R oo umnedg rUopw n H
Easter Feasting Written by Juliet Kennedy. Mother, entrepreneur and owner of Greenspoon.
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Yummy. Food. Drink. Life
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nyone who reads this column regularly will know that feasting should be my middle name. And family… well, that’s just a given. I have a family for washing up (Saskia & Bertie), family for tasting (them again, and anyone who cares to turn up at the right time), and family for critique (you know who you are). If you have the good fortune to be put in charge of food for a big family feast during Easter, my top tip is to get organised; Do. Not. Be. Stressed. When your family comes over, you want to max out the time you’ve got together, not be rushing, the hair on fire, between kitchen and bar, making sure everyone else is happy all the while wishing you could run and hide in the bathroom under an ice-cold shower. No. This is not the way to do family feasting. So rule number one: prepare in advance. I usually try to go for a starter and pudding that I can make a few days before, and ideally, put
together a few hours before. An easy win with most family members is a platter of crudités with some delicious dips or your best wooden board piled with different cuts of salami and cheese, olives, crackers and pickles. If you’d rather have everyone sitting down around a table, think light salads with some pre-cooked grains thrown in; smoked trout on blinis which hail to the 1970s but are always a winner, or a soup you can make a few days earlier and gently warm through for five minutes before serving. At the end of the meal, keep it simple. You could make a tart or cheesecake in advance, a passion fruit mousse or keep it simple with five different bars of chocolate – make it fun by splitting them into origin so that you can have a guessing game on where the chocolate comes from. Or, buy Delia’s ice-cream, and offer some sprinkles or chocolate chips as toppings. Whatever you do, keep it simple and tasty. This is a time in the family feast when you really want
