What's everyone cooking for Easter Dinner?

What are you serving (if you are cooking)? I have a very usual base repertoire of baked ham, a cheesy potato casserole, veg (usually roasted asparagus) and polish sausage with sauerkraut. This is mainly because my family is used to it. If friends happen to show up, it gets interesting because they bring stuff off of the familiar menu.

My bride-to-be's parents are flying in from CT for Easter so her father can meet my parents. Of course, I'll be the one cooking.

Here's the menu so far

- Crown roast of pork roasted with apples and onions
- Scalloped potatoes
- Green bean casserole (It's my sister's favorite)
- Fresh Cranberry apple relish
- Grilled asparagus
- Assorted desserts.

Flip

How do you make the cranberry-apple relish? It sounds delicious.

Leg of lamb over the coals.

rosie wrote:How do you make the cranberry-apple relish? It sounds delicious.

Roughly:

1 bag fresh cranberries, chopped
2 Granny smith apples, chopped
2 oranges cut into supremes and chopped, squeeze the juice out of the remaining oranges
Gran Marnier, to taste

I usually use the food processor for the cranberries and hand chop the apples and oranges.

mix, chill, eat

Flip

Just negotiated a menu with my mom last night:

- nehari
- biryani (beef) -- update: this ended up being chicken


- nargisi kofteh -- update: this was our little version of the easter egg hunt.


- mirch ki salan

- methi aloo
- chicken korma -- update: this ended up being beef (switcharoo with the biryani)

Soup TBD

Baked Nueske Ham, Sour Cherry Glaze (from the jam I made last summer)

Mac & Cheese

Either Creamed Spinach or Sauteed Broccoli (Customary Dining Companion just had a Broccoli Breakthrough, deciding he doesn't hate it after all)

Coconut Tapioca, Fresh Berries (recipe purloined from Keen's Steakhouse in NYC)

I'm spending Easter with a friend whose significant other is vegetarian. No lamb for me.

Any suggestions for veggie-friendly Easter dishes, fire away.

Vegan or vegetarian? Before we had Sparky, we did a semi-potluck Thanksgiving for our friends, two of whom were vegan. Vegan side dishes aren't too hard: one year I made saffron rice with wine instead of chicken broth, the next, dressing with dried fruit and apple cider to soften the bread (assuming the bread is vegan)

One year I made a terrine of portobello mushrooms, red peppers, and spinach (just sauteed them all separately in EVOO and garlic, layered them in a mini loaf pan, refrigerated, then reheated and turned it out) it was pretty good, and the layers were pretty.

Brisket and a turkey breast on the smoker.

crrush wrote:I'm spending Easter with a friend whose significant other is vegetarian. No lamb for me.

Any suggestions for veggie-friendly Easter dishes, fire away.

Years ago, I did a project that for some reason involved the book Vegetarian Celebrations by Nava Atlas. This, it turned out, is a fabulous collection of veggie dishes for all holidays. The Wife loves the book and has used receipes for Spring Vegetable Pie, Colcannon and other selections from the Easter/St. Patrick's Day section. The new edition of the book is available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Celebrations-Festive-Holidays-Occasions/dp/0316057398/ref=pd_sim_b_3/002-7528906-2348845

We're going with something simple---Probably something like grilled ribeyes or a rib roast with the usual side dishes.

Easter Sunday also happens to be Masters (final round) Sunday. I plan to plant my keister on the couch for the "pregame","game", and "postgame"---A total of 10 hours of TV watching and junk food eating is in store for me.

It is the one day of the year that I vegetate, and have no guilt admitting to.

Happy Easter and Passover to all-------

Menu as of now (most of which I have never made previously, but I think perhaps a small test run tomorrow):

Roasted bitter greens salad with pears

Large Ravioli stuffed with roasted potatoes, gorgonzola, roasted garlic and thyme

Rack of lamb - pan seared then finished in the oven with either a dijon mustard breadcrumb topping (thank you JUlia) or a paste my roommate is trying to get me to use (anchovies, garlic, parsley, and lemon zest)


Whats on your table?

To be continued...

mmmm, I love assorted prime beef cuts

Roast leg of lamb with Rosemary and Garlic (recipe from Naked Chef)
Roasted vegetable stacks with goat cheese
Chicken Italian sausage rigatoni
Truffled potato gratin
Roasted garlic asparagus
and
Deviled eggs.

Bridgestone wrote:
To be continued...

I can't wait for the details, Bridgestone.

I will be cooking for a group of 7 at my folks in Arizona. So lamb on the grill is definitely the way to go (good call stevez!). I bought two smaller boned legs at Costco, so we can satisfy the well-done lamb lovers and not suffer too much. Garlic/rosemary rub with that. I'm making a hot pea and watercress soup, steamed asparagus, roasted new potatoes, and Fredy Girardet's Tarte au Citron. If I have time, I will also make Rose Levy Berenbaum's cooked rhubarb/fresh strawberry tarte. Smoke salmon to start.

Roasted Leg of lamb encrusted with garlic, fresh rosemary, thyme, sea salt and pepper.

Roast potatoes - Same herb/spice combo as the lamb, plus the bath in lamb fat and olive oil in the bottom of the roasting pan.

Fresh spinach sauteed in garlic and olive oil.

Key lime pie - (don't ask why, just a whim)

HI,

I am making a small 12 pound turkey and a small 9 pound ham. This pleases those who think every holiday dinner is a turkey and those who associate Easter with ham. The only person who didn't get their favored food into the mix was me: I'd rather have rare leg of lamb. Of course, I am going for a 2nd Easter dinner at Spoon Thai, which makes up for missing lamb.

Regards,

I am making the following:

Carmelized onion and cauliflower tart from the March edition of Bon Apetit. This will be an appetizer, and my dinner for the week (!)

Bone-in pork roast
Mashed potatoes baked with gruyere cheese
Asparagus with parmesan

Homemade gingerbread (from Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking") made with Steen's syrup and served with whipped cream


Easter always fakes me out. I want a really nice spring dinner, with berries or something lovely for dessert. Not this year! Hearty cold-weather food is called for.

TODG's folks are in from LI, so we're pulling out a few of the stops:

Lac Brome canard à l'orange

legumes divers rôtis

chicorée frisés avec cannellinis

gateau de Deborah

2000 Pic St-Loup

(and parmy spelling--it's bad enough in Anglais, let alone française!)

Geo

http://www.canardsdulacbrome.com/

(edited once to add the last two lines)

Cathy2, what a shame you don't get to eat what you want for Easter. Maybe next year you could do what we're doing. Sweet Baboo and I are staying home alone today, and tonight we'll have a roast leg of lamb*, potatoes (scalloped or mashed, I haven't decided yet), a green salad, and some red wine. Tomorrow we'll be having dinner over at my sister's, where I think the main course will be ham. Ham is fine with me, but that and all the sides are up to my sister's husband; even trying to bring a side dish would throw off his plans. So we'll have our private Easter dinner on Saturday, and go with the family flow on Sunday.

(*Yes, I know, the Church does not require, but suggests, that we carry Good Friday's fast and abstinence over to Saturday if possible. But we each got by yesterday with just two slices of cheese pizza and our morning coffee, so I don't feel bad about having lamb tonight.)

Not for Easter, per se, but Friday I cooked marinated boneless leg of lamb on the WSM (without the water pan, so it got smoky and crispy), grilled asparagus, salad and grilled tomato (the tomato didn't do so well, it was too smoky).

Marinade was 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup red wine, 1/2 cup raspberry vinegar, crushed black pepper, lots of garlic, oregano (I had no rosemary).

My brother is taking a stab at Easter this year... and preparing a prime rib roast and sides. I, on the otherhand, will be taking care of dessert... possibly cheesecake and/or lemon bars.