Easter Dinner

 Easter dinner Menu

Prime rib with horseradish sauce

Asparagus and peas salad

Scalloped potatoes 

Lemon cheesecake with strawberry compote 

Prime rib

15 minutes/lb for rare

16 minutes/lb for medium rare

1 6lb standing rib roast

Remove the roast from the fridge at least 2 hours before putting it in the oven and rub it all over with a mixture of:

3 large cloves garlic minced

1 tbl kosher salt

1/2 tbl ground black pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbl worstershire sauce

Place bones side down in a roasting pan.

Preheat your oven to 450 (425 convect) and roast the meat for 20 minutes.

Reduce heat to 350 (325 convect) and roast 1 1/2 hours. Check the temp about 15 minutes early with an instant read thermometer. Temp should be 120 for medium rare. (My roast took about 1hr 45 minutes at 325 convect)

Remove from oven and tent with foil.

Let stand 20-30 minutes before carving.

2:50 into  425 convection oven

3:10 reduce heat to 325 convection 

5:00 check temp 115-120

5:30 out of oven

6:00 dinner

Horseradish sauce

Sour cream 

Horseradish 

Asparagus and peas salad

Serves 4

For the Vinaigrette:

• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons juice from 1 or 2 lemons
• 2 teaspoons grated zest from 1 lemon, plus a few extra thin threads of zest for garnish
• 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 small shallot, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Salad:

• 1 cup fresh shelled English peas or 1 cup defrosted frozen peas (see note)
• 2 cups fresh sugar snap peas, strings removed, ends trimmed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces on the bias
• 1 pound asparagus, stalks trimmed, tips removed, tips and stalks reserved separately
• 2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 4 large very fresh eggs
• 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• 8 to 12 whole ramps, ends trimmed and cleaned
• 2 cups tender pea or snow pea shoots, thick stalks trimmed and discarded

For the Salad: Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Prepare an ice bath. Blanch peas in water, boiling until bright green and just tender, about 1 minute. Transfer to ice bath with a wire mesh strainer. Add snap peas to blanching water and cook until bright green and just tender, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer to ice bath with a wire mesh strainer. Add asparagus tips (not the stalks) to blanching water and cook until bright green and just tender, about 1 minute. Transfer to ice bath with a wire mesh strainer. Remove all vegetables from ice bath and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet lined with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels to dry. Set vegetables aside.

Scalloped potatoes 

2 cups heavy cream

6-8 large potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8 inch thick

1 clove minced garlic

salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter or spray pam on a shallow casserole (about the size of a 9 x 13-inch glass pan--a shallower pan gives you more "browned potatoes" which is what my crowd likes) and set aside. In large, heavy saucepan, bring cream to a boil and add the slice potatoes and garlic and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste. Pour potatoes, garlic and cream into prepared casserole and bake until the potatoes brown and cream has thickened. [if you want to be really sinful, put some gueyere cheese on top and run under broiler]

Lemon cheesecake with strawberry compote 

Make this the day ahead.

Put a roasting pan half full of water into oven. Preheat oven to 350

Crust:

40 vanilla wafers

3/4 C finely slivered almonds, toasted

1/3 C sugar

1/4 C, plus 2 tbl melted butter

Filling:

3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

1 C sugar

4 eggs

1/3 C whipping cream

1/3 C fresh lemon juice

grated rind of 2 lemons

Topping:

1 C sour cream

1 Tbl lemon juice 

1 Tbl sugar

1 tsp grated lemon rind

Crust: Spray a 9" springform pan with Pam.

Put pan onto a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil and mold the foil up the sides of the pan. In a food processor-process ingredients & press evenly over bottom and sides of pan.

Filling: Process cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, processing in between. Add cream, process. Add lemon juice and rind and process well. Pour into crust. Place pan (wrapped in foil) into bain marie (roasting pan full of water). Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 225 and bake 1 hour and 45 minutes. Cook on rack 5 minutes. (Can be frozen at the point. Defrost to room temperature before proceeding.)

Topping: Combine all ingredients and spread over cake. Bake 5 more minutes. Cook, cover and refrigerate overnight. Unmold and serve.

Strawberry Compote

1 quart of strawberries, Washed, hulled, and chopped

1 cup sugar

juice of half a lemon

Place strawberries & sugar in small saucepan. Bring slowly up to heat and let cook, stirring occassionally, until thick. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Refrigerate until ready to use.