Daylight Savings Easter

The entire lunch was great, but I think the entrée was my favorite: Smoked Salmon Stuffed Calamari, Saffron Hollandaise Sauce, and Roquette Salad

I know I should have written this on Monday, but with Daylight Saving Time falling on the same weekend as Easter Sunday, paired with Easter Monday and visiting family, it just didn’t seem feasible.  For those of you wondering, Daylight Saving Time in Europe falls about two weeks after the United States, and if you think going to work on Monday was bad after the time change, then you don’t want to ever have it fall on a holiday. 

We served grilled leg of lamb, and in typical Christophe style, he fashioned a skewer at the last minute so he could roast the thing on the bar-be-que; the darn hard boiled eggs, that no matter what I tried would not peel, and a carrot cake, that I must admit, was amazing.  It all ended well, albeit certain frustrations (see the egg comment above) and the sun even came out for a while.  It was a good day, and symbolized for us the end of one season and the start of another. Now we can focus on spring work, such as planting, tilling, endless weeding, and cleaning up the garden. 

Monday’s Leftovers: Easter Sunday

Monday’s Leftovers is a periodical series that recaps the moments of a Sunday lunch. Easter is a particularly special lunch, filled with traditional dishes and rituals. Les Cloches Volants were particularly generous, hiding a small fortune of milk and dark chocolate in the garden.

Menu:

Aperitif: Rafale, Chardonnay, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, 2011
First Course: Smoked Salmon stuffed Sole, Potimarron, Lime Confit with Mâche
Main Course: Braised Leg of Lamb, Flageolet beans with Grilled Button Mushrooms served in a Homemade Tomato Coulis
Dessert: Boston Cream Pie

Family arrived to help celebrate the holiday. It was too cold to enjoy the aperitif in the garden as the sun dodged in and out of the clouds. Eventually, it disappeared altogether and it began to rain and to hail. A quick dash outside was required to close the greenhouse to protect the seedlings from the pounding weather. Once back inside, I warmed myself in front of the wood heater as it chased away the dampness trying to creep its way inside.

Lunch started with seasonal flare: mâche, a springtime salad. This was followed lamb, a both traditional and symbolic dish. Braised for nine hours, it was graced with a very personal touch: homemade tomato coulis from last year’s garden. Pleased with the dessert I never made before, Boston Cream Pie, I determined it was worth the work and nine eggs to create it. As the afternoon hours weaned, we finished the meal with the joyousness the holiday celebrates, and a ray of sun broke its way out from under the cloud signaling the change of weather and the promise of new life in spring.

Easter Preparations

We’re in full swing getting ready for this Easter weekend. In France, the Monday following is also considered part of the holiday. Christophe is planning on serving a leg of lamb. Often served medium-rare, he has found a recipe that takes the dish in an entirely different direction: it’s braised for nine hours. He’ll get up sometime around 3 am to prepare the dish and put it in the oven so it’ll be ready for lunch. This isn’t the first time he’s done this; he stumbles back into bed about 20 minutes later and we wake up to the odor of lamb slowing cooking in the oven. It smells delicious, but it is a bit discombobulating to have dinner odors fill the kitchen when I’m still hovering over my coffee.

I’ve decided to tackle a Boston Cream Cake for dessert. The recipe calls for nine eggs. Nine eggs! I’ll be making it in advance since the oven will be occupied for much of the day. Holidays are often a ballet around the oven; things going in and coming out under a carefully watched eye. Luckily, Easter is more about the main dish rather than having a bunch of sides, so I find it to be much easier in comparison to Thanksgiving, for example.

Unfortunately, there will be no egg dying. It is common in Northern France, but I don’t think I could even find an egg dying kit here because it’s not traditional in our region. Part of Christophe’s family is from the north, so he recalls coloring them as a child with crayons, but he mentioned how he’d had to be very careful so they wouldn’t break. I had to think about this for a while, but then I realized, they were coloring raw eggs.

And thinking of eggs, I haven’t seen a white egg in France, ever, not even once. It’s just the issue of what type of chicken lays the egg, but all the eggs I’ve seen here are brown. This has led me to a question, “How well do brown eggs dye?” While I’m certain the brown eggs take the dye just as well as the white, it’s the starting point that might make the difference. Artists start with a white canvas for a reason, so I think using a brown egg would lead to some mucky pastels. Regardless, I think it’s a better approach than taking the risk of having a raw egg break all over me and my fat purple crayon.

Voilà, just some of the random odds thoughts that fill my mind as I still marvel over the idea of a cake that needs nine eggs.

The Sound of Silence

Today, Good Friday, is a religious holiday in which Christians observe the death of Jesus Christ.  Being a Catholic country, France observes this day with the “silencing of the bells” in which church bells in each village, town, and city go silent until Easter Sunday.  Legend states the bells fly (Les Cloches Volants) off to Rome on Holy Thursday carrying with them everyone’s misery and sorrow.  They visit the Pope for his blessings and return on Easter dropping chocolate eggs, bells, and bunnies in gardens for all the children.

The tradition dates back to the 7^th Century (or 12^th, depending on resources) when the Church forbade the ringing of the bells in honor of Christ’s death between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday.