Timing is everything.

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

An ancient Easter Dish

I want to try an unusual Easter dish this year that comes from the area of Italy I grew up in. Mind you, I know what the dish tastes like, looks like and smells like. But, because I have not made it for decades, I too had to find a recipe.  This version is a variation of the one I found on the web, courtesy of Nancy Harmon Jenkins, at pasta.e-rcps.com

Ingredients:
2oz diced pancetta
2 T olive oil
1 onion diced
2 lbs of boneless lamb shoulder, cut in small chunks
1C dry white wine
1 bunch of cardoons, cleaned and diced
1 C peas
1/2 C finely minced parsley
3 large eggs
3/4 C parmesan cheese or pecorino, grated
1 C of vegetable broth or less, as needed
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven at 325F
In a heavy ovenproof casserole saute' the pancetta in 1T of oil until pieces are crisp and brown. Add onions and cardoons until soft.
Remove the pancetta and the rest of the veggies and raise the heat to medium high. Add more oil and brown the lamb pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Pour the wine on top of the lamb, return the pancetta and the vegetables, cover the pan and bake in the oven for one hour, checking it after twenty minutes, and adding vegetable broth to keep the lamb moist.

When the lamb is cooked, move the casserole to the stove, add peas and half the parsley and cook on stove until peas are tender.


Five minutes before serving, mix the eggs with the cheese and remaining parsley , beating with a fork. Turn off the heat under the meat!
Quickly beat a few tablespoons of hot juices from the pan into the mixture to warm it up, then pour the egg mixture into the casserole, and stir to mix it in with all the ingredients.
The mixture will appear creamy, and as it sits, it will turn into a souffle like texture.  Keep the dish warm, in the oven, until ready to serve.

Once cold, this dish cannot be reheated. It will serve four as a main dish, or six or more as a side dish.

Note: Cardoons look like artichoke plants/stocks. They are not. If you ever see them at a farmer's market, begin to acquaint yourself with them.  They are similar to celery in texture, and they need to be stripped of outer fibrous strands to make them edible.  By themselves, with onions and pancetta, they make a great base for a Verdetto without lamb.

Can you substitute other meats for lamb?  Yes. Young lamb, however, is traditional at Easter.

Enjoy.

Cookbooks and finds

If you find a cookbook with these pictures you grab it.

You look through its many recipes, and you fall in love with its simplicity, its exquisite simplicity.
The cookbook: Savoring Italy, by Robert Freson, 1992 is now in my son's possession, one of the things that I rediscovered.

In spring, when the first peas and favas are barely ripe, when artichokes are barely big enough, Mother prepared stuffed artichokes with peas or favas.

Ingredients:
2 or 3 small artichokes per person
2 lemons
1 lb of fresh peas or favas
Olive oil
Bread crumbs
garlic cloves
one onion, sliced thinly
parsley, minced.
salt and pepper

Trim the artichokes, remove center and stalk. Peel the stalk and dice to mix with the peas. Parboil the artichokes in boiling water with lemon slices for five minutes. Drain and set aside while you prepare the stuffing.

To the breadcrumbs made fresh with your day old bread,  add minced parsley, minced garlic, salt and pepper and  enough olive oil for the mixture to stick together.
Stuff the artichokes and place in a baking dish. 
Add peas and onion slices  to cover all areas around the artichokes. Add 1/2 of water. 
Drizzle additional olive oil all over.  Cover with foil.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread and a fruity wine.
Add grilled lamb chops to complete the meal.

A true spring meal.



Ingredients