter, everyone!