Easter Feast!

I love Easter! Alleluia! I also love Easter feasts of endless counter tops filled to the brim with insanely high calorie/high flavor items. This Easter I must say I outdid myself. Everything looked and apparently tasted awesome. I say "apparently", because my Easter was tainted with the evil stomach bug which decided to strike me down right in the middle of my indulging. Darn sickness. I was in bed Easter mid day - Tuesday with an awful feverish disease...which has now been banished from my veins...Praise the Lord! It pains me to speak of these foods which I was not able to fully appreciate, but nevertheless they merit a nod of recognition.

Appetizer:

Cheese tray: Gouda - my Aunt brought us some from Holland - yummy
Sharp Vermont white cheddar - my fam's favor
Brie - an absolute must for my Padre
Manchego - nice.
Fresh and delicious green and purple grapes
Mini crisp dill pickles
Homemade crackers - I used a recipe from the 101 cookbooks website - Wicked simple and awesome! There are a few left and they are still nice and crisp 5 days later. I sprinkled Parmesan on top before baking and then some coarse salt. I am lucky enough to have a pasta maker so I flattened them in this. Everyone loved them! I will be making these again!
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/olive-oil-crackers-recipe.html

Main Course:

Sauteed green and purple asparagus with shallots in a wine butter glaze. - I like my asparagus nice and crispy to I cut them up into 2 inch pieces and blanched them in boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Then I sauteed the shallots in butter and olive oil - deglazed the pan with white wine. Added the blanched asparagus to the pan and sauteed a few more minutes. Salt and pepper. Nice, simple, and fresh - the light glaze was the perfect amount of flavor it needed.

Creamy Mashed new potatoes - I put cut up potatoes and put them in a pan of cold salted water...(fyi - if it grows below the ground you should put it in cold water and then bring to a boil...if it grows above the ground you bring to a boil and then add item). Cooked. Mashed. Added butter, heavy cream, and some chicken broth for flavor, salt and pepper. Another thing I learned about mashed potatoes...mash as smooth as you want before adding cream or milk - because after you add cream they won't get any smoother.

Garlic and herb roasted leg of lamb. - I marinate my lamb overnight in a mixture of Dijon, olive oil, fresh rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper, and garlic. Roasted 20 minutes per/1b. until internal temp of meat reached 145 degrees. Let rest 10-15 minutes before carving. We have this at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. I think my sister came home from college just for the lamb.

Fresh and Hot homemade crusty dinner rolls. - I used a King Arthur Flour recipe - I made a starter dough Friday night. Then made the main dough Saturday - added the starter (this gives it the slight sourdough taste)...Benched, punched, benched, shaped and then refrigerated over night. Baked in hot oven 20 minutes before dinner on baking stones. Sounds complicated, but it was simple. Nothing beats hot dinner rolls.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/crusty-hard-rolls-recipe

Dessert:

Dutch Apple Pie - My chef's recipe - it is awesome and perfect. I will post the recipe from our book in the near future.
Oreo Cheesecake - I make a lighter cheesecake with sour cream and cream cheese - it yields a not so heavy on your stomach feeling cheesecake.

Not to mention I also made cinnamon scones for breakfast and a fritatta. Whew - now time to start planning for the next Holiday meal! : ) Happy Easter!