Earlier this week I posted on Instagram about my plans for my Easter dinner for 1. Here is my rough schedule of activities and how I think through a dinner with multiple components aka how to prep it all!
Day before prep:
Roast beets
Make vinaigrette/marinade for beets
Make pea condiment
Other things you could do the day before if you have the fridge space:
Slice potatoes for scalloped potatoes and store them in the fridge covered in water
Make pie crust dough and store in the fridge
Roast beets:
Preheat oven to 425
Wash beets and dry
Trim off any odd bits or the ends if they look extra dirty
Wrap each beet in tin foil with a little olive oil
Place on a cookie sheet and roast under a cake tester inserts easily (time depends on the size of the beets - for small it could be 20-30 mins, for larger beets it could take an hour)
Allow to cool completely before peeling
Pea condiment:
Inspired by this article: Bon Appetit Basically: Pea Pesto
Steam 2 cups of frozen peas until bright green and tender, remove from heat and cool
Place in a food processor with 2 garlic cloves, zest of 1 lemon, 3 tsp of apple cider vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and process on high until smooth. If you have any soft herbs like mint or parsley they would go great in here.
Taste and adjust
Store in a container in the fridge
Beet salad vinaigrette/marinade:
⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
1.5 tbsp honey
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Shake in a mason jar until emulsified!
Once the beets are cool, peel and slice into ¾ cm slices. Put into a container and pour over half of the vinaigrette to store overnight so that the beets marinate. Store the remaining vinaigrette in the fridge.
Day of:
Morning:
Prep white buns (I am going to halve this recipe: Fraiche Living Perfect White Buns
Make pie (I am going to make a variation of this: Bon Appetit Lemon Meringue Pie, but will use different citrus fruits because I don’t have enough lemon. I’ll freeze the second pie crust for future use)
Afternoon:
Prepare and cook the lamb (I always start with the meat first to ensure there’s time for it to cook, and it can always rest while everything else cooks):
Lamb prep: take lamb out of fridge, season generously with salt and pepper and let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour so it loses its chill
Make crust for lamb
I’m going to do a riff on the crust from this recipe: Food & Wine Parmesan and Herb Crusted Beef Tenderloin
Instead of parmesan I think I will add lemon zest
Assemble lamb:
I’m then going to rub dijon mustard over the lamb to give something for the crust to stick to. I will then apply the crust, drizzle some olive oil over it and roast it at 325 until I reach 140F internal temp for medium lamb. From my research it looks like it will take 1.5 hours or so for my 3lb lamb
Will let it rest at room temp before slicing
Scalloped Potato prep:
While the lamb is roasting I’ll prep the scalloped potatoes. I am choosing to not make mine with cheese because I don’t think it will go with the lamb. I’m just going to do a simple milk, onion, butter combo. On the stove I’ll heat 2 cups of milk with 2 tbsp of butter, a bay leaf and some thyme. Heat on low, being careful to not scorch or curdle the milk. Season well with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile I’ll slice my potatoes thinly, along with 1 white onion. I just have 2 potatoes. I’ll layer the potatoes and onions in a baking dish and pour over the milk mixture.
Once the lamb is out of the oven, I’ll bake the scallop potatoes (covered) at 325F until fork tender (30-45 mins). I’ll take the tinfoil off for the last few mins and turn it onto broil to get a little colour on top.
Roasted veg prep:
While the scalloped potatoes are in, I’ll prep the roasted veg. I have cabbage, some brussel sprouts, turnip and swiss chard stems. I’ll chop everything up and spread it evenly onto a lined baking sheet. I will then drizzle olive oil and mix the veg with 2 tbsp of grainy mustard so everything is evenly coated. Season with salt and pepper. Roast at 400 until everything is tender and starting to deepen in colour. Once the veg is out of the oven I’ll drizzle some honey and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Bake white buns - always leave these for last so they’re fresh out of the oven! When they come out of the oven you can add everything back in the oven to reheat.
Assemble salad:
Layer the beets on the bottom of the plate
Add orange segments
Crumble goat cheese
Sprinkle on some toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, whatever you have)
Top with greens if you have any, tossed in the remaining vinaigrette (arugula, mixed greens, pea shoots work!)
EDIT: It all worked out! Pictures added!
