An Eggs-ellent Easter!

I served my Jews ham on Easter, which happened to coincide this year with the last day of Passover. They couldn't eat any of the leavened items such as the croissants and Pepperidge Farm cake but boy did they chow down on practically everything else.

The ham in question was prepared from Martha Stewart's Menus for Entertaining, featured in the Celebrating Spring section. I've been wanting to make this for years! After securing a really good smoked ham from our local market (10 lbs for only $15!), I made small incisions all about the ham, stuffing them with garlic and alternately sprigs of thyme, chervil, and basil leaves. I laid out bunches of parsley, chives and tarragon in a roasting pan with slices of blood oranges topped with basil and a few dried bay leaves and smashed cloves of garlic still in their skins here and there. The studded ham went on top, I poured a bottle of white wine over the whole thing and it went into a 325 degree oven for 2 and 1/2 hours covered in foil--the first and last half hours were foil-less, to brown the meat. After removing the ham from the pan, while letting it rest, covered for a 1/2 hour before serving, I strained the cooking liquid into a sauce pan and simmered it down by half. The resulting sauce was little salty but the ham was absolutely delicious anyway, quite on its own!

We also served smoked salmon, whitefish salad and I made a meat pie.

Homemade croissants from Cuisine at Home took three days. I even started early in case they were an utter disaster and had to buy some Pillsbury Grands or something. Feeling it was going well, I froze them and then thawed them overnight before serving on Sunday. Yes, they were tricky to make the first time out, but I was so pleased with the results I would definitely make the effort again.

The Basic Steps:

DAY 1 Make your dough and butter block (three sticks of butter put together and pounded flat). Let sit overnight.

DAY 2 Roll out the dough to a 12" x 15" rectangle, or something reasonably similar. Place butter block on top, folding top and then bottom over, like a business envelope. Do this twice, with 35-45 minutes in between. After the third time, leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

DAY 3 Roll out the dough to an 11" x 23" rectangle. Cut the dough in half horizontally and then cut the halves into 3" x 5" rectangles, cutting those into triangles. Roll them up, coat them with egg wash and put them in a 400 degree oven for 18 to 22 minutes, taking care that they don't burn.

Here they are, fresh from the oven...

...and like a proud Papa, I delivered them to the table!

Another glimpse of the Butchers' Frittata. Thanks to the Williams-Sonoma pan, this hearty 10 egg dish with sausage, bacon (I subbed for ham), mushrooms, white cheddar cheese and scallions was most eggs-ellent.

So what are those side dishes lurking about (note the ham is gone)? Roasted carrots with cayenne pepper in an orange glaze with mint; roasted asparagus tossed with lime juice and olive oil, topped with bearnaise sauce (I used a package of the Knorr mix--much easier much cheaper, and pretty good!), peas in butter sauce with vermouth-soaked cocktail onions.

Here's the Pepperidge Lemon Layer cake my guests devoured. I would serve this store-bought cake to the Queen of England were she ever to visit. I love it, always have. Here, I dressed it up with some outrageously ripe blackberries.


I put all of my eggs in one stoneware, oven-ready basket, used here purely for decorative purposes, and as a vessel to hide M&Ms and Starburst jelly beans. Rather pretty, don't you find?

Et voila, the peeps de resistance!



Soundtrack: Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, Foursider; Pizzicato Five, MADE in USA; Austin Powers Soundtrack; Beck, Midnite Vultures; The Ting Tings, We Started Nothing

Recipes Of Our Mothers - Jane Carrier's Meat Pie "Tourtiere"

I first discovered comforting, wintry meat pies (or pork pies, as we call them from Harvey's Bakery in my native New Hampshire) when I was a kid growing up. I still delight to the plunge of a fork into the supple, buttery, perfectly browned crust, releasing the steam and gentle aroma of spices emanating from the tender, finely ground meat simmering underneath. My family's dear friend Jane made remarkably similar meat pies too from scratch as gifts for us around the holidays (indeed, still does) and I've wanted to know the incredible mystery behind it for years. These pies have always been a precious thing of delicious beauty to me, but I'd resigned myself to the fact that I must relish each morsel only when home at Christmas time--until now. I recently asked Jane to reveal all and send me the recipe passed down from her French memere to make a pie of my own, at any time! Now, if you've never heard of a pork or meat pie, well, with the frost of February upon us, it is absolutely incumbent upon you to get cooking and follow the wonderfully warming recipe below--the tourtiere is a real treasure, as of course is Jane. We also like to add garlic mashed potato flakes instead of plain, or real mashed potatoes, along with liberal doses of cinnamon and nutmeg in the meat that we've ground twice. Merci, Jane et votre memere pour le tourtiere!

Submitted by Jane Carrier:

Meat Pie "Tourtiere"
Memere Carignan's recipe
Yields one 9" pie
Bake @ 400 degrees for 30 minutes
Pie crust top & bottom for 9" pie, both glazed with egg wash (1 egg white diluted with 1 tb water)
Filling for meat pie:
3 parts ground pork (1 1/2 lbs ground pork)
1 part lean hamburg (1/2 lb)
1 small onion & 1 rib of celery, chopped
1/4 lbs margarine
2 cups instant mashed potato flakes
3 tbs poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Pickled beets for a garnish

Use lean pork (I have the butcher grind center cut roast). Mix hamburg and pork in large saucepan, add onion and celery, cover with water. Cook over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink. Stir frequently to prevent from sticking to bottom of pan. When cooked, drain off liquid and set aside for futher use. After removing, excess liquid meat should look crumbly with a little liquid left. Add margarine and two cups of instant mashed potato flakes, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper (you may want to taste and adjust seasonings).
Blend mixture until meat and potatoes are well combined. If mixture is too thick add a little reserved liquid. Remember the pie will be sliced like a fruit pie and served hot.
Let mixture cool while preparing pie crust.
Line bottom of pie plate with bottom crust and brush with diluted egg wash mixture.
Spoon meat mixture into shell, filling pie plate up to the rim.
Cover with top crust, prick with tine of fork, brush with diluted eggwhite or milk.
Bake @ 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until crust is golden.
Slice and serve with pickled beets.