5 Courses Easter Menu: Spring greens, eggs, lamb, rabbit and chocolate!

Easter Decoration

I realize, after all these years, that Easter is probably as important as Christmas in Europe, especially for Christian´s cultures. I do not talk about religion here, but culture, and of course,... food! Now that I am back in France, I can see how people are making efforts to get with the family for this weekend, and cook all the new lives, spring can offer.

It is always for me when my taste buds and cooking imagination wake up from the long winter time and crave for young greens and baby veggies!

This year, I decided to invite my cousins for lunch, and I will try some new recipes I want to share with you for a special Easter menu, that could be repeated all year long!

1/Aperitif: Spring Garden

Hummus and peanuts dip with baby veggies served with a kir cocktail. 

Kir is a simple and easy cocktail made from Crème de Cassis, a blackcurrant Maconnais or Burdundy wines for it.

Easter Garden

syrup with some white wine. It is a traditional cocktail from my region, so you better choose some

To go with it, I prepared a hummus with my own recipe you can find in the post Aperidip on this blog (number 7) or try the green peas hummus as well for a more creative one (number 5). Once the hummus is ready, prepare on the side, a peanut butter cream mixing the peanut butter with some quark till you get a smooth mixture. Roast in a pan with no fat 1 large handful of peanuts and crush them roughly.

Choose a rectangular glass tray. Spread the hummus first. Top with the peanut cream. Create some furrows with a fork. Sprinkle the crushed peanuts to finish your garden soil. Plant half way some radishes, cauliflowers bouquets, baby carrots, green asparagus or any other spring baby veggies in the garden, decorate with some parsley and fresh herbs and serve!

Rabbit Rillettes

2/ Starter: Easter allegory

A creative mix of all iconic figures from Easter: rabbit, nest and eggs, fish. 

I tried some rabbit rillettes. I slowly cooked during 4h, 4 legs (800 gr.) with 200 gr of lard, 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh sage, 20 cl of white wine and the same amount of water, thyme and bay leaves. Keep an eye on the stove, and add some water if necessary. The meat unravel and you have your rillettes prepared. You can do it several days in advance. I serve it with a rucula salad, hard boiled quail eggs and served with some puff pastry fishes stuffed with anchoiade from the Aperidip post (number 17).

3/ Main course: King lamb

Roasted lamb with spices and honey served with a wok of spring greens and couscous

Get a nice organic lamb rack, counting 2 chops per person. I make a marinade paste mixing in the blender 4 garlic cloves, 1 red chili, 2 tbsp of honey, 2 tbsp. of soy sauce, 2 tbsp. of lemon juice, 2 tbsp. of balsamic vinegar, 1 thumb of fresh ginger, olive oil, pepper. Massage the rack wit this paste and let it marinade wrapped in a plastic film for at least 12h in the fridge. Let the meat get to room temperature while you turn on the oven to  210ºC. Put the lamb in a tray, spread the marinade on top, add some sage, rosemary and thyme. Cook it for 30 min. Take it out, cover with some aluminum foil for 10 min before serving.

I cook some couscous with turmeric and cumin seeds. I also prepare a quick wok with olive oil, a mix a fresh greens like peas, beans, asparagus, onions, broad beans, spinach, snow peas, broccoli, etc. They should stay crunchy!

Another lovely way to cook lamb: slow cooked Navarin lamb stew with veggies

4/ Cheese platter: A compulsory stop in the French menu!

French always have some cheese before dessert,... I never found anywhere else, but I love it! As we are in spring, I will probably prefer some fresh cheese, goat and cow, some cervelle de canuts (recipe 11 from the linked post Aperidip) served with some toast and fresh apple and pear.

5/ Dessert: Chocolate madness or Easter bark

It is an easy decoration for a any of your favorite cake recipe. I made a chocolate platter at the same size of the cake spread on kitchen paper. When the chocolate is still lukewarm, I just added broken or not some chocolate eggs, chicken and rabbit from dark, milk and white chocolate. I add some fresh and candied violet flowers, fresh strawberries and whipped cream!

More Easter ideas and recipes here!

Happy Easter and I hope you can share a beautiful time and meals with your family and friends!

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