5 Easter starters for quick and easy buffet

Easter Decoration

A couple of weeks ago, overwhelmed by the chocolate eggs in the supermarkets, I started to think about what I would like to cook for Easter this year. I really love this celebration. Not because it is a Christian's one, but because it is the celebration of Spring, and we then start to find fresh sprouts, new veggies, tender meat, etc. I always get excited to cook and taste the fresh products again! It is really like a renewal, the promise of delicious fruits and veggies coming our way!
  
So, I started to make my mind spin and get some creative, quick and fun recipes to start your Easter meals with your family and friends! 

 

Scandinavian sandwich cake

I realized that I usually do not propose 1 starter any more when I have guests at home. I more likely present several small bites and create a kind of bridge between starter and aperitif. It really gives me a chance to try several recipes at once and propose more alternative to all guests making sure everybody will at least like one of the proposals. 

So, find here a non-exhaustive list of quick, easy and fun recipes to create a small buffet or apero-starter for Easter:

1/ Eggs nest salad

This is a fresh carrot salad with quail eggs.

Slice your raw carrots with a peeler to make some tagliatelle. Prepare a dressing with peanut butter or tahin paste, salt and pepper, sesame seeds, and orange juice. Feel free to add some cumin seeds or other mild spices. Mix well till you get a smooth dressing. Mix well with the salad. Decorate with hard boiled quail eggs and present it like a nest with eggs. I just love the presentation, and it is so cheap, quick and easy to prepare, that you can do it every time you want to surprise your guests!

2/ Sardines baskets

Sardines pate with a cucumber basket

This is a funny way to present my sardines rillettes recipe and get some fresh crunch bite with it.

Slice the cucumber in 5 to 7 cm long chunk. Peel half of the skin to create kind of stripes. Make a small well inside the cucumber. Salt and put upside down on top of a kitchen paper for 10 minutes.

In the meanwhile, prepare the sardines rillettes with a sardines can. Get the filets, and remove the spine, tail and other small parts you don't want to mix with. Add 1 lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix with some drained fresh cheese (cottage cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, etc.).

Put a tbsp. of rillettes in each cucumber well. Top with some fresh herbs and serve. You can also use tuna instead of sardines, but I am trying to stay away from tuna cans, as the fish is disappearing. Plus, you will get higher quality of fish and Omega 3 with sardines, smaller and less intoxicated than the bigger tuna.

3/ Rhubarb compote and goat cheese verrine

This is a very refreshing starter. If you do not have fresh rhubarb, make sure you have some in the freezer. I always freeze some fresh rhubarb during the season.

I prepare a rhubarb compote, with some fresh ginger, honey and black pepper. When cooked, let it cool.

Pour in small glasses. Add some fresh goat cheese on top, adjust seasoning and decorate with some fresh parsley, mint or coriander.

4/ Lentils Pâté

This is a total discovery, inspired by The Green Kitchen cookbook.

Cook 2 glasses of red lentils in cold water for 20 minutes, till cooked. Drain the lentils properly. Usually they are already almost mashed. In a blender, put the lentils, add salt, pepper, fresh lemon thyme leaves and 3 dried tomatoes. Blend till smooth. You can easily make it in advance and keep it in the fridge for 1 week. 

Serve with garlic grilled bread or veggies sticks and florets.

5/ Norwegian eggs

Hard boil as many eggs as people you have at the table. If you prepare more starters, you can reduce the quantity to half egg per person. 

You boil them 10 minutes in water with 1 tbsp of wine vinegar to make sure that if the egg breaks in the pan, the white will not get away.

When cooked, refreshed and drained, peel the shell and cut them in 2. 

Prepare a tasty sauce with blending quark or cottage cheese with fresh tarragon, salt and pepper. First blend a handful of tarragon leaves with 2 tbsp of quark till really smooth, and then add the rest of the quark or cottage cheese.

Pour 1 spoon of the tarragon cream on top of each half egg. Decorate with smoked fish roe and dill leaves, and serve!

Want the recipe of this dessert?

Did you like these recipes? Please let me know which one was most attractive to you, in order to keep on creating great recipes for all of you!

Would you like more ideas for Easter, I would recommend you to check my former posts about it:
5 courses Easter menu
Easter ideas: quick and easy recipes!
Easter Vacherin Express
How to make a perfect brunch: healthy, quick and easy - 18 menus and more than 30 recipes
 

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