One of our favorite family stories goes way back to when we did a lot of entertaining at the Cool Water Ranch. Parties were enormous, and so were the menus. Planning the food for these gatherings was complicated, and a lot of thought went into them. One particular Easter we were vexing about what to serve our guests and our daughter said simply, “I know Daddy, why don’t we have eggs?” So obvious, only a child would think of it.
And we certainly did. The menu for that one was an assortment of quiches. We had bacon and Gruyère and caramelized onions, and mushroom and broccoli and cheddar. And spinach and feta. They were so good I still make them every now and then, just because.
A lot of time has passed since then, and our cooking has become more complicated. Sadly, there are no more parties with egg hunts and sack races, but we still need to eat. It was a great opportunity to try a recipe from a cookbook I am very excited about. A few months ago we had a guest on the show named Susan Spungen who has written a stunning book called Open Kitchen. So appealing, I have been looking for an excuse to try it.
On Sunday, so many years after it was first suggested that we should have eggs on Easter, we made a cheese soufflé from that book that looked sensational. It seemed that a cheese soufflé required bread, but that staple has become impossible to find in the store lately. Another favorite picture in the book was one of three bread recipes. We settled on a large and amorphous cracker that was a bit thicker than Lavosh but very much on that theme. These make a spectacular presentation. Dusted with cumin seeds and coarse sea salt, with toasty bubbles throughout, we were very pleased with the results of our efforts. They were gorgeous. It was unanimously decided that cumin belongs in chili mostly, and not so much on a cracker. We’ll use black sesame seeds next time. And much less salt.
The cheese soufflé was also disappointing, but only because we goofed it up a bit. But I am curious to test that theory. It had an unusual flavor, and it could have been the nutmeg, or the Gruyère cheese. Normally we love Gruyère, but this was a premium version - 3 oz for $10. When I explained that Erik Acquistapace shops his cheese in Europe in places run by families that have been in the cheese business since the 17th and sometimes 16th centuries, Mary Leigh sniffed that he needs a value brand too. I might want to try it again with a basic yellow sharp cheddar, of which Acquistapace has many.
So of the four things on our Easter table, the ones we liked best were the simplest. A week ago I ran into some pearl onions, both purple and yellow. I bought about a pound of each at Rouse’s and two pounds of tiny red potatoes in a net. I peeled off the outer layer of the onions, and chopped a half cup of parsley, then took a half pod of garlic and smashed each clove but didn’t chop them. I then added 2 tablespoons of Creole seasoning to ⅓ cup of olive oil and coated all the potatoes and onions with the seasoned oil. This went into a glass baking dish at 400, where I continually turned and basted them until the skins of the potatoes shriveled. This also got a light dusting of sea salt when they came out.
The salad has greens and purple onions and heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as avocado. All this I tossed in a dressing of the juice of ½ lemon, ⅓ cup olive oil, and ¼ cup balsamic vinegar. The roasted garlic I always keep in the refrigerator now was mottled and added in the amount of 2 tablespoons.
We loved this simple but elegant holiday meal. It can’t top the grand days of hordes of guests and quiches, but it had to do. And it did.
