Food for thought: Easter Feast

Easter/Passover/Spring

Spring, combined with the holidays of Easter & Passover, create unique themes in food. There's a tinge of the hard truths of human nature coupled with fertile rebirth.

I like foods that conjure the Old Testament and the foods/regions mentioned in scripture: lamb, figs, almonds, rosemary, mustard seed, red wine/grapes/raisins, unleavened bread, potatoes, sage, olives and olive oil, dates, and apricots. One gets the idea. Poke around epicurious.com for recipes. I prefer Gourmet's recipes, as they seem to be well-tested to me. BettyCrocker.com tests recipes well too, but they rely more heavily on processed foods in their ingredient lists.

Some ideas:

Meat and Fish
Decadent crusted lamb with honey-apricot relish--recipe follows

Smoked duck with pomegranate-maple syrup

Sauteed rosemary chicken breast with portobello mushrooms and petite peas

Ham with fruit chutney

Firm fish (tilapia) poached, with a lemon zest, dill and green onion sauce


Side Dishes
Grilled asparagus with lemon butter

Bitter/spicy salad greens such as frisee, radicchio, endive, and arugula with a lemon-tahini dressing

Snow peas with tarragon

New potatoes with fresh sage

Petite peas or steamed cauliflower with tarragon-avacado vinaigrette

Fava beans with lemon pepper

Flat bread (pita bread, lavash) with tapenade

Rice steeped in beef broth, lemon and oregano

Caramelized red onions and balsamic vinegar


Desserts
Fig-raisin bread (as in a dessert bread to serve with wine and cheese)

Date-Apricot pie with almond topping

Baklava


Recipe: Apricot & Rosemary Lamb (Betty Crocker)

It is divine! I make this on many special occasions. Notes: Usually, I marinate the leg for 24 hours. I use balsamic vinegar instead of the red wine. I also add about 16 cloves of garlic instead of the 8 listed and crust the lamb with dried rosemary, a couple crushed peppercorns, salt and dried thyme. Sometimes I've added sweet onion to the relish or the marinade. Trimming the fat and adding lots of fresh rosemary really improve the flavor!

5-pound bone-in leg of lamb
8 small cloves garlic, cut lengthwise in half
4 rosemary sprigs, each about 4 inches long, cut into 4 pieces
1 can (15 to 16 ounces) apricot halves in light syrup, drained and syrup reserved
1/2 cup dry red wine or nonalcoholic red wine
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1. Make 16 small slits, each about 1/2 inch wide and 1 inch deep, over surface of lamb. Insert 1 garlic and 1 rosemary piece in each slit using tip of knife. Place lamb in large resealable food-storage plastic bag or shallow glass or plastic dish.
2. Mix reserved apricot syrup, the wine, oil, 1 tablespoon of the honey and the salt; pour over lamb. Seal bag or cover dish and refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 24 hours, turning lamb occasionally.
3. Heat oven to 325ºF. Remove lamb from marinade; reserve marinade. Place lamb, fat side up, on rack in shallow roasting pan. Insert ovenproof meat thermometer so tip is in thickest part of lamb and does not touch bone or rest in fat.
4. Bake uncovered about 2 hours, brushing once or twice with marinade, until thermometer reads 140°F. Cover lamb loosely with foil and let stand 10 to 15 minutes or until thermometer reads 145°F. (Temperature will continue to rise about 5°, and lamb will be easier to carve.) Reserve 1/4 cup marinade; discard any remaining marinade. Garnish with additional apricot halves and fresh rosemary leaves if desired.
5. Meanwhile, place apricots in food processor or blender. Cover and process until smooth. In 1-quart saucepan, heat apricots, 1/4 cup marinade, remaining 1 tablespoon honey and the chopped rosemary. Heat to boiling. Boil 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve sauce with lamb.

Wine pairings: a light, fruity red, such as Beaujolais Nouveau, a Red Zinfandel, or a really dry Rose with a fruity character. A Moscato or Muscat would bring out the honey and grape flavors of a dish. With rich dishes combining green vegetables and cream or butter, try a buttery Chardonnay or a snappy Sancerre.

Food for thought: Cookbooks that have caught my eye

How I do love a good cookbook. I read them like novels. There's the mystery and intrigue of how a dish will ultimately turn out. There's often comedy, when a recipe seems highly inaccurate and untested. Romance takes the form of a recipe that makes you swoon, or a recipe that will make someone else wobbly-kneed. And there's tragedy when you realize that a cookbook didn't live up to your expectations.

There are many food-related books I want to check out or buy for others. Here is my "in-the-inbox-but-not-sure-if-I'll-actually buy-them" list:


In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

I loved his book The Omnivore's Dilemma. I think there's a lot going wrong and right with food these days, and Senor Pollan takes an admirable stab at bringing food industry and industrious issues to the fore. The premise behind this book is to eat food, not a lot, mostly plants. He has a 12-page article "Unhappy Meals" in the NY Times that looks like it's a great synopsis of the book. I think this one's coming home with me.


Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans by Susan Spicer and Paula Disbrowe

I love sensing I'm in the company of a passionate yet deliberate chef. Passion spurs creativity, while deliberation ensures accuracy. This book seems like it might be psychoanalysis with recipes as a fringe benefit. New Orleans has good food at every turn, just an amazing confluence of food, fun and sense of place. If Susan Spicer's recipes live up to her hype, I might treat myself to this later on. But I'll sit down with it at Borders before I make any rash decisions.


Fast Food My Way by Jacques Pepin and Ben Fink

I was never into Jacques Pepin when my food quest started. It wasn't until I'd watch "Fast Food My Way" on PBS that I sat up and took notice. Pepin fuses southern French/northern Italian cooking with Latin, American and even Scandinavian cooking. He has knife skills that get me misty-eyed. Plus, he actually takes respectable shortcuts without sabotaging flavor. That's not to say I love everything he makes. As he slides anchovies in the blender to make a gray-brown aioli, my stomach churns. But his show was among the best instruction I'd seen on how to teach people to use time and on-hand ingredients to their advantage. I thought I was slick by trying to download recipes from his website, but most of my favorites weren't there. After looking through this at the bookstore, I may buy this and pick one up for a friend who wants to learn how to cook. For someone learning how to cook with very little experience, I'd definitely recommend his DVDs by the same name. One caveat: Pepin uses a lot of gadgets that a budding home cook most likely won't have.


A Love Affair with Southern Cooking: Recipes and Recollections by Jean Anderson

There are a kajillion recipes in this thing. It looks quite comprehensive and like it's from many different parts of the South. That said, I am at once respectful and a little fearful of Southern cooking. However,I think I could cope with this cookbook. Anderson explains some of the "whys", as in the history of colas, foods and name origins like Frogmore Stew. I think the appeal is that the author grew up in the South, yet she was from a Yankee family. This disarms me and piques my curiosity. Plus, I love the idea that many of the recipes were culled from social teas and other "ladies who lunch" settings. Maybe I'll give this to a friend (then borrow it!)


The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook: Two Hundred Gourmet & Homestyle Recipes for the Food Allergic Family by Cybele Pascal

I try to be aware of allergens and key preferences when I cook. These days, when cooking for people at work, church and other mainstream settings, it's good to steer clear of allergens that can really hamper someone's enjoyment of others' food. I've been meaning to get a book like this, so if I'm ever faced with someone having multiple food allergies, I can make something that is delicious in its own merit instead of being something like a "no-cheese" cheesecake or "tastes like the real thing." I think that position stems from trying to make good vegetarian meals that didn't just substitute all the things people weren't trying to eat anyway, like meat, cheese, milk, eggs, etc. This cookbook looks like it addresses food allergies with some dignity.


Happy cooking!