Cooking Creations: Easter Dinner

The Easter Bunny wasn't the only thing hopping around last weekend... I, too, was hopping around my kitchen on my crutches!  I love cooking a big Easter meal, even though it's usually only my parents and me (and this year just my mom and me).  I wasn't about to give that up because of my foot debacle!  I still decided to undertake a relatively ambitious menu:  Ham with champagne and vanilla glaze, a roasted beet and fennel salad with orange dressing, and sherry-honey asparagus.

I know there are a lot of great ham recipes out there, but I swear the champagne vanilla ham is out of this world.  My love affair with vanilla beans began when I went to Craftsteak at Foxwoods about three years ago.  I ordered an apricot scallop dish that had strange little black specks on the plate.  I am ashamed to admit thatI initially mistook them for dirt.  Fortunately, the gracious server went on to inform me that vanilla comes as beans... not extract... oops.  Anyway, vanilla beans impart a great little hit of flavor.  At $13.99 for a 2 oz case, I don't use them often.  But when I do, it's always worth it.  The glaze combines vanilla bean, champagne, and apple jelly.  Adding the the sweet glaze with the savory/salty ham is divine.  Here is the recipe- thank you Cooking Light!  I rarely stick to recipes, but this is one that I do consult.  The only tweaks I make are for serving size:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/ham-with-champagne-vanilla-glaze-10000000521752/

This year, I purchased Hormel ham... and I plan to do it next year and the year after that!  I pretty much pick up whatever ham I can get between 3 and 5 pounds, and this year a Classic Hormel ham fit the bill.  It's boneless, fully cooked, and hardwood smoked.  It was salty in a beautiful harmonious way, not a mouth drying way.  I bake it in the oven with part of the champagne/vanilla sauce to bring it up to temperature, impart the flavor, and get the outside nice and glazed.

This year's Easter ham

I served a roasted beet and fennel salad with the ham.  For those of you unfamiliar with my cooking history: there was an extremely long beet embargo in our house.  Although I have made red velvet cake forever with no incident, my mother had it in her head that if I ever got my hands on beets our kitchen would be stained red.  One of her final acts before leaving to spend the summer in New Hampshire was to remind my father that beets were not allowed in the house under any circumstances.  Well, I finally got her to recant!  This past New Year's Eve, after a few glasses of champagne at Colicchio and Sons, I saw my oppurtunity.  She was chatty and happy, so I broached the beets subject.  She gave an OK before she realized what she'd done.  By then it was too late.  Now I regularly bring beets into the house.  (And there have been NO red stains for the record!!!) 

I created this salad by transforming a salad I saw featured on Food & Wine: Roasted Beet Salad with Orange Dressing http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-beet-salad-with-orange-dressing .  I find that beets and fennel are a match made in heaven, so I scratched the red onion and replaced it with fennel (cut into thin strips) that I roast along with the beets.  I make sure that the beets and fennel are chilled and the entire salad is cold before serving it.  I use 100% arugala as the base... the natural peppery flavor enhances the roasted veggies.  And I stick with red beets.  I change up the dressing: no oil, more vinegar, a touch of lemon juice, and a dash of water.

The asparagus is simple enough; I steam some asparagus and toss it with some sherry vinegar and honey.  With all of the rich flavors in the ham and salad, it's nice to have a plainer veggie to give the palate a break.  When purchasing asparagus, make sure to buy ones with tight heads.  I also prefer getting the fat ones rather than the thin stalks.

We paired our feast with Goose Watch Winery's "Melody."  Goose Watch is located on Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes... right near my beloved Cornell University.  We picked this wine up when we did the trail for my birthday this past December.  The "Melody" uses a grape varietal developed by Cornell.  It is a white wine that has notes of Granny Smith apple.  Although it has fruit flavors, the wine itself is relatively dry.  The apple accentuates the apple jelly in the ham.  For more information, check out the Goose Watch website: http://www.goosewatch.com/gsw6_detail.taf?pr_id=6.

One more note about vanilla bean: If you ever get a chance to eat at Les Halles in New York City, order the creme brulee for dessert.  They use actual vanilla bean that sinks to the bottom of the dish.  When you reach the bottom of the bowl, you find all of that vanilla bean and discover an arsenal of flavor.  At the time I was so blown away that I sent my regards to the chef.  The general manager went on to inform me that lots of patrons freak out; they get to the bottom, don't know what vanilla beans are (like me at crafsteak!), and think there are bugs in their bowl.   That creme brulee is one of the best desserts I have ever had in my entire life.  And dessert if my favorite course.  So that's saying something.

The creme brulee at Les Halles upon arrival...

...and how it went back!

So that was our Easter dinner!  It took about 4 hours of hopping around the kitchen, but Mommy Doody and I ate well!