Good morning, folks!
In two hours and forty minutes, our guests will begin arriving for what I hope is the start of a wonderful holiday tradition: Easter dinner at our house.
Easter morning itself -- the basket with the candy -- was never one of my most favorite holiday times.
Growing up, we'd get an Easter basket stuffed with straw, some hard-boiled eggs and a few sugary treats. Usually my grandparents would send one of those chalky, dried marshmellow bunnies or chicks. My other grandparents would send us each an Easter card, with one ironed dollar bill in each.
What I really liked was:
1) Decorating the eggs.
and 2) Our Easter dinner.
Easter dinner was always a big baked ham, some soft dinner rolls, and assorted vegetables, some fresh -- asparagus! -- and some that were put away in glass jars by my mother in the previous summer and fall. And pickles! My mother made her own pickles in a plastic bin in the basement, picked cucumbers and beans, and there was always a jar of these in the refrigerator.
Not just the food, though -- it was the whole ritual of sitting around together.
Easter meals sorted of faded away for me during my adult life.
Living away from my parents -- Easter just wasn't always the holiday you would go home for.
But I had one very special meal when I was living in Central Europe in my twenties. I was invited over to the house of a local couple for a traditional Easter meal. Everyone at the table got some baked ham, a hard-boiled egg and -- to my surprise -- food that was familiar to me from American seders: shredded horseradish and a salad of apples and walnuts. I guess there was considerable overlap between Jewish and Christian cooking this time of year in that part of the world.
Now that I am happily partnered and settled in at home, I'm ready to start up the tradition of ritual Easter feasting again.
The lamb is in the oven -- I'm braising it, because I'm just not confident enough about dry heat to serve a roast leg to guests. (What if it's too dry?)
The asparagus is trimmed and ready for the pot.
We've got our decorated Easter eggs on the table.
And the guests are coming for wine and snacks, and then the meal, and a rousing good time.
What are you serving for Easter dinner?
Do you have any special Easter memories?