Happy Easter!

I woke up at 5:30 AM on Easter Sunday. I put on a pot of coffee and went to post the Blog. It's chilly this morning (29 degrees F.) but it's supposed to be sunny and 56 degrees F. this afternoon.

I started a load of throw rugs in the washer. Then I called Lu to wish her and Sadie a Happy Easter. She caught me up to date on all the goats born, the soap business, getting her tax papers and Jeremy and his family's visit this past week (they pulled out for Michigan and home at 5:30 AM this morning). I told her about lunch at Mom's yesterday and that I was going to brunch at Jake and Carla's today. She said she would really prefer to stay home today and make homemade laundry detergent, but would probably end up going to Easter dinner at Sadie's brother Bob's house.

After we hung up, I got to work on my contribution to the Easter brunch: Cheese Danish. I got out the stand mixer and put in eight ounces of room temperature cream cheese and 1/3 cup of sugar. I creamed them together on low until smooth. With the mixer still on, I added three large egg yolks (also room temperature), two tablespoons of ricotta cheese, one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, a pinch of Kosher salt and about one tablespoon of lemon zest (around the zest of two lemons). I mixed it until just combined (do NOT whip!)

I had thawed a box of puff pastry out overnight in the fridge. So, I got out my biggest board, floured it and went to work.

I unfolded one sheet of puff pastry onto the lightly floured board and rolled it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it was a 10 by 10-inch square. I cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife. I placed a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling into the middle of each of the four squares. I brushed the border of each pastry with egg wash and folded two opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stuck together. Then, I brushed the top of the pastries with egg wash. I placed the pastries on a sheet pan, covered with parchment paper.

I repeated this process with the second sheet of puff pastry and refrigerated the filled Danish. Now, even if you are going to bake them right away, they still need to be refrigerated for 15 minutes. However, I'm taking them over to Jake and Carla's and baking them there. Oh, and since I'm not sure just how much these bad boys will "puff" I only put four per sheet pan. It's more of a pain, but eight on one tray looked WAY too crowded. Oh, and one last thing: You need to bake these at 400 degrees F. for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown.

So, that done, I got the throw rugs out of the dryer and put them back. Then I shaved, showered and got dressed. I loaded up the car with the two sheet pans, now covered (sorta) with cling wrap. I got out the champagne (a bottle of Korbel that's been in the fridge since New Year's) and some good orange juice for Mimosas. I also took them some of their mail that came to my house and some of the pecan smoked beef jerky that Rick had sent me to try.

I got to their house just before noon. Carla put the cheese Danish into the fridge to bake later. They were in full-out production mode, and I just sat watching them and marveling. They have their movements in the kitchen so tight it's like watching a ballet or something.

They made up the dough for the goat cheese and black pepper biscuits. Jake rolled it out, folding it three times and then cutting them out and putting them on another parchment paper lined sheet tray. He popped them into the oven as Carla moved onto the next dish.

So, they had made the polenta the night before (butter, minced green onions, coarse cornmeal (or Polenta, in Italy), Parmesan cheese and fresh thyme). Carla started frying bacon to where it was brown, but still pliable. Meanwhile, Jake grated up six ounces of extra-sharp white Cheddar cheese and six ounces of Gruyere cheese. Jake pulled the biscuits out of the oven and let them cool as Carla mixed together some butter and fresh dill. She also put some wild-caught, smoked Alaskan salmon (thin-sliced) on a plate.

Then Jake put two half-slices of bacon on the bottom of four ramekins. Next, he lined the sides with another slice and a half of bacon. Then Carla filled them with the polenta, leaving a well in the middle. Into the well went one fresh egg per ramekin. That got topped with the grated Cheddar and Gruyere cheese mixture, some minced green onions, fresh thyme leaves and black pepper. The ramekins went onto another sheet pan and into a 400 degree oven, along with one of my cheese Danish trays.

Meanwhile, Carla had moved on to making the Sherry Vinaigrette, using some bacon drippings (reserved from the Bacon-wrapped Baked Eggs with Polenta), Sherry wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, brown sugar and extra-virgin olive oil. She used some of that to dress some arugula mixed with baby greens. Jake mixed up the Mimosas (one part orange juice to three parts champagne and then carefully, but cleverly, got the bacon, polenta and baked eggs out of the ramekins and standing upright on each plate. My last tray of cheese Danish went into the oven and we sat down to Easter brunch.

Everything was excellent (I mean it!) The spring greens with Sherry vinaigrette were great and the cheese Danish had a nice lemony flavor to the filling.

Here's how you rolled with the Goat Cheese and Black Pepper biscuits: You sliced a biscuit in half, added the dill butter and then several layers of the smoked salmon. As Carla pointed out, you couldn't taste the goat cheese, only the dill and salmon. But, it was excellent.

But the star of the show for me, anyway, was the bacon-wrapped eggs with polenta. As you cut into it, the yolk broke (of course) flooding the polenta with flavor. The bacon was a perfect, smoky counterpoint. But, it was very, very filling and by the time I got done, I didn't have any room for the coffee Jake had brewed.

We chatted for a bit and then Carla started cleaning up. By the time she was done, the kitchen was as spotless as when I walked in. I wish I had that kind of drive, BTW. I'm more the "Oh, I'll just let that soak overnight, it will be easier to wash..." kinda guy.

We then sat out on the deck for a while, cooling off. We got talking about this and that and somebody mentioned Income Taxes. Then I remembered, I never finished mine and they are due in three days!!! So, I hurriedly made my goodbyes, grabbing up my sheet pans, the beef jerky and the rest of the smoked salmon (I traded it for my remaining cheese Danish - I shouldn't really be eating that kind of stuff).

I made one stop on the way home at a party store to buy some Better Made Wavy potato chips. I think I mentioned it before, but Jake has been working on a recipe for a low calorie, but good tasting chip dip. He had me so convinced that he had it that I actually bought some of the ingredients; including eight ounces of goat cheese and (gulp) low fat sour cream!

But, when I realized his recipe made over two cups of chip dip, I gave up on it, as I would only end up throwing it out. But, today, he let me try some of it, and I was really impressed! Now, I've always been a French Onion Chip Dip kind of guy, but this really did taste better. So, tonight, I plan on cutting the recipe in half and giving it a shot.

But, first, after starting the last load of laundry for the weekend, it's back to the taxes. By 4:00 PM, I had the Federal one done and e-filed. I decided to do my Michigan taxes (a much easier form that I always do by hand) tomorrow night. Then I hung up the laundry.

So, I went in and filled in the Blog to date (it took almost two hours, BTW) and then went out and made some chip dip. I had to pop out onto the patio and get some chives to snip for it, but I finally got it done and chilling for tonight's TV. (I think it would have been a whole lot easier if I had let the goat cheese come up to room temperature first, BTW, but this was spur-of-the-moment, you see).

I went outside again, reset and refilled the bird feeder (now it's chilly, BTW.) Back inside, I started thinking about a light supper. I'm still kinda stuffed from brunch. Last Monday (in my search for "things to put in the garbage Tuesday morning") I came across two butternut squashes that I bought back in the fall that had gone bad. But, there was still an acorn squash that seemed solid.

So, tonight, I cut it in half and hollowed out the seeds. Now, I am sure in the past I've mentioned my Mother's method of baking these (with a pat of butter and some brown sugar). But, since I like savory over sweet, I frequently use the same pat of butter, but with fresh herbs and salt and pepper. However, tonight, the only fresh herbs I have are parsley and the chives out back. I started looking at dried herbs when I came across some Herbes de Provence, which is a French mixture of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, basil, fennel, sage and lavender. So, that's what I topped the pat of butter with, then some salt and fresh ground pepper. I popped that in the toaster oven at 400 degrees and set the timer for 30 minutes. I'll check it then and adjust the baking time as needed.

I checked and it wasn't cooked through, so I turned it back on for another 30 minutes. Then I put one side in a bowl and wandered off to watch my Sunday night shows. My appetite whetted, I got out the other one and ate it, too. So, Sunday night was all vegetarian for me!

Around 9:00 PM, I dished out a small bowl of the chip dip and a correspondingly small bowl of chips and had them as a snack. Yummo! I went to bed at 11:30 after watching the news.