Easter/Passover
  • What is everyone making for the holidays?
  • O.M.G. friederike -- so cute and not a dessert! We'll have to post pictures.
  • Adorable!
  • We're pretty traditional for Easter dinner - baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls, pie ...

    I'm looking at a new recipe for the ham and haven't chosen the pie yet. The next day is my oldest son's birthday so he gets to choose.
  • Turkey is the tradition in my family for Easter Sunday but I'd really like to make a brisket, which I've never done before. And I plan to make the Greek Easter bread from the Olive and the Caper.
  • we do ham too -- my mother's tried and true recipe (brown sugar, cloves and ginger ale for basting)
    I've done the Greek Easter Bread from Peter Reinhart's book--it's wonderful...we're also thinking about his bagels for Sunday morning...
  • I know that it's not yet Easter, but we had a few people over this weekend and will only have a very simple family brunch next week Sunday, so we had fun with food today. Unfortunately, the deviled egg chicks didn't work out at all - they fell over, the caps slid off or crushed into the cream.. in the end I just served them as egg halves. But that wasn't all. I dressed up my chocolate brownie as miniature garden, and our magnus opus: a Mondriaan Cake! And I couldn't resist posting these photos..
  • Outdoor photos...I'm so jealous! But it's wonderful to see spring somewhere in the world. It certainly doesn't feel like it where I am.
    Your cake looks fantastic, and the brownie garden, so pretty. It's too bad about the chicks but it sounds as though you had lovely spread regardless.
  • friederike, loved the photos you shared. I had pinned those deviled egg chicks in hopes of making some for our Easter sorry to hear they didn't work out for you. Since Mom is in the residential Hospice house not sure what we're doing for Easter dinner. We usually do ham. I did start some pickled eggs with beet juice today.
  • How interesting that northern hemisphere people do ham for easter. It would never occur to anyone in Oz. Ham is for Christmas.

    The weather in Melbourne is usually pretty good at Easter so a lot of people have barbecues, or if it's a sit-down meal commonly roast lamb or pork. If I was cooking for guests, which I'm not, I'd probably do a slow-cooked shoulder of lamb. You don't (unless you're Greek or Italian in which case bring on the spit-roast) feel constrained by tradition the way you do at Christmas.
  • I think Christmas dinner is less traditional in the US because we have Thanksgiving the month before. Turkey is served for Thanksgiving. Typically some kind of beef is served for Christmas. And then ham for Easter. Traditions vary, of course, and many people eat ham for Christmas.
  • There are also all the Easter morning traditions. I have friends of Polish descent who make a special trip to a downtown market for Polish sausage and special European style butter molded in the form of a lamb. They make a fabulous Easter breakfast, followed by an Easter egg (various forms of chocolate and candy eggs, all decorated and wrapped with festive paper and ribbons) hunt in the garden.
  • My Greek Easter Bread is rising. Couldn't find mahlepi, and rather than substitute I increased the ground mastic by maybe 30%. The dough has a marvelous flavor!
  • Happy Easter, friends. Right on schedule, our daffodils are blooming, and the wild quail are running through our yard. I might have even seen a cottontail bunny this morning. I hope you all have a lovely day.

    My egg chick attempt is here, and I prepared the Greek easter bread. Both tagged with "easter 2013".
  • There are certainly no daffodils here in New Hampshire but the snow is finally starting to melt.

    Last year's meal was so good that I recreated most of it again this year. We had scalloped potatoes, baked ham, asparagus, green beans and biscuits. Only the biscuits were a new recipe. I've tagged all my recipes with Easter.

    Later, we'll have Easter Sundaes which have been a tradition in our family for years. I'll make chocolate sauce and whipped cream and we bought some yummy ice cream and toppings. Finally, I have to bake a birthday cake for my son who turns 19 on Tuesday. Tomorrow, I have to drive to NY to return him to college and I'd like to send him with a cake to share with his friends.
  • I celebrated Easter yesterday with extended family (30 people!) with a buffet dinner. My contribution was a brisket (my first), Polish Easter Baba (reviewed last year), the Greek Easter cheese tartlets (still delicious a few days after making) and a Croatian honey cake.

    I made a brunch this morning that included Dahlia bakery monkey bread and having said goodbye to visiting family am now relaxing while my turkey roasts (immediate family still needs to eat and 2 children will take leftovers back to school with them tomorrow). I’ve also tagged the reviews with “Easter".
  • Zosia - you are a cooking machine! So wonderful - I like thinking about all your family enjoying the fruits of your labor. It sounds wonderful.

    I prepared a roasted chicken (from the Olive and Caper cookbook), and Brussels Sprouts from "A Girl and her Pig". This recipe called for Juniper Berries. I couldn't find them in the local markets, and so the family went for a hike in the mountains and we collected Juniper berries. They are not the typical ones - but (thankful for my botany background) I was able to determine that they are not poisonous. Next fall I'll pick more at their peak.

    Now I am relaxing with a nice glass of red wine.
  • I'm finally getting around to doing some posting and wanted to mention that we ended up changing plans and making a Jamie Oliver tried and true roast pork loin with fennel and rosemary and garlic. I wanted to review it here, but had no idea where it originally came from--a little googling and it seems to be in "Jamie at Home" so I reviewed it (but without a true page number as I only have a rumpled old photocopy)...it was delicious as always...Everyone's menus sound great...

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