Easter Dinner Menu

Photo of decorated Easter eggs by Tibor Fazakas | SXC.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KAREN HOCHMAN is Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE.

April 2007
Updated April 2009

Marketplace / Entertaining Guide

Easter & Spring Dinner Ideas

Quick Tips Page 4: Easter Dinner Menu

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Brunch or Dinner

Here are ideas to make this year’s dinner different and special.

Easter Buffet. If you usually make a sit-down Easter brunch or dinner, think about having a buffet this year. Setting everything out at once and letting people serve themselves gives you more time to spend with your guests. Put the food on a sideboard and seat guests at the main table, or set food on the main table and have a lap-style seating around the sofa or wherever guests want to group and talk. If it’s a nice day and you have a yard, some people may enjoy dining alfresco.
Crudités. Baskets aren’t just for Easter candy: turn your crudité platter into a crudité basket like the best caterers do. With bright-colored red and yellow peppers, red radishes, red and yellow grape or cherry tomatoes, green broccoli and white cauliflower florets plus Peter Rabbit’s favorite—baby carrots—your basket will look as tempting as any filled with jelly beans. For an equally bright-colored holiday dip, try yogurt-curry dip made with nonfat yogurt. It’s also very low-calorie, so your crudité basket is more than a pretty still-life, it’s health food. Into one cup of yogurt (you can substitute sour cream, mayonnaise, or mix half-yogurt, half-mayo to lower the calories), add 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, one clove minced garlic or equivalent garlic juice, or substitute garlic salt. Optional: snip in fine pieces of fresh tarragon. Chill 3 hours or overnight to let flavors mix. Adjust seasonings and add salt as necessary.
Caviar Endive “Flowers” Hors D’Oeuvre. So tasty, so pretty, so spring-y, so easy to make! Line up endive leaves on a rectangular platter. Place a tablespoon of crème fraîche one inch from the top of the frond. Top the crème fraîche with alternating colored caviars: red salmon caviar, green wasabi tobiko, golden whitefish roe. You can throw in black caviar too—no one will complain! Read our article on infused caviar and find more wonderful caviars in our Caviar Glossary.
Photo courtesy TsarNicoulai.com.
New Ham Glaze. Don’t make the same old ham glaze this year—do something exciting. Moosewood Hollow’s infused maple syrups—in flavors like Lavender, Chai, Sweet Autumn, Sweet Ginger and Sweet Heat (delightfully sweet and hot) provide that kind of excitement. There are recipes on the website. Read our review of Moosewood Hollow Maple Syrup, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.
If you want a traditional ham glaze, try these, including Honey Balsamic Fig Ham Glaze, Honey Ginger Five-Spice Ham Glaze, Honey Mojito Mint Ham Glaze, Pineapple Honey Adobo Ham Glaze and Pink Peppercorn Peach Honey Glaze.
Special Easter Wines. See out separate article on Easter wine recommendations.
Spring Spinach Salad. Instead of your regular salad, use baby spinach in this charming recipe, perfect for spring: Take a bag (10 ounces) of baby spinach, 2 cups of sugar snap peas or pea pods and 2 cups of sliced strawberries. Cut half a medium red onion or a sweet Vidalia onion into thin slices. Add a 1/2 cup of sliced unsalted almonds (raw or toasted, depending on your preference). Toss with a honey vinaigrette: 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of vinegar (balsamic, wine or cider) and 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of honey, depending on how sweet you like it. If you have lavender honey, it’s a home run! Read about one of our favorite lavender honeys, from award-winning Restaurant Lulu Gourmet Products.
Photo of spinach by Florin Bleiceanu | SXC.

Continue To Page 5: Easy Easter Desserts

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