The Easter Feast Post, 2008

Happy Easter everyone! For those of you who don't celebrate Easter, I hope you will enjoy it this post also. It was posted in real time, originally, as I was preparing each dish.

I should have time stamped this post. The reason it shows Saturday is that is when I started with the flower arrangement. I began cooking at about 8:30 am on Sunday and finished food preparations around 6:50 pm. (I noticed the clock on the beam next to the side board.) Everything, from eating to clean up was done by 8:30 pm...so, about 12 hours.

The Easter table emerged. I folded napkin swans, but Byron dubbed them the Easter turkeys! He's a crazy man.:





The first order of business, the holiday cocktail. This makes the cooking fun, don'tcha know!

The Holiday Cocktails:
Byron prefers mimosa's (champagne and orange juice) but I am having a poinsettia (champagne and cranberry juice). Each of them is made special by the addition of a "flavor enhancer," for the mimosa add a splash of Cointreau (orange liqueur) and for the poinsettia add a splash of Chambord (raspberry liqueur):


A toast to Easter!

Now on to the cooking.

The first dish is a family favorite, tomato aspic. I will say, it's an acquired taste. It's a savory jelled dish; I love it. Think of it as a congealed bloody mary!

Tomato Aspic

• 4 cups tomato juice
• 6 packages of Unflavored Gelatin
• 2/3 water
• 1 Tbs Worchestershire
  
• 2 tsp salt
• 5 Tbs vinegar
• 2 1/2 cups green pepper, diced
  
• 2 1/2 cups celery, diced
• 1 cup onion, diced
  

Dissolve gelatin in water.

Heat all of the ingredients, with the exception of the gelatin and water, in a large sauce pan until almost to a boil. Remove from heat and add the gelatin. Stir until all the gelatin is dissolved.



Pour into a mold that has been sprayed with oil (or just a bowl if you prefer) and refrigerate until set.


Next, what is a Southern feast without deviled eggs, you ask? It isn't a Southern feast, that's what.

Deviled Eggs

• 6 Hard-cooked eggs (I always make spares...details later*)
• 1/4 cup mayonaise
• 1 tsp yellow mustard
• 1 tsp vinegar
• Paprika or parsley sprigs (optional)

There are tricks to easily peeled hard-cooked eggs. The first is to buy the eggs a week or so ahead of time. If you forget to do so, as I did, just add about 1/4 cup of white vinegar to the water in which you boil the eggs. I only had one that gave me fits this time.


Deviled Egg Ingredients:


Cut the eggs in half, length wise and remove the yolks. With a fork, mash the yolks and then add the other ingredients and stir:


You can just spoon this mixture into the egg halves, but I always pipe mine:



Garnish with either a sprinkle of paprika or a sprig of parsley. *The extra ones I have on the deviled egg tray are for the person who likes to steal a few before it's time to serve them. (Looking at you, Byron!)


Garlic, Onion, Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

• 3 large baking potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 box vegetable stock
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 4 Tbs salt
  
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 4 ounces butter
• 4 ounces cream cheese
  

Peel and dice the potatoes, onions and garlic and place in a large sauce pan with the vegetable stock, rosemary sprig and salt. Boil until the potatoes are soft, approximately 40 minutes. I use vegetable stock to cook the potatoes in because they add to the rich taste of the final product. Additionally, I am making a rotisserie leg of lamb, so I will use that stock for a gravy later.


Drain the potatoes in a colander into another pan. Remember, the stock is being used later for a gravy. Notice that rich, golden color they took on from cooking in the vegetable stock.


Add butter, cream cheese and pepper to the pan the potatoes cooked in. Put the drained potatoes back in the same pan and roughly mash. Cover and hold for later.


This next dish I have been making for over 20 years. It may well be one of the reasons Byron married me, since it is just like his mom used to make. It is a must have on any of our holiday menus. While the original recipe came from Southern Elegance, the Junior League Cookbook from Gaston County, North Carolina, in 1987, I am giving you my portions.

Oyster Casserole:

• 6-8 oz containers of fresh oysters
• 3 sleeves of saltine crackers, crumbled coarsely
  
• 12 ounces butter, melted
• salt
• pepper
• nutmeg
  
• parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup oyster liquor
  
• 1/4 cup milk
  

In a plastic bag, crumble the crackers and add the melted butter. This starts the first layer of the casserole:

Pour the oysters into a bowl, chop the parsley and get your salt, pepper and nutmeg ready.


Layer the oysters onto the layer of crackers, sprinkle with salt, pepper, nutmeg and parsley:


You will have two layers of oysters ending with cracker crumbs. Pour the oyster liquor (the reserve oyster juice) and milk over the layers. At this point, this casserole will hold. Bake it in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes when you are ready to serve it.



Have I mentioned that Byron is nuts? He was snacking on smoked mussels and crackers. This is his way of telling me he's getting hungry and ready for me to start the lamb:


Rotisserie Lamb with Garlic, Rosemary, Mustard Glaze:

Make the glaze with:

• Dijon Mustard
• Rosemary, fresh, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  
• pepper
• salt
• dry white wine
  

Salt and Pepper the lamb; put some slits in the roast, stick some extra garlic cloves into the slits. I line the rotisserie with foil for easy clean up, cause rotisseries are a pain in the tush to clean.


Turn on the rotisserie and baste the lamb with the mustard glaze. Notice I have inserted a meat thermometer, this will ensure a nice rare lamb roast.


After just a few minutes, you can see the browning and caramelizing of the fat and the glaze. Brush on more mustard glaze every 15 minutes or so.


A mid-way through glazing:


Almost done:


Sherried Peas with Mushrooms:

• 1 package frozen peas, thawed
• 3 Tbs butter
• 1 cup dry sherry
• 1 tsp dry marjoram
• 1/2 package of sliced mushrooms
  

Melt the butter in a skillet and add the sherry, marjoram and mushrooms. Saute until the mushrooms are softened:


Add the peas at the last minute to heat through.


For the gravy...it just winged it...so let me tell you what I did. First I took the vegetable stock that the potatoes cooked in. To that, I added about a cup of port wine and heated it. Then, I took about 4 Tbs of flour and added about a cup of the hot stock/port and whisked it.


I added that to the pan with the rest of the liquid and whisked. When it came to a boil it was thickened and lovely.

Added the water and the wine to the table:

Set it all out on the side board. [Note: I love that portrait of the pups and me. That was an anniversary gift to Byron from me many years ago; it was painted by our friend, Bob Cloyd]:


A close up:


Nom, nom! It was so wonderful! Thank you for sharing Easter with me and joining me as I cooked and dined...

Paula

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Sauce Love...An All Day Adventure.

Most of my days off are spent on all day cooking projects. I just love puttering in the kitchen and the smells of my favorite foods permeating the house. This post will be the first in which I share one of my own recipes. It was a revelation preparing it because I normally just dump things in; I had to take notes and measure! I offer Pasta Sauce...simmered all day.

The best things about this recipe are:

1. It makes a ton. So, you can freeze the remainder in serving sized containers for future meals.
2. It is totally adaptable to your tastes or dietary needs or wants.
3. It's yummy! Yes, that's a technical term.

Here is a photo of the ingredients, as I made it:

1. 2-26 ounce boxes of Pomi Strained Tomatoes. (You can use tomato sauce, but I found this at Kroger and I'm here to tell you, it's fabulous!)
2. 2-28 ounce cans of Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes
3. 2 Bay Leaves
4. 2 ounces Pesto (I used this because my regular grocery didn't have fresh basil. This is a nice substitute for dry basil. When converting fresh herbs to dry, use 1 tsp of dry for 1 Tbs of fresh.)
5. 2 Tbs chopped fresh oregano
6. Black Pepper and Salt (I added about 2tsp of salt since the tomatoes are not salted.)
7. 1/2 bottle of red wine (Remember, in cooking you want to use wine you would drink...I used a nice Bordeaux.)
8. 2 red peppers*
9. 2 yellow peppers*
10. 2 red onions*
11. 5 large cloves of garlic
    
12. 1 Tbs olive oil
13. 4 Links of Italian Sausage
14. 2 Lbs Ground Round
    

Options for this sauce are:

1. Making it meatless. I do this often. Just leave out the meat.
2. Add mushrooms (I usually do, but I didn't have any) or any other lightly sauteed vegetables, i.e. squash or zucchini or eggplant.
   
3. Making it Vegan friendly, obviously make it meatless (or add a meat substitute). Also, you would not use the Pesto as a basil substitute because it contains Pecorino Romano cheese.
4. Making it Kosher friendly, obviously no pork sausage. If you use ground beef, leave out the pesto and the parmesan I add later.
   

[ *I used the red and yellow peppers and red onions because they provide a lovely sweetness to the sauce that I find lacking in green peppers and white onions. ]

The first step is to put the first six ingredients into a large stock pot:


Next, add the wine:



Dice the peppers and onions. For this recipe, I prefer a chunky dice, but try to make the pieces kind of uniform in size:



And then the garlic, I have a garlic press, the Susi by Zyliss, but I just chopped it. The garlic skins can easily be removed by taking the flat side of a butcher knife and giving the garlic a good whack! Also, you want to cut off the stem end of the garlic. Then, just chop away:



Add the olive oil to a hot skillet and add the peppers, onions and garlic. You want to saute them all slowly on low heat so they become translucent, but not browned:



Once they look like the picture above, just add them to the stock pot:


In the same skillet you sauteed the vegetables (no need to wash it), remove the casing (just cut a slit in the casing and peel it off) break up and brown the Italian Sausage:



I always drain the meat in a colander and rinse the fat off with hot running water. Then, add the browned sausage to the stock pot:


Next, again in the same skillet (no need to wash) brown the ground beef:



Again, drain in a colander and rinse with hot running water to remove excess fat and add to the stock pot:



And it looks like this:



Now, sit back and relax (remember, you have a half bottle of wine to drink *wink*). Enjoy the aroma as the sauce simmers slowly, uncovered, over low heat..all day. Stir it occasionally to prevent sticking. The sauce will reduce in volume and thicken naturally as the day goes on. Did I mention, it smells wonderful?

This sauce can be used on any variation of pasta. I used Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Spaghetti.

I also topped the spaghetti with a completely wonderful parmigiano reggiano. It is a bit expensive, but there is nothing to compare to the taste of this lovely aged cheese. I used my micro plane to finely grate it.



Set the table, add a fresh salad (I dressed it with a balsamic vinaigrette), and you are ready to dig in:



After a long day relaxing, join me as I dine!

Paula

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