Easter Weekend

[wildeabandon]

I continue to be in that slightly weird place emotionally, where everything in my life is awesome and keeps getting better, but I have this nagging conciousness of the world descending into madness, and don't quite know how to incorporate the two. I'm intending to do some campaigning for the upcoming election, probably in the nearest Lib/Con marginal, but concievably for Labour if that looks like it might have more impact for the anyone-but-Tory cause.

After the Watch, my Easter weekend continued well. I was nearly late for the Easter Vigil because I was making an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve my crucifix from the massage parlour where I'd lost it earlier in the day. Fortunately I made it just in time, and they called later to say that they'd found it, so I picked it up on Tuesday, which I think you can call a happy ending.

I was a little bit grumpy towards the start of the Vigil, partly because it's at the wrong time (dusk rather than dawn) and in the wrong order (with the new fire preceeding the readings rather than coming afterwards), and partly because the children were more than usually rambunctious, but of course all that got swept away as the fanfare sounded and the Allelulias rang, and I was filled with joy in the Risen Lord.

There was another Mass on Sunday morning, after which I set off home for the Feast, which we were hosting this year. I was really pleased with all of my courses. As a starter I did chargrilled courgettes in a mint dressing with olive tapenade and crumbled feta. The fish course was scallops and black pudding with caramelised red onion (or sushi for the vegetarians - teriyaki mushroom & tamago chirashi and avocado & watermelon nigiri). But I think best of all was the pudding, which was rhubarb and yuzu posset. I reckon when you're on course seven of a nine course meal, and told that the only criticism is that there should have been more of it, you must be doing something right!

Comments

[charlie]

Rhubarb and YUZU! That sounds like the Best Thing Ever.

[ludy]

This!

[wildeabandon]

It was :) I used this recipe for the yuzu version, and then I simmered down about a pound of fresh rhubarb and pushed it through a sieve, and used that in place of the yuzu juice. I let them cool slightly and then poured them into ramekins like this:

[ludy]

That looks Awesome!

[sfred]

The feast sounds lovely!

I hope the dealing with the madness of the world gets easier.

[nou]

The feast sounds great! I love grilled courgettes with feta — something about it just works really well. I also like how you incorporated grains into the vegetarian "fish" course, mirroring the oats/barley in the black pudding. Any chance of seeing the full menu?

[wildeabandon]

I'm going to pretend that the grains mirroring was deliberate and not just happy co-incidence... The full menu was:
Canapes - smashed avocado, smoked salmon & creme fraiche, chestnut mushroom & thyme, caramelised onion & goat's cheese.
Butternut squash soup
Chargrilled courgettes
Scallops & black pudding / veggie sushi
Apple & cinnamon sorbet with spiced rum
Roast lamb / aubergine tagine with red cabbage and roast potatoes
Rhubarb and Yuzu posset
Cheese
Fresh Fruit

[nou]

Heh :)

Thanks for this — it sounds really good.

Did you use bottled yuzu juice for the posset, and if so what brand?

[wildeabandon]

Yep - Waitrose Cooks Ingredients. It's very sour, so a little goes a long way; I used about 4-5 times as much rhubarb juice for similar levels of sharpness.

[nou]

Thanks — have added yuzu juice to my next Ocado order and will be trying out the posset on Sunday.

[nou]

Just to follow up on this; the posset has turned out rather too sweet for me, so I'll try with less sugar next time, but it's such a clever process! Thanks again for linking to the recipe and answering my questions.

[nou]

I’ve made several possets since, and have settled on my favourite: 170ml cream, 2 Tbsp dark muscovado sugar, and 1.5 Tbsp lime juice. Thank you for setting my feet on this path!