I’m on spring break from school and the baby seems to be doing what in utero babies do—somersaults in my gullet—so there isn’t much news on that front. Instead, I’ll share our Easter dinner celebration. I made most of the meal and my sister did the desserts. Since I have two school uniforms, we decided to get into the culinary fun of it all. That’s Emily wearing my neckerchief as a doo-rag. And, I’m the one wearing the pregnancy belly.
My sister and I chef it up a notch for Easter dinner. Why we insist on having our mouths open for pictures is beyond me.
We had dinner at my mom’s house. Between my parents’ much better stove and my school knife kit, we had all of the tools needed to assemble an A1 sort of dinner.
What We Ate
Appetizers
Crudités, platter of deli meats, a variety of cheeses with crusty bread and crackers, cantaloupe wrapped with prosciutto, and breadsticks wrapped with prosciutto (we are half Italian after all and have a tendency to wrap anything in prosciutto given the chance).
First Course
Fruit salad consisting of blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, green grapes, and cantaloupe (thank you Costco’s giant berry containers). I forgot to make a sauce, so they were just fresh fruit in a bowl.
Meat Courses
Sausage: We did Italian hot and sweet sausages cooked with red and green peppers for the first meat (yes, we are a two meat course kinda group).
Main meat: Grilled leg of lamb with a rosemary, garlic, mustard rub. The leg of lamb was awesome, and would have tasted even better if we could have convinced my dad to dig out the BBQ grill. Instead, we did it under the broiler. And, according to my mother, it was the first time she had used the broiler on that stove. I cooked it for 6 minutes and then rotated the meat and cooked for another 6 minutes. Then, I flipped over the meat and cooked for 12 minutes on the other side, rotated and cooked another 5 minutes. There were a few pieces that were rather rare, but all in all in it came out well. Totally kicked the legs of lamb! (Yup, two boneless legs thank you very much.)
Starches
Bread: We had rolls to pass, but seemed to have forgotten to actually pass the bread. No worries, we also had plenty of other starches. I ran out of time to make my compound butter (and it really didn’t matter because we couldn’t find a lamb butter mold so it would have been ugly butter patties).
Potatoes: Mashed potatoes with pancetta and leeks. The recipe was designed for two servings, so we multiplied by five. Emily and I decided to omit the carrots and zucchini and just focus on the wonders of the tuber. I added a few extra potatoes and a few more ounces of pancetta to make up for the deficit in veggies. I also salted and peppered while cooking. Great make ahead and heat up stove top.
Pasta: Orzo with tomatoes, feta, and green onions. It’s really embarrassing how easy this recipe is to make. It makes an amazing summer dish as well. I have an odd love affair with all things orzo and this one is super tasty. Toasting the pine nuts is key.
Vegetables
Mushrooms: My aunt brought sautéed mushrooms. It’s an old family recipe that is served at every single holiday or family function. It’s basically sliced mushrooms sautéed with olive oil and garlic. And, then you add some white wine, Italian parsley, and lemon juice at the end. My grandmother’s recipe is still the gold standard, but the rest of us try our best.
Asparagus: I made steamed asparagus with a saffron hollandaise sauce on the side because, as my sister says, you can’t just throw sauces on everything and expect people to like it. It really comes down to the fact that she doesn’t like hollandaise sauce, but whatever.
Broccoli: So, the broccoli was steamed but I ran out of time to make the sauce. A bit plain, yes. But give me a break. I was making some crazy amounts of food here. I was going to do a sweet and tangy sauce. Yes, I love me some sauces.
Salad Course
Notice that the salad is at the end. In happy homes, you eat the salad after you finish up your meal. The vinegar in the dressing aids in digestion and the greens cleanse the palette in preparation for dessert. Plus, it’s a refreshing way to end the meal. I made a green salad with citrus and fennel. Because we had regular steamed asparagus, we omitted that portion from the recipe. Instead, I added a grapefruit (de-pithed and de-membraned just like the oranges). And, then Emily and I had fun making pithy references about pith helmets as I cut up the citrus fruits. Let me take a moment to advocate for making your own salad dressing. It’s easy and tastes better than anything you could get in a bottle. You should just do it.
Desserts
Cakes: My aunt brought Mexican wedding cake. Not those crazy cookie-type cakes, but an actual cake with cream cheese frosting. Yum. My sister made a lime angel food cake with pistachios and a lime glaze. Again, yum. I could eat this all day.
Meringue: Pavlova with lemon curd and berries. Emily did a bang up job on this one. (Even if she kept calling it a Pavlov recipe. But, truth be told, it did make me salivate like a dog whose dinner bell has just been rung.) She used blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries for the top. I lent a hand in slicing the strawberries and whipping the cream to mix into the curd at the end. She did both parts the night before, took the meringue out to thaw while we were eating, and assembled it as we were clearing the table from dinner.
Pies: One of Emily’s friends came over with her family for dessert. She brought lemon pie and chocolate cream pie. I love pie. There is so much one could say about the goodness of pie. But, alas, I am sure you are bored to tears with my Easter dinner escapades.
What We Drank
White wine, red wine, and Prosecco (Italian champagne). I had water. Good times.
That’s it. We appropriated some leftovers (fruit salad, mushrooms, and potatoes) for breakfast the next morning along with toast, eggs, and coffee. Then, Paul and I trotted back home with Lima Bean (that’s the dog, not the in utero child. We brought my uterus back with all the other parts of my bloated body).
