As it's Good Friday, I thought  a lamb recipe would be fitting. And when it comes to French lamb recipes, it's hard to fault lamb navarin.

As is always the case with traditional recipes, lamb navarin varies from family to family. While the recipe below certainly does the trick, Raymond Blanc's version is well worth trying if you have a day set aside for cooking. The Good Friday of a bank holiday weekend, for example...

4kg lamb (shoulder, neck and breast)
2 tbsps flour
750ml lamb or beef stock
4 chopped tomatoes
5 carrots, chopped into inch-long sections
5 turnips, cut into 1-inch cubes
12 spring onions, chopped into inch-long sections
5oog green peas or snow peas
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp thyme
flour (for dusting)
1 tbsp cooking oil

1. Cut the lamb into 2-inch cubes then roll on a flour-dusted plate.
2. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp of the oil on a medium heat and brown the lamb in batches before returning to the pan en masse. Turn the heat up to high, add the garlic cloves and cook the crushed garlic for one minute.
3. Drain half the fat from the pan and set it to one side.
4. Warm the stock in a small saucepan, then pour it over the lamb. Return the larger pan to the heat and bring the stock to the boil. Stir in the tomatoes and herbs and return to the boil. Once boiled, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Add the chopped root vegetables and simmer for a further 30 minutes.
6. Cook the peas in salted water for five minutes. Five minutes before serving, add them to the lamb, remembering at the same time to remove the bay leaf.

Another long-ignored part of the duck was the aiguillettes, the long tails of the duck fillets that you can buy separately. They used to be very cheap, and are still reasonably priced. This is one of Bruno’s favorite dishes

Aiguilettes de Canard au miel for 4

• 1 pound of duck breast fillets
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
  
• 2 tablespoons honey. (Bruno recommends chataigner (chestnut) honey from Perigord, available in most local markets.
  
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  

In a heavy bottomed frying pan melt the butter over medium heat.

Turn the heat to high and quickly toss the duck fillets to seal and brown. Remove to a hot serving dish with a slotted spoon and season to taste. Lower heat to medium, stir in the honey and the vinegar, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan. Pour sauce over the duck fillets and serve, with Pommes a la Sarladaise and a green salad.

To go with a duck dish, Bruno likes petits pois, which are so good in the tins and glass jars that French supermarkets sell that it is hardly worth making them yourself. But no Perigord dish, least of all duck, is complete without the local potatoes, made into something heavenly in the style of the town of Sarlat.

Pommes de terre a la Sarladaise for 4

• 5 large waxy potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
  
• 3 tablespoons duck fat
  
• 1 large bunch parsley, finely chopped
  
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
  

Wash the sliced potatoes in several changes of fresh water to remove the starch. Drain and dry on a clean kitchen cloth.

Heat the duck fat over medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed frying pan, add the potatoes and toss carefully to coat in the fat. Fry gently, tossing regularly till the potatoes begin to brown. Add the garlic and parsley, fold in well to incorporate. Once most of the potatoes have begun to crisp, turn out onto a warmed dish and serve.