You’re going to love this latest segment with The Chef and The Wine Guy. Chef Tom Delaney and Mark Gagliano join me once again to discuss spring wines, Easter menus and perfect pairings! I always learn something new when we get together! Don’t forget to send me a message: melissa@thepermanentourist , if you have a question about food or wine. We’ll feature questions on our next segment!
My readership has grown so over the past year I thought my post featuring three Easter menus would be a great post to revisit! Happy Easter!
Easter is Sunday! Families will gather all over the country to share in a lively hunt for eggs, candy will be placed in baskets, babies will have rabbit ear headbands on and a delicious meal will be served. It is a time for remembering our faith and its origins and it is a time to celebrate the beginning of Spring! It is one of my favorite times of the year with sprays of forsythia showing up at the local florist, tulips in all their vibrant colors and, one of my personal favorites, sunny daffodils.
I thought about presenting a menu for entertaining like I do every Friday. Then I thought, no, let’s do something different! Let’s have some fun! Soooooooo…..here are menus, not one as I normally do, but three to choose from! One is strictly Southern and traditional, the second is simply delicious with Mediterranean flair, while the third pulls all the stops out and goes quite “gourmet”! Choose which one you like the best and leave a comment for me with your choice!
Menu #1
Deviled Eggs
Southern Potato Salad
Fresh Sugar Snap Peas with Carrots
Glazed “Coca-Cola” Ham
Monkey Bread
Buttermilk Biscuit Strawberry Shortcake
Sweet Tea
*****
Menu #2
Chilled Cream of Asparagus Soup
Grilled Lamb Chops with Orange Zest and Fresh Mint Pesto
Orzo with Pine Nuts, Currants and Fresh Herbs
Arugula Salad with Zucchini Ribbons and Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette
Roasted Tomatoes
Lemon Tart
Sangria with Fresh Fruit
*****
Menu #3
Steamed Artichokes with Lemon Thyme Butter
Salmon in Puff Pastry with Herb Cheese
Sauteed Cucumbers with Grape Tomatoes and Fresh Dill
Wild Mushroom Risotto
Perfect Poached Fruit
Sauvignon Blanc
Menu #1
As I mentioned, I’m using a different format today. Please e-mail me if you would like one of the recipes that I am not posting. I’ll be sure to get it to you right away! For this menu I’m sharing the recipe for Coca-Cola Ham. I got this from my step-daughter and her husband who are both avid foodies! It rivals the spiral cut hams you pay much more for, you may even think it’s better!
Coca-Cola Ham
Hands on time: 30 minutes Total time: 1 hour and 20 minutes Serves:10-12
Menu #3
Steamed Artichokes with Lemon Thyme Butter
Prepare one artichoke for each person. Steam the artichokes in about an inch of water with one tablespoon of olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano for forty-five minutes, or until the leaves pull off easily. Melt one stick of unsalted butter and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme leaves into the butter. Serve the butter on the side of the artichoke in a ramekin.
Salmon in Puff Pastry with Herb Cheese
Have your fish market cut salmon filets into 2 – 3 inch wide pieces. This recipe serves six, but can easily be increased as needed.
6 pieces of fresh, wild caught salmon
1 package puff pastry
1 packed of Boursin cheese
egg wash (2 beaten egg yolks with 1 tablespoon water)
Thaw the puff pastry. Cut it into squares large enough to wrap around each piece of salmon. Place one piece of salmon on each square of pastry. Spread a heaping tablespoon of cheese on each piece of fish. Wrap the pastry dough around the individual pieces, crimping the edges so they remain closed. Brush each bundle with the egg wash. Place on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper. Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Garnish with fresh lemon wedges to serve.
Sauteed Cucumbers with Grape Tomatoes and Fresh Dill
This is a very simple, yet delicious side dish…perfect with the salmon.
2 large cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded and cut into 1/4″ slices.
1 small basket grape tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and fresh pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan. Add the cucumbers and toss for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes for another two to three minutes, until heated through. Remove to a serving dish and toss with the seasoning and herbs.
1 Bring stock to a simmer in a saucepan.
2 Melt the butter in a deep, heavy, medium sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and shallots and sauté about 5 minutes (if using chanterelles, dry sauté first for a minute or two and let the mushrooms cook in their own juices before adding the butter). Add the rice and stir to combine.
3 Add brandy, bring to a boil, and reduce liquid by half, about 3-4 minutes. Add simmering stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring enough to keep the rice from sticking to the edges of the pan. Stir the rice almost constantly — stirring sloughs off the starch from the rice, making the creamy sauce you’re looking for in a risotto. Wait until the stock is almost completely absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup. This process will take about 25 minutes. The rice should be just cooked and slightly chewy.
4 Stir in the Parmesan cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or chives.
Serves 4-6.
Perfect Poached Fruit (recipe from The Barefoot Contessa)
I first had this dessert at an Easter brunch several years ago. It was love at first bite. I am a HUGE Ina Garten fan and this recipe is, in my opinion, one of her best dessert recipes. Vin Santo is a sweet Italian dessert wine that comes from Tuscany.
1 (750 ml) bottle vin santo
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 large cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
1 vanilla bean
Zest of 1 orange, julienned
Zest of 1 lemon, julienned
10 whole Bosc pears
1 1/2 cups large dried figs
1 1/2 cups large dried apricots
3/4 cup large dried pitted prunes
Place the vin santo, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla bean, and zests in a large, shallow saucepan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Peel the pears, leaving the stems intact, and scoop out the seeds from the bottom with an apple corer or melon baller. Lay half the pears on their sides in the poaching liquid and simmer for 20 minutes, carefully turning the pears once with a spoon. Remove with a slotted spoon. Poach the remaining pears in the same liquid. Snip off the hard stems from the figs with scissors. Add the figs, apricots, prunes, and the first batch of poached pears and simmer 5 to 10 more minutes, until the pears and the dried fruit are all tender.
Chill the pears, dried fruit, zests, and poaching liquid. Remove the cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla before serving if you like.
There you have it! Easter three ways! I cannot wait to hear your comments and reviews! Let me know which menu you like best and which one you’re planning to make for your Easter gathering! Bon Apetit! (Many thanks to Pinterest!)
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I love wisteria. The way it lazily winds around trees and trellis’, its lovely violet petals like grapes on a vine……this is one of my favorite spring flowers.
Planning to include this beautiful vine in my plantings led me to do a bit of research. Did you know that wisteria is in the “pea” family? I didn’t!
This vine grows wild throughout the Eastern United States as well as in Asia….China and Japan specifically where ornamental types are held in high esteem.
I always picture a Victorian garden, wisteria draping over an arbor under which sits a lovely table and chairs for serving tea.
I find this vine most beautiful in its natural state, untrained and growing wild all around the island.
It doesn’t have a long season, but while it is in full bloom…..I’m happy!
I always know it has to be Spring when the Left Bank Art Gallery announces their annual art show! This year’s Palette Passions is the name and the art that is being displayed is absolutely beautiful! When the gallery opens its doors for the opening tomorrow at 4:30 guests will feel a definite breath of Spring.
The lovely florals and Cloister scenes painted by Katherine Brown Galbraith are simply enchanting.
The lively work of Russian born artist, Sonia Grineva is sure to delight the most discerning collector.
Catherine Elliott who paints at her studio in Connecticut has so many lovely paintings on show that reflect our coastline.
And Millie Gosch, an uber talented artist from Atlanta whose spring scenes simply make me happy!
This show is just beautiful and I know you’ll love seeing all of the color and talent! You might even walk away with something special for your collection and a good case of Spring Fever!
3600 Frederica Road, Suites 12 & 13, St. Simons Island, Georgia 31522
(800) 336-9469 (912) 638-3017
I met Carolyn Haines at the Daddy’s Girls’ Weekend event she hosts each year. Carolyn gives new meaning to the term Steel Magnolia. Her wicked sense of humor and brilliant art of talking and writing “Southern” is delightful! She believes that Southern writers have been so remarkable because of their direct connection to the land. She maintains her connection living on her farm with her many animals. Carolyn walks her talk, living the charmed life of a successful author and sharing her gift with students in her role of Assistant Professor and Fiction Coordinator at the University of South Alabama.
Being born to parents who both worked as journalists opened the door to writing for Carolyn at a very young age. Her first story was published in the Mobile Register at the age of twelve. The rest is history!
Books by Carolyn Haines
Carolyn has a passion for books, writing, photography and animals. Her mother had polio and could not make her way through the uneven terrain to photograph many of the news events she covered so her eager daughter began to accompany her and go where she could not to capture the moments on film.
She worked as a photo journalist while in college as doors began to open for her. A chance meeting at a cocktail party connected her with Harper Lee’s agent who encouraged Carolyn to write her first novel. To date, over fifty of Carolyn’s books have been written and successfully published. Most recently “The Seeker”, a work penned under the name R.B. Chesterton, a nom de plume she refers to as her dark side. “The Darkling” began the series she writes under this name that explores the world of horror, a genre often thought to be one women cannot write.
Carolyn began the “Bones” mystery series giving life to her characters Sarah Booth Delaney and Tinkie Bellcase Richmond as they solve one mystery after another. A ghost called Jitty keeps Sarah on the straight and narrow as each book unfolds. Southern charm literally exudes from the pages of each of the fourteen books in the series that has a bit of a dark edge as well. Read more about this series and Carolyn’s other work here: http://www.carolynhaines.com/.
Carolyn lives with 21 animals….dogs, cats and horses….on her farm not far from Mobile. She rescues, cares for and supports these creatures with her earnings as well as donations from others who care about animals. Learn more about Carolyn’s Good Fortune Farm Rescue here: http://goodfortunefarmrefuge.org/.
We ended our conversation with a few words of wisdom from Carolyn about writing. “Learn to read with your gut, pay attention. When your pulse races look at what the writer has done to create that feeling as well as what they write that bores you. Discerning readers make excellent writers!”
I look forward to a very long friendship with this wonderful woman and I hope you’ll explore her books and begin your journey into the literary work of Carolyn Haines.
I visited Art In The Park here on St. Simons Island over the weekend and enjoyed the perfect spring weather along with a whole crowd of art enthusiasts!
Glass ware in all shapes and sizes…..
Hand crafted beauty products to enhance, heal and nurture body, mind and spirit…..
Paintings…..ceramics and other crafts to add to your collections…..
Jewelry….unique and so pretty!
And azaleas bursting in full bloom under the huge oak trees that line Postell Park.
It was a beautiful day for walking and sharing….or just hanging out!
I’m sharing one of my favorite classical piano pieces today. Scenes from Childhood by Robert Schumann is so light, carefree and springlike! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I always do. Get out and enjoy nature today…..breathe deeply and feel the connection that brings us all together!
Enjoy my talk with Bruce Whitmore and Linda Polk as we discuss the International Festival being held on Friday the 11th. The event will already have taken place, but I learned so much more about Robert Abbott and Coastal College on this show. I think you will as well!
Art In The Park is coming up this weekend! Postell Park is the site of this annual event that brings artisans and artists from all over the area together to show their work.
Susan Molnar is heading up the show having recently retired in Coastal Georgia after years in Ft. Lauderdale, FL where she was at the helm for events all over that area. This promises to be a very interesting event. The recycled art that will be on display in honor of Earth Day will be a great part of the show.
Hostetter Lamp
Unusual pieces for the home…..
Geoff Coe Photography
Fine photography…..
Elizabeth Halderson and Kay Adams
Ceramics and castings to collect……
Hibbs Oil Painting
And paintings galore. There will be something for everyone!
The show runs on April 12th and 13th from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. You can plan to attend and enjoy lunch, dinner or both at any of the great restaurants located in the pier area of the village. Make a day of it and support our local artist’s! You won’t want to miss the exhibit going on at the Glynn Art Association either! Lots to see and a great way to do some early Christmas shopping!
On Friday, April 11th we’re all in for a special treat when Coastal College and the Robert Abbott Institute host the third annual International Festival that brings people of all cultures together.
From 2:00 – 7:30 p.m. you’ll be able to enjoy a large variety of delicious foods from different cultures…..
Music by some very talented people like the fabulous Phil Morrison Trio. Dancing, art, music…all of the Universal languages that connect us all with their energy.
Tajonyx, aka Carlton Dawson, the fabulous young musician from Columbus, Georgia will be on hand to get you moving with his soulful, soothing sounds.
Family fun is available for the young as well as the young at heart and admission is free! Children will be delighted by the huge green dragon that will make its appearance. Hip Hop and R&B dance lessons will be fun for all.
New to the festival this year is the CultureEXPO that will feature information on the culture’s of several countries. The student’s involved in this part of the festival see this as a growing concern as plans are made to share this exposition with schools throughout Southeast Georgia.
Artists and Artisans will be showing their wares with plenty of beautiful creations available to purchase.
A special treat will be offered up by the students in Coastal’s culinary department in the form of tastes of the Mediterranean. You’ll get delicious samples of dishes the students will be preparing and serving in their restaurant on Jekyll Island that will be opening soon.
This is a wonderful festival that combines all of the special things that bring different cultures together. Plan to attend and experience the magic!
