|
Easter can be a warm sunny day, or cold and windy, with guests needing to wade through knee-deep snow to get to the event. But whatever the weather, it's a day for a gathering of the family from the youngest child to the oldest grandmother or great aunt. At our house, we've varied our menus over the years, sometimes serving a late morning brunch or an early evening dinner -- a couple of times we picnicked at the local botanical garden midst the early dogwoods, tulips, and daffodils. This year we've planned an Easter Luncheon to follow a children's Easter egg hunt.
Table decorations will include a basket of early peonies, white lilac, and native wild flowers that are growing by my driveway. Pastel-colored eggs piled into a crystal ice bucket will grace a serving table. This is a time for damask linens, your best china and silverware, crystal goblets, silver candlesticks, and your prettiest serving pieces. Flowers of the season --Easter lilies, tulips, and grape hyacinths -- placed throughout the house contribute the look and scent of spring. A personalized decorated Easter egg at each place will make a whimsical placecard.
 
Since the garden is starting to come alive with early spring flowers, we'll offer Cheese Straws (making use of the same Greek phyllo dough we're using for our dessert) and an aperitif (champagne or Perrier for the adults, lemonade for the children) outdoors, using a new garden cart filled with ice to keep the beverages chilled.
The luncheon will feature a whole tenderloin of beef roasted with herbs; the aroma as it roasts, wafting into the garden, is sure to whet everyone's appetites. In the spring we get tiny new potatoes about the size of a large marble often labeled creamers in the produce market. They come in several colors -- white, red, and purple, and the perfect starch for our Easter luncheon.
We love roasted beets. They're delicious, and so easy to fix that we often have a few roasted beets stored in the fridge for quick, easy vegetables and salads. For Easter, we pair these beauties with citrus, slices of oranges and kumquats, for a stunning spring salad. Since we're serving the luncheon buffet style, the salad is arranged on a large platter, rather than in a salad bowl. Either way, it's a pretty and refreshing salad to complement the other dishes.
For dessert, we shape Greek phyllo dough (it comes fresh or frozen in the supermarket or Greek market) into small tulips and pile them high with fresh raspberries and blackberries. If your market has them, you could add a few pitted fresh cherries. The fruit-filled tulip is lovely as is, but you can also add, as we did, a tiny scoop of sugar-free ice cream. When making the tulips, be sure to keep the unused phyllo covered with a damp cloth until you're ready to work with it; once it's spread out in the open air, it becomes dry and cracked in a few minutes.
Coffee and tea will be taken in the garden so the children can play, chasing the butterflies, while the adults relax with quiet conversation.
(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)
|
