Non-Traditional Easter

We don't have any hard and fast Easter meal traditions, and this year we went even further from any kind of norm--in a very tasty way. For brunch, I made my version of a Spanish piperrada and patatas bravas with a smoked paprika aioli. For dinner, we had pizza three ways: BBQ chicken Cobb salad, basil-Alfredo, and cheese with peppers and fresh tomatoes and lots of basil. Dessert was a creamy key lime pie.


Piperrada: Grilled bread topped with crisped jambon, soft scrambled eggs, and sautéed onions, roasted peppers and garlic with a dash of sherry vinegar.



Patatas bravas: Crispy potatoes topped with a garlicky smoked paprika aioli.



Above - Alfredo sauce, fresh basil, and parmesan. Below: BBQ sauce topped with chicken, bacon, Cambazola, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and avocado (added after baking).



Just a slice of key lime pie: Creamy and tart with lots of fresh lime juice and zest.



And Forgotten Cookies, or meringues with lots of mini chocolate chips and pecans, because I had egg whites left over from the pie. They somehow came out perfectly despite the growing humidity of the day.

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Muffaletta

It's been pretty warm here recently. And while we're nowhere near New Orleans, a no-cook muffaletta sandwich sounded like just the right thing tonight. On a loaf of ciabatta that had been split in half, I spread a mixture of ground olives, a little smoked paprika aioli, French jambon, muenster and mozzarella cheeses, and roasted red and yellow peppers. All of this was weighted down in the fridge for several hours, and then sliced up into several big, delicious wedges.

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Crepes Monsieur

Dinner tonight was based on a recipe for Man Crepes that was published in today's Washington Post. Man crepes, meaning that the author successfully served them to the menfolk in her family. She used turkey and cheese as a filling, but I took this a couple steps further and added a little ham and slices of honey crisp apple. The result was smokey and cheesy and sweet and crunchy, all wrapped up in a super thin pancake.

Billions of Buttermilk Biscuits and Quiche

We have eggs delivered here from a farm in Pennsylvania each week. Thing is, a dozen eggs is sometimes a lot to use up in a week, and if you don't cook much one week, suddenly you have lots of eggs waiting to be used. So, faced with nearly 3 dozen eggs, I decided to make quiche the other night--ham and cheddar in one, and broccoli and cheddar in the other. I also had a recipe for buttermilk biscuits I'd wanted to try from Gourmet, so I made those and a big salad and called it dinner. The biscuits were good, though I have other recipes I like better, and it made a lot--but having teenagers in the house helped to make quick work of them.

Seafood Pizza

Pizza may never be the same. This first pizza is topped with shrimp and scallops, on top of creamy base, along with lots of basil and cilantro. For the sauce, I made a bechamel and then added some sherry, smoked hot paprika, tomato paste, and parmesan cheese. The whole thing was topped with mozzarella -- the regular kind, not the fresh kind, which can be watery.

The second pizza uses the same creamy base, but it is topped with an aged jambon, quartered grape tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. Both pizzas were very, very good.