Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

What a week! Many choir rehearsals and many church services. Plus lots of cooking. My gardening this week consisted of a little bit of weeding and some lettuce thinning. The radishes are just beginning to come in. I ate the first of the season on Thursday. It was delicious.

Here’s the menu we had yesterday. We had choir rehearsal Saturday from 8:30 to noon. The rest of the day Judi and I spent cooking. We had two kinds of potatoes because Katie said she really wanted au gratin potatoes, and the rest of us wanted new potatoes. She actually liked both of them. We won’t have to cook most of the week. It was worth all the work.

Ham
Grilled lamb chops
Spanikopita
New potatoes with parsley sauce
Au gratin Yukon gold potatoes
Artichoke casserole
Grilled asparagus
Greek green beans
Mixed green salad with radishes, tomatoes, peppers and spring onions
White cake, shaped like an egg, with chocolate truffle frosting
Chocolate cake, shaped like an egg, with butter cream frosting
Rolls – Thank you, Pillsbury
A Grenache-Syrah blended French red wine

Judi did a fabulous job on the cakes. They looked like giant Easter eggs.

Greek Green Beans  

1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
1 clove garlic, minced
2 pounds fresh green beans,  rinsed and trimmed
3 large tomatoes, diced
Tablespoon chopped fresh mint
Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
2 teaspoons sugar
salt to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the onions and garlic in the skillet until tender.
2. Mix the green beans, tomatoes, sugar, and salt into the skillet. Reduce heat to low, and continue cooking 45 minutes, or until beans are soft.

  
Spanikopita

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil,
1 onion finely chopped
2 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
Salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
1 lb. feta crumbled into tiny bits
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup pine nuts
Tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 box, defrosted phyllo pastry dough, long thin sheets
½ cup melted butter

Place oven rack in center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.
Preheat a small pan over medium to medium high heat. Add oil and onion and sauté 5 minutes. Place onion in a bowl. Add chopped dry, defrosted spinach and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add feta to the bowl and combine it with spinach. Add beaten egg and ricotta to the bowl and combine with feta, spinach and onion.
On a large work surface, place 1 sheet of phyllo. Paint half of the sheet with a little melted butter, paying extra attention to your perimeter. Fold sheet in half. Pile 2 tablespoons onto end of long strip of phyllo. Fold into triangles as if you were folding a flag.  Paint the seam and the ends with butter and set triangles seam side down on a cookie sheet. Repeat until the phyllo sheets are used up. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly golden all over and serve.

Grilled Asparagus

1 pound fresh asparagus spears, trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
lemon

1. Preheat grill for high heat.
2. Lightly coat the asparagus spears with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Grill over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or to desired tenderness.
4. Season with a little squeeze of lemon juice.