Easter Feasting

Despite the fact that I didn't make the trip up to Cleveland to spend Easter with my extended family, I had a pretty nice holiday weekend. A massage, fresh-cut daffodils, a kick-ass soloist plus the chance to catch up with one of my favorite ex-students at Mass Sunday morning, and of course, cooking & baking.

When deciding what to make for Easter dinner, I knew it had to be simple. I didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen since I had plenty of prep to do for my classes. Plus, I didn't want anything too filling as I was looking forward to ending my Lenten dessert embargo.


Soup to the rescue!

And what better to make my soup with than at-its-peak-of-deliciousness asparagus?

Nothing better, that's what. And nothing cheaper either, since asparagus is currently on the swindle at Kroger. The following dish is my own personal spin on a mish-mash of recipes from Food Network, VegWeb, and other online cooking resources.

Easter Sunday Cream of Asparagus Soup

2 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus, tough ends discarded, cut in half
6 tablespoons vegan butter
2 good-sized shallots, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 scant teaspoons dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon dry vermouth

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with salted ice water. In batches, cook the asparagus in the boiling water until just soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the ice water with a slotted spoon, then to a collander. Pat with paper towels to remove any excess water. Reserve 7-8 cups of the asparagus cooking-water. Take about 2 dozen of the asparagus tips, chop very fine, and set aside. Chop the remaining asparagus into bite sized peices.
In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrot, and celery. Cover and cook until soft (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add the flour and cook for another few minutes.
Add the reserved cooking water and bring to a boil. Toss in the bay leaf and thyme. Lower the heat, cover, and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the bite-sized, chopped asparagus and boil again. Remove from heat and let cool (15-25 minutes).
Remove the bay leaf from the soup. Working in batches (or using an immersion blender) blend the soup until very smooth. Return the puree to the pot, stir in the parsley and finely chopped asparagus tips. Add the vermouth and salt, stir, and bring to an almost boil.
Serve with fresh black pepper, some Crumb's birdseed bread (if you're lucky enough to live somewhere it's available) and lightly steamed zuchinni and snow peas.

Daffs for the flower arrangement courtesy of the Athens' Farmers' Market
and my BFF JSK's backyard

For dessert I made a Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Roomie l-o-v-e-s LOVES strawberry-rhubarb pie. I had to give him a half-pie limit or there would have been none left for me at all. For this pie I tried a veganized (cold Earth Balance sticks instead of butter) version of Martha Stewart's pie crust. Since I don't have a food processor, I did everything by hand, utilizing what my Mom called "Great-Gramma's Cuisinart" as she lent it to me. Since I've never used a processor or stand mixer to make dough, I can't really compare the two, but I kinda like the amount of elbow grease necessary doing things like kneading and cutting by hand.

Here's my recipe for the pie filling:

2 - 2 1/2 cups each, chopped strawberries and rhubarb
2 tablespoons minute tapioca
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a pinch or two ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the above ingredients in a large bowl. Let sit while you are preparing/chilling the dough. Roll out a little more than half the dough for the bottom crust and place in a 9-inch dish. Pour in the fruit filling. Roll out the remaining dough and slice however you choose to top the pie. I used my carrot cookie cutter for egg-stra Easter awesome-ness.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. The edges on my pie were getting a little dark around the 25 minute mark but the fruit wasn't bubbling, so I covered it with foil for the last 15 minutes or so.
Serve warm, topped with a spritz of Rice Whip.

***
And so, friends and enemies, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

P.S. Now that Lent is over (and all the most delicious of fruits are coming in season), I'll be making more of the sweet stuff so stay tuned!