I've always looked forward to a grand family get together so that we could all share a traditional meal. What is that, you ask? Turkey at Thanksgiving, prime rib at Christmas, ham at Easter. Mind you, none of these meals were traditional holiday meals where I grew up.
This is what we ate at Easter: a slow cooked stuffed rabbit or stuffed leg of lamb. The rabbit was easier to cook because of its size. Mother could easily stuff it in her big sauce pan and set it on a slow fire in a savory tomato stew that perfumed the house for hours.
Nowadays, if I do get a crowd for a holiday, or any occasion, I try to prepare food that can be cooked in advance:
1. Eggplant parmigiana
2. Mushrooms and spinach strudel
3. Roasted leg of lamb
4. Roasted root vegetables
The timeline is easy: Cook the lamb and the root vegetables ahead, even a day ahead. Prepare the strudel and the eggplant ahead of time as well, but bake it the day of the meal. Before your guests arrive, an hour ahead, slip the eggplant and the strudel in the oven and cook as recommended. Make a gravy for your lamb and slip the sliced lamb and root vegetables back in the oven for fifteen minutes or so after you pull out the eggplant and strudel. Turn the oven off and let the food rest and wait for the time when you are all hungry.
All of these dishes can be prepared and cooked ahead. You can serve them cold if you want, or slightly warmed. Add a salad of mixed greens, and a dessert, and your celebration dinner is ready. Notice that you have lots of veggies, enough for a vegetarian to feel full.
p.s. search for recipes on the sidebar or use your own recipes
Preparing dishes ahead affords so much freedom on the "big" day ... and fewer dishes to wash!
ReplyDeleteWith no little ones around to hunt for eggs, we don't really celebrate Easter. We'll probably cook something on the grill. I do love a good ham, but they're just so big and we're sick of ham and all its leftover recipes before even half of a ham is used up. Yep, we're grilling.
ReplyDeleteI just love your menu - wish I was invited....
ReplyDeleteI'm with you these days on the cook-ahead holiday meals. So interesting to hear about the holiday foods of your childhood, what have been traditional meals for your family here in the U.S. and what makes sense now. Our cooking and eating styles do change with time. I find myself opting for fresh, quick fix (or cooked in a large batch in advance and frozen in small serving portions). I want to hunt up your recipe for mushrooms and spinach strudel and expect to find other treasures as well. Your recipes are the best!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you these days on the cook-ahead holiday meals. So interesting to hear about the holiday foods of your childhood, what have been traditional meals for your family here in the U.S. and what makes sense now. Our cooking and eating styles do change with time. I find myself opting for fresh, quick fix (or cooked in a large batch in advance and frozen in small serving portions). I want to hunt up your recipe for mushrooms and spinach strudel and expect to find other treasures as well. Your recipes are the best!
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time in many, many years that I won't have the family here for Easter. In someways, it seems so strange. In other's it is a relief because I'm not up to all the cooking. I do try to cook ahead, and my girls are always a great help. In fact, these days they ask me to leave the kitchen and they take over. I'm more than ok with that.
ReplyDelete