Tag Archives: Easter

Recipe: Nutella Hazelnut Palmiers

19 Apr

By family decree, certain elements of our Easter Brunch can never be altered: the Breakfast Pizzas; the Pesto-Roasted Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Garlic with Pine Nuts; and the Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing. The ham comes and goes and the potatoes occasionally vary (Hashbrown Casserole has been a favorite for many years, but to the dismay of one of our sons, is being edged out this year by Country-Fried Potatoes with Bacon and Green Onions). Other dishes enter and exit as the urge strikes: this year, one of those “other” items will be Stuffed Mushrooms with Merguez Sausage and Spinach, which I realized I hadn’t made in a while.

The one area of Easter Brunch where more experimentation is allowed is the sweet section, which consists of 2-3 items chosen at whim. Today, I made these Nutella Hazelnut Palmiers while everyone was out hiking; I’ll need to hide them pretty soon, lest the returning teenagers and 20-somethings demolish them before tomorrow’s brunch. And before I “taste test” any more of them myself….

Palmiers

Nutella Hazelnut Palmiers
Makes about 30

1 (17.65 oz. ) pkg. puff pastry dough sheets, thawed
2 tbsp. raw sugar, divided in half
1 c. Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread), divided in half*
1/2 c. chopped hazelnuts, divided in half

Preparation

1. Lightly flour a clean, 12 x 12-inch spot on your counter. Sprinkle the spot with 1 tbsp. raw sugar.
2. The puff pastry dough package should contain two sheets. Unfold one of the sheets and place it on top of the  flour/sugar. Gently roll out the dough to the left and to the right until it is about 15-inches long (don’t worry about the width); you mostly want to embed the sugar into the underside of the dough.
3. Spread 1/2 c. Nutella onto the puff pastry sheet; sprinkle 1/4 c. chopped hazelnuts over the top.
4. Starting at the top long end, roll the dough toward you until you get to the middle of the pastry sheet. Now roll from the bottom end up to the middle. Bring the two rolls together, and place the log of dough seam-side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
5. Repeat with the second puff pastry sheet. Sprinkle the counter with more flour and the remaining tbsp. of sugar, top with the second pastry sheet, and gently roll the dough out. Spread with the remaining Nutella and sprinkle the remaining hazelnuts on top; roll up as indicated in Step 4. Place the second log of dough on the baking sheet, too, and then put the baking sheet in the freezer for about 10 minutes to firm up the dough.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Working with one  log of dough at a time, place on a cutting board and slice into 3/4-inch thick slices (or as close as you can get) with a serrated knife. Lay the palmiers flat side down on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet, with ample room between palmiers since they will expand.  You will need multiple baking sheets, or will need to bake in batches.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or so, until the palmiers are golden. (Keep an eye on them; baking time will depend on the thickness of the palmiers.)
9. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
10. Enjoy!

* Can add up to 1/2 c. more Nutella ( 1/4 c. on each sheet) for sweeter but slightly messier palmiers.

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Recipe: Roast Leg of Lamb with Red Wine and Herbs

17 Apr

On the Thursday before Easter, we always have a leg of lamb as part of our evening meal, a tradition that started before my husband and I were married–when we were young and foolish. We bought our first leg of lamb on impulse at a butcher shop in Greenwich Village, New York, on the Wednesday before Easter (we happened to be visiting NYC). We sprinkled some herbs over it, doused it with a bottle of wine, wrapped it up, refrigerated it overnight, and then drove it to Washington, DC the next day in time to roast it for dinner. It was a slightly boozy, but very delicious lamb we ate that evening; the excess alcohol probably helped preserve it, unrefrigerated, during the 4-hour trip.

Though we have very fond memories of that lamb, I have since refined the recipe, ensuring proper food-safety techniques and (unfortunately) eliminating the need for any road trips.

Lamb6

Roast Leg of Lamb with Red Wine and Herbs
Serves 6-8
Note: This lamb needs to marinate overnight (or for at least 8 hours) prior to roasting.

1 bone-in leg of lamb (6-8 lb.)
salt and pepper
4-5 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
fresh rosemary, separated into small sprigs

Marinade:
1/3 c. olive oil
1/4 c. red wine of your preference
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. each dried basil, oregano, parsley, mint, etc.
1/2 tsp. sugar

Preparation

1. Rinse lamb and pat dry. Then, using a sharp knife, cut off  as much of the top, papery thin layer (the “fell”) as possible; it is not necessary to remove all of it. (Some cooks prefer to leave it on to help keep the lamb moist. Others remove it because they think it has a strong flavor. I remove it for aesthetic reasons; family members don’t like seeing the fell on the lamb.)
2. Trim off  excess fat, but make sure to leave a nice layer to ensure moistness and to help carry the flavor of the rosemary, garlic, and marinade.
3. Using the same sharp knife, make deep slits into the meaty portions of the leg.

L1
4. Insert one sliver of garlic and a small sprig of rosemary into each slit in the lamb. Sprinkle lamb with salt and freshly ground pepper.

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5. In a bowl, combine marinade ingredients.
6. Place lamb in 2-3 layers of clean, plastic grocery bags (or other large sealable bags) on a rimmed baking sheet large enough to hold the lamb. Holding the bags open, pour the marinade over the lamb, taking care to pour some of the marinade into each of the slits filled with garlic and rosemary.

Lamb
7.  Tie the plastic bags together tightly so that the marinade cannot leak out, then place the lamb (still on the baking sheet) in the refrigerator overnight (or for at least 8 hours). If you are so inclined, feel free to massage the marinade into the lamb every so often.

Lamb2
8. In the morning (or after about 4 hours), turn the lamb over so that the other side of the lamb can soak up some of the marinade.
9. Preheat oven to 450 °F. Remove the lamb from the bags (reserving the marinade), pat dry, sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper, then place the  lamb on a rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet or pan. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the lamb, but not near the bone. Cook lamb at 450°F for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 °F. Roast lamb until meat thermometer reaches between 145 °F (medium rare) and 160 °F (medium), basting periodically with leftover marinade. For a 6 lb. leg of lamb, total cooking time should be about 2 hours, depending on preferred degree of doneness.
10. Remove lamb from oven, then let rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

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Double, Double, Toil and Shovel

14 Apr

One good thing about gardening is that while certain things need to be done throughout the year, I believe (hope) there is significant flexibility in when those things can be done (otherwise, I’m in trouble). There is one big exception to this philosophy: Easter. It is our one and only gardening deadline–an immutable date by which the garden must receive a serious makeover in order to present its best (or at least, not its worst) side to the guests who will come to our house for Easter. It helps that this excuse forces us to give the garden a really good start to the season, in compensation for any benign neglect that may be headed its way later.

This spring-cleaning mania also applies to Schnauzer 1 and Schnauzer 2–without fail, they get nice new haircuts so that our guests do not mistakenly assume we have taken to rearing sheep. After four hours of on-and-off grooming yesterday that neither they nor I appreciated very much, they now look like leaner and more refined versions of their former selves. They also look naked, but we are all getting used to it.

The garden, too, looks simultaneously neater and more naked. The protective fall leaves have now been replaced with a tidier layer of mulch. The emerging plants are still maintaining their distance from their neighbors; at at this time of year there is only a foreshadowing of the lushness of summer. But the garden’s current low-key appearance is deceptive. I planted or transplanted more than 130 plants during the past two weekends.

This is admittedly a bit nuts. I have a tendency to move plants around before they are in their fully active growth mode,  if I can still move them easily. Sometimes it is for altruistic reasons (to save plants  in danger of being overtaken by their neighbors) and sometimes for aesthetic ones (something else may look better there, or vice versa). But in recent days, I also replaced plants that did not survive our rough winter; filled in a new, long and narrow flower bed alongside our new-ish patio (populated entirely by some of the aforementioned transplanted plants: Montauk Daisy, roses, and Switchgrass); decommissioned the rose garden and turned it into a vegetable garden; covered a sloped area with ground cover; and installed a bird bath.

The stage is now set; time for the actors to arrive.

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New (transplanted) flower bed                           Robin enjoying new bird bath

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