Easter Menus

[bmdaniel]

I made deviled eggs, roasted rack of lamb with garlic-mustard-rosemary crust, roasted asparagus, and sauteed snap peas with bacon. Pretty low hassle (besides peeling the damn eggs) and tasty.

[BoldBaker]

If I wasn't eating lamb, I think I'd "settle" for a little smoked pork parts and southern cooking any time Blues. How do you make crispy cabbage?

[Nina C.]

Oh no Panaderia! That's terrible. Chicken is a poor substitute for rabbit. You'll have to have a do-over.

Since I used this thread for inspiration, I thought I'd post my notes on my first Easter dinner!

Deviled Eggs - 2 kinds. The first, horseradish, butter, mayo, mustard, paprika. The second was capered deviled eggs mentioned in the eG deviled eggs thread, and found via Google Books I eye-balled the mayo so it could have been my error, but this was a very wet filling. Still, delicious though. When I make them again, I'll chop the capers and add a few extra to boost their presence.

Sardine Tonnato - So easy and incredibly delicious. I served this with matzoh since I had Jewish guests at the table, and it turned out to be a perfect accompaniment.

Salad with strawberries and pine nuts

Braised artichokes in lemon and olive oil I rushed this to the table and didn't taste it first. A mistake! It needed more salt and more acid to finish.

Roasted leg of lamb with potatoes -mmmmm

roasted root vegetables

creamed spinach the mark bittman way

olive rosemary bread

carrot cake roulade

matzah crack - i think there were something like 8 flavors. I tend to go a little nutty when I make matzah candy.

doughnuts (brought by a guest)

rainbow cookies (brought by a guest)

easter candy, of course

Edited April 10, 2012 by Nina C. (log)

[Kouign Aman]

Radiatore alfredo, asparagus, spinach.

Strawberries, watermelon, lemon mini-cakes with lemon curd topping.

[FrogPrincesse]

Easter is around the corner. I will be hosting a family meal as I do every year (it's my favorite holiday - no turkey and no presents!).

What is on everyone's menu?

[kryptos1]

Local Leg of Lamb....simple Robushon recipe

[FrogPrincesse]

Local Leg of Lamb....simple Robushon recipe

Beautiful. Regarding local lamb - you are in the US, right?

Also, more details on the Robuchon recipe for leg of lamb, please.

Most of the lamb we get around here (San Diego) seems to be from New Zealand. I have started marinating a few lamb shanks last night in preparation for our meal tomorrow.

The menu will be:

Beet and tangerines with mint and orange-flower water

Lamb osso buco with shell bean ragout, haricots verts, and tapenade

Vanilla semifreddo with rhubarb compote

All recipes from Sunday Suppers at Lucques.

Mario Batali tweeted his Easter menu earlier; it looks mouthwatering as well. I am taking note for next year!

Mario Batali ‏@Mariobatali18h

Tortellini, lamb leg, asparagus, zabaglione. ! #heymb

RT. @Milliano86: @Mariobatali what are you cooking for Easter Sunday ?”

Edited March 30, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[kayb]

Ham. I'm Southern. With roasted asparagus, with lemon juice and parmigiano. Grilled pineapple. Potato salad. Very traditional, and I am cooking for one (plus the dog). Cooking with an eye toward repurposing later in the week.

[heidih]

Cooking for only three. The venue is not my home so I asked step-mom to make a big green salad and I would bring the rest. At their age not huge eaters. Of course my thought of lamb shanks thrilled my dad but his wife abhors them. She said to make anyway and she would bake herself some wings, OK.... So I am making the shanks now on a bed of fresh homegrown rosemary and garlic, just some Dijon mustard and homemade saba, and garden picked magnificent oregano on top. Since she dislikes the lamb smell I thought I would just reheat in microwave tomorrow. I do have some large chunks of carrot in the pan that my dad & I will enjoy. She won't touch them. I picked up some pencil thin asparagus for a song but for their tastes I am going to saute now in a bit of butter with green onion and a sprinkling of green peas; then toss with some just a bit of cooked spaghetti and finished with lemon juice, parmesan and cream (just a touch). Does not sound harmonious but I think it will work for our odd little situation. In case that is not enough carbs I am also bringing some hearty crusty bread.

[gfweb]

Cooking for only three. The venue is not my home so I asked step-mom to make a big green salad and I would bring the rest. At their age not huge eaters. Of course my thought of lamb shanks thrilled my dad but his wife abhors them. She said to make anyway and she would bake herself some wings, OK.... So I am making the shanks now on a bed of fresh homegrown rosemary and garlic, just some Dijon mustard and homemade saba, and garden picked magnificent oregano on top. Since she dislikes the lamb smell I thought I would just reheat in microwave tomorrow. I do have some large chunks of carrot in the pan that my dad & I will enjoy. She won't touch them. I picked up some pencil thin asparagus for a song but for their tastes I am going to saute now in a bit of butter with green onion and a sprinkling of green peas; then toss with some just a bit of cooked spaghetti and finished with lemon juice, parmesan and cream (just a touch). Does not sound harmonious but I think it will work for our odd little situation. In case that is not enough carbs I am also bringing some hearty crusty bread.

Your step mom is kind. If you don't like lamb funk it ruins anything around it. I'm like her, lamb chops are OK, but a lamb shank is just not good to be around...recently had a potentially nice meal ruined for me because of a lamb shank to my left. You might think about seating and ventilation. I know it sounds crazy...

[Plantes Vertes]

I'm going to do (for a birthday, but on Easter day):

Mixed leaf salad, various breads

Mosaic of beetroot and celeriac fondant, almond paste

Fermented apple, smoked fennel and lemon confit, cannellini bean paste, fennel emulsion

Artichoke sausage, charred artichoke, breakfast radish, pickled cabbage, lentils

Cauliflower steak with almond crust, leek, celeriac and hazelnut pyramid with olive oil emulsion, herb salad

Spiced apples, hazelnut milk ice-cream, pralines

For our sins, we still have winter here. Very much envying you all your asparagus!

[Tri2Cook]

We're having turkey with all the usual suspects. I have to say that, despite the fact that she's doing all the work and making a nice meal, I'm not thrilled. I guess I should be more appreciative but every holiday/holiday-esque meal ends up being turkey. I wanted to do something different and more casual. I thought I was going to grab a beef roast, get up tomorrow and bake some kimmelweck rolls and do beef on weck. Apparently I am not, I got home from work today and there was the turkey somehow managing to look smug despite being dead.

[gfweb]

I'm going to do (for a birthday, but on Easter day):

Mixed leaf salad, various breads

Mosaic of beetroot and celeriac fondant, almond paste

Fermented apple, smoked fennel and lemon confit, cannellini bean paste, fennel emulsion

Artichoke sausage, charred artichoke, breakfast radish, pickled cabbage, lentils

Cauliflower steak with almond crust, leek, celeriac and hazelnut pyramid with olive oil emulsion, herb salad

Spiced apples, hazelnut milk ice-cream, pralines

For our sins, we still have winter here. Very much envying you all your asparagus!

Tell me about the smoked fennel please.

[Plantes Vertes]

I'm going to do (for a birthday, but on Easter day):

Mixed leaf salad, various breads

Mosaic of beetroot and celeriac fondant, almond paste

Fermented apple, smoked fennel and lemon confit, cannellini bean paste, fennel emulsion

Artichoke sausage, charred artichoke, breakfast radish, pickled cabbage, lentils

Cauliflower steak with almond crust, leek, celeriac and hazelnut pyramid with olive oil emulsion, herb salad

Spiced apples, hazelnut milk ice-cream, pralines

For our sins, we still have winter here. Very much envying you all your asparagus!

Tell me about the smoked fennel please.

Sure - what you do is line a saucepan with tin foil (otherwise you'll have to throw out the pan ) and put in whatever aromatics (dried) you want the smoke to taste of. I used fennel seeds and Earl Grey tea. You only need say 1-2 TBS total. Then place either a metal trivet or just an improvised frame made of wire in the pan to hold the vegetables raised up above the tea. Chop the fennel in half and put it on the trivet. Turn the heat up high until the aromatics start to smoulder, then place another piece of foil over the top, whack the lid on and turn the heat down to the lowest possible. After four minutues turn off the heat and take the lid off outside. Make sure to open all available windows throughout the procedure. It's best to do this well in advance of company arriving, unless you want to smoke them too .

You can do onions, garlic and nuts in the same way, and no doubt other vegetables.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[gfweb]

Thanks!

Is the fennel otherwise cooked?

[Plantes Vertes]

Thanks!

Is the fennel otherwise cooked?

Yes, you do the smoking when it's raw, then use it in the recipe - the confit in this case. It's good in soup too

Edited March 31, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Easter is coming soon... What is on everyone's menu this year? I will be cooking lamb for sure. I just have to decide in what form...

[Tri2Cook]

It's warmed significantly this week and the snow's melting fast. If this weather holds, I may be able to break out the smoker by Easter. I'm not counting on it at this point but I'm going to plan something just in case. If that doesn't look like it's going to work out, I'll plan something else. Anything to prevent a turkey from happening yet again.

[Lisa Shock]

As far as I know, Pizza Rustica aka about a dozen regional names like Pizza Chiena.

[Tri2Cook]

Might have to go ahead and start with a backup plan. It's still a couple weeks away so things could easily change but right now the forecast for where I live is a 90% chance of snow that weekend. Probably because I had the nerve to broadcast that I was hoping to get the smoker out.

[kayb]

It may be the usual ham, but I'm also thinking about SV-ing a pork loin, and maybe finishing it on the grill if the weather's decent, indoors if it isn't. There will be asparagus, and fresh green peas, if I can find them, and whatever other green thing I can get at the farmers' market. I may do some potato salad, or a corn casserole. And of course, the requisite deviled eggs.

 

Today would've been a fine day for grilling; I have the a/c on for the first time this year. Hope that holds for a while.

 

 

Edited March 13, 2016 by kayb (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Still not looking too good for the smoker that weekend so maybe I'll remedy my mistake with St. Patrick's Day for Easter. Somehow I completely failed to realize how close we were to St. Pat's until it was way too late to start the corned beef I thought I was going to make. But there's plenty of time to do one for Easter. Maybe... or maybe I'll just make a sandwich and call it a day.

[Tere]

Easter is a four day weekend where we have planned to do a huge amount of garden work, so it will involve frozen instant pot chilli and cornbread, last portion, something mushrooms involving frozen mushroom ragout, a meal out at the local Michelin star for my birthday, and a.n. other, probably a roast chicken, since I am doing a leg of lamb this weekend

 

[Tere]

I am having slightly less fail now, and my hubby is home for a week and working from home post Easter, and eating dinner (apart from one night). I do have the mushroom ragout (backbone to posh pasta perhaps?) and chili and cornbread as failsafe fallbacks (also already have pasta dough in the freezer). But I have decided to be more experimental. So I will away to Ludlow in the week to scrounge some sourdough starter and possibly some rye starter from Price's http://www.pricesthebakers.co.uk/index.php?Pid1=1&PLv=1 (I am told I can but I might phone first :D). Then possibly an Estonian rye and a classic sourdough. And possibly a sodabread since the LesPetitsGris chef shared his excellent recipe and I want to try it. I see making 3 loaves and freezing in my future. Of course my person doing me a quarter hogget and wanting to transfer it over from their freezer has appeared but I think there's still room. C'est la vie.

 

Hubby's requests are "Toad in the Hole" (easy to do with a quick trip to the Food Centre on the way back), "something fishy" and "puddings please" - so I am going to make a plum crumble and a panettone bread and butter pudding on the pudding front. Not sure about the fish yet  I also need a light but posh pesci lunch for the Sunday after Easter, since I am entertaining Mum and stepdad and she is pesci no fat please. Other than that, one traditional roast and then I think Thai, Indian and Lebanese (Thai being a riff on local Massaman with all the jars to use up, Indian might be a decadent chicken because yum leftovers, and I have a gigantic Lebanese cookbook to explore. Or a tagine before it gets too hot (if I can get the spoons to translate out of French , and I might have amazing hogget to do it with ). And maybe Nigella's lacquered quail as it's so light and delicious....

 

Any gut responses / reactions most welcomed as I am going to have to order tomorrow

[Anna N]

@Tere

 

if you are looking for a different, easy and dependable dessert, it's hard to beat this one

 

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