Easter (and Passover) -- A Culianry Triumph

We are a multi-faith household in that, G is Jewish and my family is not. I really was in the mood to make Easter dinner this year, and since ham is out, it was a no-brainer to go for turkey. But for the two of us, a turkey is too much food, and I only like white meat and G only likes dark, so we end up with lots of meat that doesn't get eaten. Plus, it's right in the tail end of Passover, so we couldn't have any bread or flour with the meal, so everything had to be planned out fresh and new.

During a quick trip to the St. Lawrence Market yesterday morning, we stumbled across a most delightful looking boneless turkey breast, all tied together like a roast. After a chat with the butcher, we gave the man our money and walked away with one good looking part of a bird.

From there, we went to the grain market on the 1st level and purchased a bag of wild rice. We rounded out the 'dressing' with some very clovey beef sausage. At home, we had shiitakes from our CSA box, as well as an apple, as indicated in the recipe I found online. No flour in this dressing, and no stuffing the turkey breast, so it needed to be good on it's own. (Links for recipes below.)

In Waitrose Food Illustrated, a food mag from the UK I read, I found an excellent recipe for roasty potato and onions (March edition), and the CSA box provided the potatoes, as well.

This morning, I woke late and began the preparations. First was the stuffing. It took the shortest amount of time to bake, but the longest to prepare. Then I made a sage butter and slathered the turkey and put it in the oven, sliced the potatoes, and got everything ready for its oven escapades.

Look at this beautiful Easter dinner...


The spread on the table didn't look this plentiful!


And yes, that is the Kosher Coke making it's debut over there... delish! G says it tastes like the Coke in Africa. I say, it taste's like Coke but with a kick.

The side dishes were all beautiful... I couldn't believe that out of a meal of making three things I have never made before, everything turned out excellent!



Ahhhh, such beauty! The green beans were in the cooking stage. Still trying to get the light right in my kitchen.

Bello the beautiful ate some turkey and then went for a snooze. He likes to 'tunnel' in things and today's find was a pile of clean sheets.


Tee hee! He's too cute.

Anyway, the link for the dressing recipe can be found here. I highly recommend it. It's crazy easy to make and really a delight to eat. It added a really nice element to the dinner.

The potato receipe was found in Waitrose Food Illustrated, March edition. The link for the magazine is here. It's a magazine that I fluctuate quite heavily on, but this months had Gordon R. on the cover, and road trip diners, so it's all good.

And one last thing on this meal... Thanks to Jamie Oliver and his Christmas 2006 Podcast. I was listening to it last week and he stresses that your turkey should rest for a good long time when coming out of the oven. So today, when I took out the turkey, I let it set for 30 minutes. It made all the difference in the world. Thanks Jamie.