Easter 2011 Menu

Easter truly is my favorite holiday. It reminds me of my grandmother, whose birthday is around this time. I cling to the tradition of buying new "Easter outfits" for my kids, I make sure to have a hyacinth every year to make my apartment smell like her living room and I try to incorporate as many colors as possible into our holiday meal, they way she did.

Spring in the Upper Valley is later than in the rest of the country (did I mention it was snowing this morning?!?), so I had to make some serious changes to my original concept. I had envisioned making Deborah Madison's infamous Asparagus and Morel Bread Pudding that appears in Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but that will have to wait until May or so. Our menu will rely mostly on storage crops and what we have canned or frozen, with two ever so important, though non-local treats. Can you guess what they are?

We bought our ham from On the Edge Farm in Woodstock, VT and will be glazing it with a mixture of the the apple jelly Scott made from leftover cores and peels last fall and the maple syrup we bought during Vermont Maple Open House Weekend at Center Hill Maples Farm. Though it will be several weeks before we have that quintessential spring opening meal with local asparagus, morels, rhubarb and an abundance of greens we are grateful to celebrate the oncoming spring and the mere fact that we made it through our first winter in the Upper Valley eating locally most of the time.

Easter 2011 Menu

Appetizers:

Deviled Eggs

Carrot Soup

Main Course:

Maple and Apple Glazed Ham

Roasted Beets, Celeriac and Asparagus, sauteed Swiss Chard

served with Hesser House Macaroni and Cheese

Dessert

Cranberry Apple Crisp (variation on our Cranberry Rhubarb Crisp)

BEST EVER Bacon and Tomato Sandwich

I just have to gush about the most AMAZING sandwich we had the other night. I can see that a bacon and tomato sandwich may not sound that exciting to most people, but if that's the case, they can't possibly have eaten a bacon and tomato sandwich at the Hesser House. This one was made on Scott's multigrain bread that was still warm and smeared with our homemade mayonnaise. We were lucky to find some thick cut maple-cooked bacon from On the Edge Farm in Woodstock, VT who sources most of our meats. I don't like to play favorites among my farmer friends, but I was quite smitten with the organic tomatoes from Long Wind Farm in Thetford, VT. They specialize in tomatoes and sell their products at the Coop Food Stores. This sandwich was perfect beside the tomato soup we are still making from the juice we canned over the summer. Only 18 days until the start of the outdoor markets. Here's to a healthy growing season!

Meal Plan: April 17-24

We trying to eat down some of our heavier stores this week because that means less to move!

Sunday:

Leftover roll-ups

Monday:

Bacon Sandwiches with Tomato Soup

Tuesday:

Broccoli, Cauliflower, White bean casserole with coleslaw on the side

Wednesday:

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Bacon over rice

Thursday:

Pizza

Friday:

Pesto with Zucchini over pasta

Saturday:

Easter Dinner (menu to be posted later)