Now is a good time to plan your menu for the big Easter meal. It's early enough to arrange for helpers and to watch for good prices on special ingredients. You also still have time to order your Sweetique Eggs, and what could be more special than that?
As with so many holiday meals, Easter often has a traditional set piece: a ham or lamb for the main dish. Your family might be disappointed if that were replaced with something else, but they might be fine with a different way of preparing it. If you usually stud your ham with cloves and glaze it with marmalade, you might find that your family would enjoy a pineapple and mustard glaze instead. If you usually serve a rack of lamb, you might try a leg of lamb instead. However, the main dish is often part of the tradition, and something people look forward to.
You can get creative with your side dishes, though -- especially vegetables. Here are some of our favorite spring vegetable dishes from around the web:
- Grilled Asparagus
- Roasted Vegetables
- Grilled Leeks
- Spanish Salad (I like to add chopped black olives)
- Broccoli Salad
If you're doing all the cooking, it makes sense to have just one or two elaborate dishes and keep the other things simple, so choose simple rice or potatoes if you're doing a show-stopper of a green vegetable. If you're going with plain steamed broccoli or green beans, though, you might like a classic potato dish like these:
We'll be sharing bread and dessert recipes, but these are good choices either to buy or to ask guests to bring. Go ahead now and call that cousin who makes the famous babka or your brother with the perfect tsoureki and invite them to bring their specialties -- they'll be flattered that you asked.
Once you've decided on your menu, make up a list of all the ingredients and carry it in your purse or billfold. Pick up the nonperishables along with your regular grocery shopping, and get the perishables a few days before Easter. If you need to order something -- a special cut of meat at the butcher, for example -- it's time to do that now.
