Typically I've always spent these special days at my grandmother's, my aunt's, my mother's, my father's or my in-law's homes. This year, however, Matt and I spent Easter together, just the two of us. It was our first Easter as husband and wife, in our first home, with our first dog, making our first Easter meal traditions.
Our epicurean celebration of Easter began Saturday night when we sat down to eat saffron risotto with scallops. It was a nice dish, but - to my dismay - a little dull. The rice was great, but I had woefully under seasoned the scallops. I learned on Saturday that no matter what you use to cook scallops in - I used butter, garlic, lemon and wine - even if you cook them perfectly, it's all about the right amount of salt. I used too little, and (as anyone who has ever eaten a scallop will tell you) they tasted a little sweet and bland. So, I am determined to try this recipe again and perfect the scallop's execution. Once complete I will post under the "Pages" section of the blog, and then you can all determine if it's a success or a failure!
Following my Easter Eve meal, I was determined to make Easter dinner phenomenal, but my husband beat me to the punch!
I woke up early on Sunday and got ready for church, while Matt took Sabrina out for a long walk. My plan was to return from the Easter service, start my dessert, move on to prepping for dinner, and eat our feast around 5 o'clock.
Upon my return from church, however, I was greeted by the smell of biscuits, bacon and hollandaise cooking in the kitchen, and my husband (with trusty Sabrina at his feet) putting together a variation of eggs benedict - my favorite breakfast meal of all time!
It was delicious! Matt poached his first egg and I watched in silent admiration, having never done it myself. He used biscuits instead of English muffins (our grocery store apparently had a run on the bakery item), and bacon instead of canadian ham. I also got a special parfait of sugar-free pudding with plum preserves to accompany my plate, and a mimosa to wash it all down. Super yummy! We were both so excited by the meal, we decided to make it again this coming Sunday in hopes of truly mastering the art of poaching an egg; a future blog, I'm sure!
With our bellies full, and the mimosa's flowing, we decided to take some time for the food to digest before jumping into preparing dinner. Ready with a plan, Matt ushered me into the living room where he had Breakfast at Tiffany's all queued up and ready to watch. We spent the next couple of hours enjoying Truman Capote's wonderful story, which always leaves me silently crying as Holly finds herself and "Cat" in the end. It's such a good story. If you've never seen it or you haven't watched it in a while, go add it to your Netflix list!
I immediately started getting everything ready for dinner and dessert once we were done watching the movie. On the menu: Lamb Chops with a Rosemary/Thyme/Garlic Oil Rub and Red Wine Reduction, String Beans with Almonds, Roasted Baby Potatoes, and Pecan Pie. Although I started cooking a little later than I had intended, we sat down to eat at 6:30, which worked out perfectly.
I have to thank my dinner success to the following individuals and companies:
- Emeril Lagasse for the lamb recipe, which I tweaked here and there.
- My Uncle Jamie, who makes string beans with almonds every Easter, and it just wouldn't have been the same without them.
- Price Cutter for the beautiful loaf of bread, which I brushed the residual rosemary/thyme/garlic oil rub over and baked for 5 minutes at 400 degrees.
- Fannie Farmer, for the amazing pecan pie (homemade pie dough and all)! **Check out my 'pages' tab where I've listed this recipe for the "Best-of-All Pecan Pie"**
- I'm happy to say the roasted potatoes were all mine!
At the end of the day we were all pretty tuckered from all of the good eating. Even Sabrina was knocked out, having gotten to try real bacon, lamb and string beans all in one day!
It was a day filled with laughter, love, food and our new family memories. I hope that you all had just as wonderful a day!
My favorite post so far... probably because it surrounded food. I'm really surprised that you have never poached an egg. With that said, neither have I. Overall, not a very paleo meal, but it sounds/looks like it was great.
ReplyDeleteIn my book, holidays are exempt from any type of Paleo or Zone-centric ways of eating!
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