Anybody cooking for Easter or Passover Now??

What are your cooking or menu plans? Any special dishes?
We are having the traditional ham, a potato dish, asperagus, and salad. Probably dill bread and Almond pound cake.

Whoops forgot its passover too!!!

Going very untraditional for us this year.

Tonight I'm making my pork roast and some chicken breasts in the crock pot to make tamales with tomorrow. I will also be making my thai ice cream mixture tonight so it can sit in the fridge overnight and I'll run it through the ice cream maker tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll make my tamales and the wife will make hummus. We'll get our veggie/cheese tray together and I'll wash my mushrooms so they're ready to go Sunday. We'll throw my wife's eggplant parmesan in the oven to cook so we just have to reheat it on Sunday.

Sunday morning I'll start the prime rib and yorkshire pudding. My wife will make the mashed potatoes and boil the corn on the cob. When we're about 15 minutes out from serving I'll throw the asparagus on the grill. While the prime rib is resting the eggplant parm will go back in the oven to reheat.

Once guests arrive I'll be throwing together my buffalo mushrooms as an appetizer. (along with the veggies, cheese and hummus)

Guests are bringing salad, bread and cake for dessert.

Everything should come together pretty well hopefully. Still not sure where the tamales fit in other than as a heavy appetizer. But, my brother and dad have been bugging me to make them for them so they're getting some Sunday whether they like it or not.

Wow that sounds good. Love hummus and love tamales. Very ambitious. I imagine a lot of folks will be cooking on the grill for Easter if the weather cooperates.

We go to my partners family downstate. One cousin and her husband manage the local K of C Hall so they get it free and it has a nice commercial kicthen. They make the ham there and everyone else brings sides or makes sides there. The Hall has a nice bar so we bring wine, they have beer availible. We will have about 30-35 people so lots of room for the kids to play games and the adults visit.

I'll be starting on some carrot-mango-ginger sorbet tonight to serve with carrot cake on Sunday and probably do a batch of cherry blossom macarons (since my tree bloomed this past week and I'm inspired).

Meal will be at the neighbor's house. I'm making baked beans and lemon berry trifle using a homemade lemon pound cake and lemon curd. Beans are in the oven now and I'll make the pound cake tongiht. Probably the same with the lemon curd so I can just assemble the trifle Sunday AM.

post pictures of your feast if you can!!

We are having a small gathering of friends, including one who celebrates Passover. So, instead of ham we are having tea-smoked salmon:
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/tea- ... elish.aspx

Lemon-barley pilaf from Dorrie Greenspan's In My French Kitchen,
and steamed broccoli.

Friends are bringing appetizers and dessert.

Should be fun! Happy Easter and Passover to all!

Cheers, Jen

P.S. also Gimlets.

I'm celebrating Easter in New Jersey at my Mom's house. It's a bittersweet weekend because today we had a memorial service for my Aunt, who died about 10 days ago. On the bright side, one of the out-of-town guests who is a chef/farmer* arrived bearing gifts including beautiful sugared cardamom rolls with slivered almonds as well as cheese from a local farmer in her little town in New Hampshire. We also have a plethora of other leftovers, including my Mom's famous Danish puff coffee cake, which I hadn't had for years.

For dinner tomorrow, we decided to go with a non-traditional family favorite: I'm cooking seafood paella, using the same recipe my Mom's side of the family has been using (eating) since about 1945 when they moved to Tangier, Morocco, and had a Spanish cook. It's comfort food to us.

* Side note: This same guest had us enthralled over dinner as she told stories about her umpteenth year volunteering to run a kitchen at one of the Iditarod pitstops, where she cooks for mushers, their crew, judges, families, visitors and locals. By the time we were finished with dinner, my Mom, Aunt & I all decided we're going with her next year to work on her kitchen crew. We all love volunteering & love an adventure, so it sounds like the perfect combination!

HI,

Easter has become a somewhat testy subject in our home. This is due to part of the family going to brunch, then making an appearance at our home. Considering all the work involved, making an appearance does not sit well.

I am fighting fire with fire this year. Instead of ham (I bought one anyway for the future), I am doing Korean BBQ. I bought at a rummage sale a Faberware electric tabletop grill. We will be cooking bulgogi as well as a (pork) bo ssam. I will spend a few hours making panchan. They are all hippity hoppy excited about the menu.

Of course, Easter is not Easter without the butter lamb and lamb cake. I think the butter lamb will just be there as a witness to our meal to be eaten another day.

Regards,

Korean is good. I would love to have that. My mom is stuck on the tradition ham meal so that is what we will have.

Just finished prep for two Smitten Kitchen-featured potato salads with which I've had success before; family tally will be 26 tomorrow.

dilled potato and pickled cucumber
green beans and pesto

The dilled goes very well with cracked Easter eggs!

We'll be four here for Easter dinner. I got a nice leg of lamb at Sunset (only $5.99/lb; same price as Aldi; rumor has it Mariano's has Sunset and all the other local grocery stores running scared). I'm going to rub the lamb with garlic and herbes de Provence before I roast it. With the lamb, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn, and roasted asparagus. The sweet tooths in the house have already made sure there is plenty of candy on hand for dessert.

After traditional seder fare on Friday (braised brisket with carrots, parsnips and potatoes, flourless chocolate cake, others in the clan brought gefilte fish, veggies, matzo ball soup, salad), now we're working on Easter: rib roast, rolls, and a springtime salad of asparagus, peas, feta, chnives and tarragon in a creamy lemon dressing with more tarragon, nutmeg, olive oil, egg yolk and a smidgen of sour cream.

Went out for Easter. Aged New York Strip steak. I enjoyed myself.

JoelF wrote:After traditional seder fare on Friday (braised brisket with carrots, parsnips and potatoes, flourless chocolate cake, others in the clan brought gefilte fish, veggies, matzo ball soup, salad), now we're working on Easter: rib roast, rolls, and a springtime salad of asparagus, peas, feta, chnives and tarragon in a creamy lemon dressing with more tarragon, nutmeg, olive oil, egg yolk and a smidgen of sour cream.

Joel, would you care to post the asparagus salad recipe? It sounds wonderful.

dees_1 wrote:

JoelF wrote:After traditional seder fare on Friday (braised brisket with carrots, parsnips and potatoes, flourless chocolate cake, others in the clan brought gefilte fish, veggies, matzo ball soup, salad), now we're working on Easter: rib roast, rolls, and a springtime salad of asparagus, peas, feta, chnives and tarragon in a creamy lemon dressing with more tarragon, nutmeg, olive oil, egg yolk and a smidgen of sour cream.

Joel, would you care to post the asparagus salad recipe? It sounds wonderful.

Sure thing. The dressing methodology was inspired by "Preservation Kitchen" -- the use of creme fraiche and sweet-and-sour items comes from the Waldorf salad.

Springtime Asparagus, Pea and Feta Salad

2 lbs asparagus, cut in 2" lengths
2 cups peas
1/2 lb crumbly feta cheese
2 Tbs chives, in 1/2" lengths
3 tbs chopped fresh tarragon leaves divided
Zest and Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs dry white wine
2 tsp sour cream
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup olive oil (approximately)
salt & pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1) Prepare dressing: mix sour cream, wine, 2/3 of the lemon juice, salt, sugar, pepper, nutmeg and 1 tbs tarragon, egg yolk (I used an immersion blender). Drizzle the olive oil in slowly and continue to blend or whisk. Don't expect something as thick as mayo, more like thick cream.
2) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. If the peas are frozen, blanch separately, otherwise, blanch together for a couple minutes until bright green. Shock in ice water immediately, drain when well chilled.
3) Crumble feta into salad with chives and remained of chopped tarragon leaves, dress and gently toss. Chill until serving, at least one hour. Taste and add more lemon juice and salt if needed

JoelF wrote:

dees_1 wrote:

JoelF wrote:After traditional seder fare on Friday (braised brisket with carrots, parsnips and potatoes, flourless chocolate cake, others in the clan brought gefilte fish, veggies, matzo ball soup, salad), now we're working on Easter: rib roast, rolls, and a springtime salad of asparagus, peas, feta, chnives and tarragon in a creamy lemon dressing with more tarragon, nutmeg, olive oil, egg yolk and a smidgen of sour cream.

Joel, would you care to post the asparagus salad recipe? It sounds wonderful.

Sure thing. The dressing methodology was inspired by "Preservation Kitchen" -- the use of creme fraiche and sweet-and-sour items comes from the Waldorf salad.

Springtime Asparagus, Pea and Feta Salad

2 lbs asparagus, cut in 2" lengths
2 cups peas
1/2 lb crumbly feta cheese
2 Tbs chives, in 1/2" lengths
3 tbs chopped fresh tarragon leaves divided
Zest and Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs dry white wine
2 tsp sour cream
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup olive oil (approximately)
salt & pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1) Prepare dressing: mix sour cream, wine, 2/3 of the lemon juice, salt, sugar, pepper, nutmeg and 1 tbs tarragon, egg yolk (I used an immersion blender). Drizzle the olive oil in slowly and continue to blend or whisk. Don't expect something as thick as mayo, more like thick cream.
2) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. If the peas are frozen, blanch separately, otherwise, blanch together for a couple minutes until bright green. Shock in ice water immediately, drain when well chilled.
3) Crumble feta into salad with chives and remained of chopped tarragon leaves, dress and gently toss. Chill until serving, at least one hour. Taste and add more lemon juice and salt if needed

This sounds GOOD, including your variations!! Can't wait to gt me some spring peas and asparagus!!

My Easter cooking is just beginning to ramp up. The Chow Poodle, being of Greek heritage, celebrates Easter (or Greekster, as we sometimes call it) next Sunday, and I'll be cooking for 19. I'll be making a spit roasted leg of lamb and a city ham. We'll also have rice pilaf, pastitso, salad and assorted cheeses and olives. For appetizer munchies, I'll be making an onion & bacon tart based on a recipe I found in Saveur along with some hummus and home made pita chips.

boudreaulicious wrote:This sounds GOOD, including your variations!! Can't wait to gt me some spring peas and asparagus!!

Thank you for posting this recipe Joel! That sounds amazing....we just finished up the last shopping trip's asparagus but there will be more soon!!!

Anne Burrell did a somewhat similar asparagus salad on 'Secrets of a Restaurant Chef,' except that there are no peas (yay!) and the asparagus is left raw (!). Good stuff. Very strong flavor profile; fine make-ahead recipe. I love one of the commenters suggestion to add chopped cooked bacon prior to tossing the salad ingredients.

Does 400 for Easter brunch count?

I didn't get a chance to take many pictures of my Greek Easter dinner, but it turned out well and all 21 (that was the final count) left happily stuffed just before the rains came. Here are the few pictures I managed to take.

Bacon Caramalized Onion Tart






Spit Roasted Leg of Lamb






I came across some grapevines at Chicago Firewood last week and I used some of them to smoke/roast this leg of lamb. I had heard that grapevines are a common fuel for spit roasted lamb in Greece, so I was delighted to find grapevines among the extensive selection of fruitwoods that Chicago Firewood sells cut into chunks for use when smoking.

That's a gorgeous hunk of lamb, Steve.

Do you find that boneless has as much flavor as a bone-in roast?

LAZ wrote:That's a gorgeous hunk of lamb, Steve.

Do you find that boneless has as much flavor as a bone-in roast?

When you marinate it for over 24 hrs. in olive oil, garlic, herbs de Provence and lemon and then smoke roast it, yes. I'm not sure if that would be true if it were simply dusted with salt and pepper and roasted in an oven, though.

That looks great. Love the bacon tart.

stevez wrote:

Oh yes...........................