The recent influx of biting winds and snow ridden days seem to be nearly gone for good. Rightly so considering it's mid-April and the last time I saw the sun was back in 2012 when I picked up a drawing made by my friend's 3 year old. Remember that big yellow crayola circle with the lines coming out of it? Yeah, that's what I remember of the sun too.
But with the turning of the seasons we always get those springy-est of holidays, Passover and Easter. Complete with lots of greenery, fresh foods, and of course massive amounts of chocolate eggs. I believe the egg bit technically doesn't sit with either of the holidays but somehow has ended up as Easter's raison d'etre (well at least for those non-practicing Christian and Jews I know). As far as my extensive research goes there appear to be no citations of the Easter bunny or little marshmallow chicks peeping around during Jesus's time. I do wish someone could prove me wrong here.
During the East-Over break I had the added pleasure of a last-minute visit from Mama Cupcakes. Needless to say our daily schedule revolved around where our next meal might be coming from and debating the best places to get cake in London. This alternated with visits to Paul Young's Chocolate shop in Soho where we visited almost daily. Delicious, the choccies in this shop are made of fun and unusual flavours. Marmite or PB&J anyone? He also sells a chocolate brownie with caramelised pecans that even Mama swooned over, even if it WAS a "store bought one"which is not something we typically go for. For those of you thinking you might go pick one up, be warned that at only 3 x 3 inches it's nearly £5, but it's also pretty amazeballs.
We certainly didn't stick to the Passover menu of no leavened products (our week included lunch at the Ivy for our favourite salmon fish cakes and complimentary bread basket). We also made an impromptu 48 hour trip to Venice where we scarfed down spaghetti with clams, Prosecco, gelato and an assortment of chicheti. All whilst fighting a constant internal battle, "must not buy the gorgeous _____" (frock, jacket, necklace, bag). You can imagine how this turned out. Let's just say I need to work on my willpower.
All of that aside, the night Mama arrived I thought I'd try for a little Passover "tradition" and after whipping up some haroset I also managed a spinach and feta matzo pie. It was a surprise but it was quite tasteriffic and (shock!) possibly a Passover recipe I could arguably make year round.
The recipe served 8 and with Mama and I eating it for two nights, I decided to freeze the second half. Of course I was a little concerned. I mean really, has anyone frozen matzo before? Probably - but it just sounds wrong.
Anyway, low and behold I've been enjoying it defrosted from frozen even MORE than I did when it was fresh from the oven. Who knew matzo could be such a dark horse?
Adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spinach-and-Matzoh-Pie-242019
I substituted skim milk for the whole milk and added a fair bit of garlic.
Happy to report that we also stuck to some secular Easter traditions. Mama made her way to Leonidas Chocolates after Easter Sunday in order to buy two large chocolate stuffed Easter eggs. 50% off naturally.
But with the turning of the seasons we always get those springy-est of holidays, Passover and Easter. Complete with lots of greenery, fresh foods, and of course massive amounts of chocolate eggs. I believe the egg bit technically doesn't sit with either of the holidays but somehow has ended up as Easter's raison d'etre (well at least for those non-practicing Christian and Jews I know). As far as my extensive research goes there appear to be no citations of the Easter bunny or little marshmallow chicks peeping around during Jesus's time. I do wish someone could prove me wrong here.
During the East-Over break I had the added pleasure of a last-minute visit from Mama Cupcakes. Needless to say our daily schedule revolved around where our next meal might be coming from and debating the best places to get cake in London. This alternated with visits to Paul Young's Chocolate shop in Soho where we visited almost daily. Delicious, the choccies in this shop are made of fun and unusual flavours. Marmite or PB&J anyone? He also sells a chocolate brownie with caramelised pecans that even Mama swooned over, even if it WAS a "store bought one"which is not something we typically go for. For those of you thinking you might go pick one up, be warned that at only 3 x 3 inches it's nearly £5, but it's also pretty amazeballs.
We certainly didn't stick to the Passover menu of no leavened products (our week included lunch at the Ivy for our favourite salmon fish cakes and complimentary bread basket). We also made an impromptu 48 hour trip to Venice where we scarfed down spaghetti with clams, Prosecco, gelato and an assortment of chicheti. All whilst fighting a constant internal battle, "must not buy the gorgeous _____" (frock, jacket, necklace, bag). You can imagine how this turned out. Let's just say I need to work on my willpower.
All of that aside, the night Mama arrived I thought I'd try for a little Passover "tradition" and after whipping up some haroset I also managed a spinach and feta matzo pie. It was a surprise but it was quite tasteriffic and (shock!) possibly a Passover recipe I could arguably make year round.
The recipe served 8 and with Mama and I eating it for two nights, I decided to freeze the second half. Of course I was a little concerned. I mean really, has anyone frozen matzo before? Probably - but it just sounds wrong.
Anyway, low and behold I've been enjoying it defrosted from frozen even MORE than I did when it was fresh from the oven. Who knew matzo could be such a dark horse?
Adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spinach-and-Matzoh-Pie-242019
I substituted skim milk for the whole milk and added a fair bit of garlic.
Happy to report that we also stuck to some secular Easter traditions. Mama made her way to Leonidas Chocolates after Easter Sunday in order to buy two large chocolate stuffed Easter eggs. 50% off naturally.
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