Easter Sunday, What’s Blooming?

Many early spring flowers have already come and gone by this time of year, mostly the bulbs. There’s still plenty on the horizon though and more than enough to choose from for a lovely spring table centerpiece.

In my yard the most noticeable flowering things are the dogwood trees which haven’t been decimated by the wind… hard to believe with all the wind we’ve had. The narcissus are just beginning to open. They are one of my favorites because they smell so heavenly with their little two headed flowers. The lilacs are still quite showy this year and the two small azalea bushes at the front door are pretty!

Not to be overlooked the flox is still flowering in some places and the purple iris are really making a big show. The purple iris always seem to be the first to bloom. I have some beautiful white ones that are just beginning to head up and quit a lot of old heirloom dusty colored ones that were given me years ago. They are dusty pastels… pinks, salmon, yellow, orange. The older heirloom iris don’t bloom until much later, sometimes so late they catch me by surprise because I’ve forgotten about them!

Easter dinner today was a salad of mixed tiny greens and buttercrunch with herbs and a vinaigrette, asparagus quiche and roasted fingerling potatoes in a  lemon butter and garlic sauce. Rhubarb cobbler and ice cream followed. YUM!

The asparagus was given to me by my asparagus friend. We usually trade a few batches of it for some of my rhubarb. It’s a good trade. Anyway, I made a delicate pie crust and pre-baked it, fried real crisp  several strips of bacon and crumbled it, scalded the milk, picked and chopped some of those famous green onion tops and squeezed some previously roasted garlic. I grated some mozzarella and a bit of fresh parmesan. Combined with farm fresh eggs from yet another friend a savory delicate custard was born into an asparagus quiche and into the oven it went!

A couple days ago I found small bags of mixed fingerling potatoes at the local grocery and grabbed one up. The bag had a recipe for “Fingerlings with butter-lemon-garlic Sauce”. So I made that also and popped it into the oven next to the quiche.

The Quiche Recipe

1 pie crust, homemade is best but do what you will
a few strips of bacon, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces and fried pretty crisp, set aside
3-4 cloves garlic, roasted or fresh
1/4 to 1/2 cup onions chopped, I like green tops
2 cups milk scalded, and set aside to cool slightly
1/2 cup (or more) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/8 to 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
3 or 4 eggs, depending on the size
asparagus, chopped into 1/2 to 3/ 4 inch pieces

Get the pie crust ready, pre-bake it for about 10 minutes in a hot oven. Set aside when done. Scald the milk. Prepare all the other ingredients.

Whisk the eggs well in a bowl big enough to take all the milk also. Pour a tiny bit of the hot milk into the eggs and whisk. Continue adding small amounts of milk and mixing it until all of it has been added to the eggs.

Put the cheese in the pie shell, followed by the onions and garlic, then the bacon and the asparagus. Carefully pour the custard over all. Slip the dish into a preheated oven of 350 degrees and bake about one hour. It may take a bit longer. Test with a sharp knife. When the knife comes out clean it’s done.

I seasoned my quiche with a few grinds of black pepper and  a pinch of finely crushed red pepper flakes to give it some sparkle.

The Potato Recipe

1 1/2 lbs. mixed fingerling potatoes
1/2 cup melted butter, to which you add
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbls. lemon juice or the juice of 1 fresh lemon
1 tsp. salt

Put the washed and dried potatoes into an 8 inch casserole. Pour the butter sauce over it and turn to coat. Top with 1/4 cup Parmesan if you like. Cover. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. Uncover and bake about another 10 minutes. Test potatoes for doneness with a fork.

May you be having a happy spring holiday, whichever one you celebrate!

The complete recipe file.