Easter Feast Brunch Menu: We Take Food Seriously

Passover, Easter, whatever you’re celebrating this weekend, we know aside from the beautiful church stuff, the gist of it is foooooooood. We love food around here. Food, food, food. This pic is from Christmas a few years back. We like meat (except my sister Bridget, who lovingly hates it). I’ve blogged about our feasts before {Feasts!}. We also like a fancied up table:

This Easter will be no different. Although we have a smaller gathering than usual, with my East Coast sibs not coming back in town, it will be delicious still. I hope. Unless I burn the ham.

1) Ham.

My aunt Helen is a rockstar among chefs. She’s teaching me on Saturday how to make her amazing ham. Nota bene: I hate ham. Always have. It’s nasty. But I’m open to a mouthwatering recipe (apparently) and open to using this little 8 pound bone in number I picked up at the Co-op the other day. So I’ll have to share the recipe with you afterwards. As I understand it, it involves brown sugar, cloves, dried mustard, butter, and yes, you guessed it, a ham.

2) Sweet Potatoes.

I can’t get enough of these. Both kids love eating them, they’re tasty and have so much more of a nutritional punch than regular ole potatoes, and AA will eat them cold. Sold. So the recipe I’m going off of this year is from Farmgirl Fare: Farmgirl Susan’s Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Apples & a Hint of Orange. What? You don’t know about Farmgirl Susan? Hello! She invented our Pizza Friday‘s pizza dough. And my fav focaccia.

3) Cauliflower Fritters.

It’s not my fav vegetable. Why? Because when I was little my mom would always snack on it raw and I thought: oh, yuck, it’s the white broccoli again! BUT my sister Bridget introduced me to this wonderous recipe from Smitten Kitchen for Cauliflower-Feta Fritters with Pomegranate. Think like a little cake made of healthy things. Check out the link and you’ll know what I mean. And the trick with a pomegranate, according to my sister Molly, is to de-seed it in a bowl of water. Otherwise it’s so hard to get the seeds all out!

4) Farro: Meeting our Grains for the Meal.

Farro. Have you cooked it before? It’s a lovely grain. Kinda like bulgar, but thicker. Bigger than millet & quinoa, but heftier than brown rice. I use it often for an Ah-MAZING farro risotto dish that I’ll share in a few weeks, but right now, focus, Nell, focus. Joe, our favorite family out-law (Bridget’s Sig Other–remember his post on brewing your own brew?) is making this Butternut Squash Salad with Farro and Pepitas. Also from Smitten Kitchen. Love it. Luuuuv it. Check it.

5) Homemade bread.

TBD. I’m thinking just a simple boule like the peasant one I made the other day. Or maybe that focaccia. Gonna wait til we get closer.

6) Pie and Sticky Buns.

But what about the pie? Yes, we are legendary for having upwards of a dozen pies at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and sometimes the 4th of July. My grandmother’s killer pie recipe (variation featured here at my sister’s blog Brooklyn Herborium for which she won first place in a pie contest last year, yes, that’s right, someone under 60 years of age won a pie baking contest), banana cream from scratch–no pudding mix under my mom’s watch, and my fav to make: Alice Water’s Pumpkin Pie using butternut squash and freshly made whipping cream.

And inspired by a girlfriend: I’m going to do Pioneer Woman’s Caramel Apple Sticky Buns! (but omit the corn syrup for the caramel topping–still looking for a sub if you know anyone available). I’ve done a number of caramel roll recipes in the past but nothing has stuck. Ha ha. I’m hoping this is the winner.

Wish me luck in the kitchen! We’re all still a little under the weather so I’m hoping the two-a-days at church don’t kill me before I get to eat it. Especially the pies. Enjoy your baking, cooking, or eating out this holiday weekend!