Easter Menus

[Nina C.]

My sister had surgery on Friday, and was scheduled to be in the hospital through Sunday, so we didn't think we'd really have an Easter dinner. They let her out early on Saturday so I put together a fast simple meal, primarily consisting of what the patient wanted (and what was still looking good at the store.)

radishes, irish butter and sea salt on baguette

artichoke and fennel caponata on baguette

spinach salad with strawberries, blue cheese, and lemon vinaigrette

smoked ham

roast chicken

sweet potatoes with candied pecans sprinkled on top

spring peas with onions and mint

chocolate chip cookies

Dorie Greenspan's applesauce bars minus the glaze

apple caramel pie (brought by my aunt).

After a day and a half at the hospital watching crap tv, the quiet meditation of cooking was so nice!

No pictures but great memories. Especially when several family members have had health issues, it's just nice to have an excuse to gather around the table together.

[Chufi]

Pictures from my Easter Dinner are here on the Dinner!thread.

I ended up making cream of turnip soup instead of cauliflower, and it was delicious with the Polonaise topping. Lots of fresh herbs all over the menu!

Arriba, my mille crepes cake was just 18 crepes layered with lemon curd and cream. My filling was a bit too runny, this caused the whole 'cake'to collapse when we cut into it. I've made it before with just lemon curd, and that was was more solid and easier to cut.. But I liked the flavor of the lemon curd mixed with cream better. And, after 4 bottles of wine between the 4 of us, nobody really cared that the dessert plates looked a mess

[Kouign Aman]

Chufi, maybe you can use clotted cream next time, which is stiffer?

Our menu changed on Saturday. We ended up with:

pot roast with onions, carrots, in red wine

steamed asparagus in butter

steamed artichokes with lemon butter

scalloped potatoes

If there was a theme, it was butter.

flower-patterned sugar cookies

chocolate coated orange slices

chocolate-dipped strawberries (the chocolate did something very weird the first time I tried melting it. Not the seizing due to water drops that I've seen before. The second try behaved much better).

Such an easy, do-ahead meal. Happy dance!

[Pille]

I promise that this is the last post about eggs on my Easter table in 2007 :

Beetroot Easter Eggs aka Pickled Red Beet Eggs

[arriba!]

Chufi--did you refrigerate your Mille Crepes cake after assembling? I read through the thread about that and refrigeration was mentioned. I will probably use lemon curd when I make one and, like you, like mixing it with whipped cream. I want to avoid the slippage factor and am reading all I can prior to attempting this myself. Thanks for the wonderful photos--your meal looks wonderful!

[Chufi]

Pille, those eggs are simply gorgeous! And what a beautiful way to photograph them.

arriba, yes i refrigerated the thing but it sort of collapsed while it was refrigerated. I think it was the cream. Next time, I'll use soemthing else, clotted cream like Kouign Aman suggests, or mascarpone (which is more readily available here).

[Kouign Aman]

Clotted cream is supposed to be simple to make - slow oven, shallow pan, many hours of evaporation. I have not tried this.

Pille, those eggs and arrangement are so pretty! I will be copying you, and thank you!

[snowangel]

Question:

Just how much bone-in ham do a figure per person (teens and adults). Ham is a given here, and I get it from a fab local meat market. It will be a smoked ham (therefore already cooked), and I don't want to serve it cold. Internal temp for warming advice also seeked.

I need a drop dead easy potato recipe. Ideally, it would be do ahead a day in advance, and just reheat in the oven. I have so little counter space that the stove, with a nice big cutting board is needed as "counter" space.

Help!

[judiu]

Question:

Just how much bone-in ham do a figure per person (teens and adults).  Ham is a given here, and I get it from a fab local meat market.  It will be a smoked ham (therefore already cooked), and I don't want to serve it cold.  Internal temp for warming advice also seeked.

I need a drop dead easy potato recipe.  Ideally, it would be do ahead a day in advance, and just reheat in the oven.  I have so little  counter space that the stove, with a nice big cutting board is needed as "counter" space.

Help!

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Make a big batch of mashed potatoes, mix with sour cream, add bacon bits (?), shredded cheese, butter if you want, lots of fresh chives if you have them and anything else that would fit in the "stuffed rebaked potato' catagory. Mix well, pack into a 9 x 13 pan, cover and refrigerate. At cooking time, remove foil, top with bread crumbs, or more bacon bits, or canned FF onion rings, or panko or something for a crunch factor.

Reheat in oven with ham. The website www.theotherwhitemeat.com recommends a serving temp of 140* for precooked ham. HTH!

Edited to fix spelling, I know how to spell "onion" I just don't know when to stop!

Edited April 5, 2009 by judiu (log)

[snowangel]

Make a big batch of mashed potatoes, mix with sour cream, add bacon bits (?), shredded cheese, butter if you want, lots of fresh chives if you have them and

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Hmm. Bacon bits in potatoes along with ham? Works for me! Now, if my guests whould just RSVP, I'd be a happ camper.

Bacon and ham. Ham and bacon. I've gone to heaven.

[Peter the eater]

Anyone else in the planning stages yet?

I'm defrosting a 15 lb homegrown ham which should take a few days in the fridge. The Easter dinner will include the usual suspects: steamed asparagus, scalloped potatoes and maple carrots. Followed by near lethal amounts of chocolate.

[blocksnboards]

The eggs are COOL!!! Just going to have the traditional meal Ham,Mashed Potatoes,Gravy and veggies-Just hang out and take it easy

[snowangel]

Anyone else in the planning stages yet?

I'm defrosting a 15 lb homegrown ham which should take a few days in the fridge. The Easter dinner will include the usual suspects: steamed asparagus, scalloped potatoes and maple carrots. Followed by near lethal amounts of chocolate.

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Peter, are you intending to heat up your ham? If so for how long at what temp? What internal temp should I am for? Mine is a smoked ham...

[Tri2Cook]

A friend has asked for eggs benedict. She says her mom always made it for her and her siblings on easter and christmas while growing up and she misses it. I'm going to oblige because (sometimes) I'm nice like that. Of course, it can't be as simple as your basic, traditional eggs benedict. That just wouldn't be fun (for me), so I have a few twists and turns in mind. Hopefully they won't ruin it for her... and hopefully I don't make a complete mess of it. Not sure about the rest of the menu at this point.

[Peter the eater]

Anyone else in the planning stages yet?

I'm defrosting a 15 lb homegrown ham which should take a few days in the fridge. The Easter dinner will include the usual suspects: steamed asparagus, scalloped potatoes and maple carrots. Followed by near lethal amounts of chocolate.

←

Peter, are you intending to heat up your ham? If so for how long at what temp? What internal temp should I am for? Mine is a smoked ham...

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Plans change, my giant ham thawed well and we sawed off a few steaks for the gas grill tonight. The crowd seemed content.

I say get the meat to at least 58º C (136º F) for safety's sake, lower if your guests are fun and not litigious.

[Restorer]

My Easter menu is slowly coming together, but I won't know all the details until Saturday. My end is to pick up nice fresh spring vegetables from the local Farmer's Market before heading to my mother's house. My scouting of the market has made me consider:

Asparagus

Green beans

Meyer lemons

Fresh herbs

Maybe some fennel

Perhaps radishes

I intend to wrap the asparagus with pancetta, grill them, then add a meyer lemon citronette, maybe with some fennel. The green beans will probably be sauteed or simply steamed.

As a main course, we'll be having lamb chops. We'll also have red potatoes in some fashion.

[rooftop1000]

Ahhh the usual around here

Ham

Lasagna

Grilled butterflied leg of lamb

Asparagus

crab salad, cheese n crakers, deviled eggs to start

Carrot cake and ? for dessert

16 ppl this year

tracey

[emilyr]

My Grandmama usually cooks Easter dinner, but she had her shoulder replaced a few months ago and isn't up to it yet, so I'm taking over. She'd first wanted to do a big curry, but several of the cousins don't really like it, so we're having roast pork instead. Also, asparagus, rolls and potato casserole (with cream of celery soup, cheddar cheese and frozen hash browns! Ugh I know, but the fam really loves it!), and cheese cake for dessert. I'm also going to make a big green salad and maybe some fruity relish type thing for the pork, which will be roasted simply with lots of garlic and sage.

[LizD518]

My Easter dinner is tomorrow night as I am hosting my two brothers and one sister-in-law. It is not really a traditional Easter dinner, just dinner together on easter weekend!

Arugua Salad with Pancetta, HB Egg & White Truffle Vinaigrette

Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Fettuccini Alfredo & Roasted Cherry Tomato Tarragon Sauce

Lemon Cream Tart from "Baking, My Home to Yours" with Fresh Sliced Strawberries

Lots of Wine

[Tiger Black]

Sadly I am not the cook for Easter Dinner, so I don't have a menu. But I just have to ask...Did you call your mother on saying that, and if so what did she say in response?

Sounds like my friend's Mom. If everything were absolutely perfect she'd worry it was TOO perfect.

[David Ross]

I love Easter dinner-but I hate the fact that I can't do much of a locally-sourced menu since our Spring growing season won't produce anything until at least Mid-May.

We are coming out of our worst winter on record-and we've been keeping records since 1885! The asparagus and peas from Walla Walla won't be ready for Sunday's Easter table, and I won't see rhubarb or strawberries until June. Maybe July.

The only locally-sourced product I'll be using are fresh chives. Believe it or not, the chives survived a ferocious winter that brought nearly 100" of snow! Tiny, thin spears of chives are thriving in my garden.

Here is the menu:

Salmon Lox Pizza. (My version of Wolfgang Puck's signature pizza-using the chives from the garden-and salmon from Alaska. Alaska is sort of the Pacific Northwest).

Roast Leg of Lamb. I found a nice Leg of American Lamb in the market today. It's marinating right now in preserved lemon olive oil and an herb rub of rosemary, thyme, garlic, salt, black pepper and ground juniper berries.

Roast Potatoes

Asparagus Custard. (I'll add some morel mushrooms to the custard. I'm using dried morels that I'll reconstitute in water. Fresh morels should start showing up in more abundance in the markets once the snow in the mountains melts and the pickers can get into the forests).

Lemon Bar Tart. Basically this is a lemon bar recipe that I bake in a glass dish then cut into individual servings so it "looks" like an individual tart.

Photos to come.

[onrushpam]

David,

Please, please tell the specifics of how you do the "tarts"!

[David Ross]

David,

Please, please tell the specifics of how you do the "tarts"!

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Thanks, I'm glad to share the recipe. I developed it from a combination of old and new lemon bar recipes.

I think that lemon is a light flavor that goes well after a heavy Easter dinner meat like lamb or ham and I think the flavor of lemon is an awakening to the warmer weather of "Spring." (As you can see in my recipe, I really hit you with the flavor of lemon-lemon zest, lemon oil and fresh lemon juice).

The lemon bar has a shortbread style crust: butter, sugar and flour. (For the lemon bars I'm serving on Easter I'll be adding some chopped, toasted hazelnuts to the dough for the crust).

I line a 9" square baking dish with foil that wraps over the edges of the baking dish. Once the lemon bars are baked, let them cool, then pull up the edges of the foil to lift the sheet of lemon bars out of the baking dish.

Let the lemon bar sheet fully chill in the refrigerator, then sprinkle with some powdered sugar, then cut in rounds or small individual squares.

I like to garnish the lemon bars with whipped cream because it's lighter than ice cream. I think ice cream is a bit heavy for the texture of the lemon bars.

If you really want to be technical and make a "tart"-just bake the crust and filling in individual non-stick tart molds. It's a bit tougher getting them out of the molds, but you can do fancy shapes using the individual tart mold method.

Hope it works for you.

Shortbread Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mix flour, butter and powdered sugar. Press into a 9" square baking dish. Bake in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes until the crust is set and the top is firm.

Lemon Filling:

4 eggs

Zest of 2 lemons

1 tsp. lemon extract or lemon oil

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 envelope unflavored gelatin powder

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Powdered sugar for garnish

Whipped Cream for garnish

Add the eggs, lemon zest, lemon oil, sugar and gelatin powder to a mixing bowl. Beat the mixture until the ingredients are combined and the mixture is smoothl

Add the flour and baking powder and continue to beat the mixture until the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and the batter is smooth.

Pour the lemon batter on top of the par-baked shortbread crust. Bake the "tart" in a 350 oven until the batter is set and firm and the edges just start to turn golden, about 20 minutes.

Let the lemon bar "tart" cool, then remove the sheet from the baking dish. Let it cool fully in the refrigerator.

Just before service, cut the tart in rounds, dust with powdered sugar and serve with dollops of whipped cream.

[onrushpam]

Thanks, I'm glad to share the recipe.  I developed it from a combination of old and new lemon bar recipes.

Yours is very close to mine own favorite lemon bar recipe.

Let the lemon bar sheet fully chill in the refrigerator, then sprinkle with some powdered sugar, then cut in rounds or small individual squares. 

So, you're just making round "tarts" with a biscuit cutter?

I agree about the whipped cream... I'd never imagine serving ice cream with lemon bars.

I have a pint+ of Meyer lemon juice in the freezer and need to use some of it! I may make the lemon "tarts" or maybe the semifreddo recipe I saw today on Epicurious! Whatever I do, it will be lemon!

[David Ross]

So, you're just making round "tarts" with a biscuit cutter?

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Right, just cut into the sheet of lemon bars with a round biscuit cutter. I forgot to mention that the gelatin I add to the recipe gives my lemon bars more of soft pudding texture.