Easter Dinner 2011 (Apricot-Glazed Ham, Scalloped Potato Gratin with Fresh Herbs, Roasted Asparagus, Popovers, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake)

Overall, this was a pretty successful meal. Though I'm definitely starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the whole holiday meal preparation thing. I feel like in doing the meal prep that I miss out on a lot of the celebrating. My cooking/baking mojo has generally been off since the Christmas dinner disaster, so I'm not entirely surprised that I wasn't totally into prepping this meal. But I think it's time to rethink how to do this altogether. I want to make the meals, but I'm thinking it's time to find some shortcuts and other ways to make these holidays a lot less stressful.

The ham and potatoes were great. They were both really flavorful and satisfying. The asparagus and popovers, however, didn't quite work out as well. I think I may have overloaded the pan a bit, so while they tasted good, the asparagus didn't crisp up at all, so the texture was a bit floppy. And the popovers didn't pop. So they were more like popunders or deflated souffles. I'm not sure if it's because I doubled the recipe or because I forgot to preheat the pans, but, again, while they tasted good, the texture was off. I missed the crispiness of the outside of normal popovers. (It worked when I preheated the pans. Here's the success story.)

The cake worked out well. Though, as I've discovered today, it's even better once it's been refrigerated. I used Greek yogurt rather than the sour cream the original recipe calls for since that's what I had in my fridge. I also used fresh pineapple since I thought the kids would enjoy eating the leftovers for a snack. I also didn't put the almonds in since my mom doesn't really like almonds. I'd be interested to try making it again with the almonds included.

Apricot-Glazed Ham
Courtesy of Taste of Home



1 boneless fully cooked ham (6 pounds)
2 teaspoons whole cloves
2 cups apple cider or juice
1/4 cup apricot preserves
3 tablespoons mango chutney
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup packed brown sugar

Place ham on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Score the surface of the ham, making diamond shapes 1/2 in. deep; insert a clove in each diamond. Pour cider into pan.

In a small saucepan, combine the preserves, chutney and mustard. Cook and stir over medium heat until preserves are melted; brush over ham. Press brown sugar onto ham.

Bake, uncovered, at 325°F for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 140°F, basting occasionally with pan drippings. Cover loosely with foil if ham browns too quickly. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

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Scalloped Potato Gratin with Fresh Herbs
A variation on this recipe from Bon Appétit



3 pounds potatoes (I used baby red potatoes)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups (packed) coarsely grated Gruyére cheese (about 5 ounces)

Fill large bowl with cold water. Working with one potato at a time, peel, then cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds and place in bowl with water. Combine cream, butter, and garlic in medium saucepan; bring to simmer. Remove from heat. Mix all herbs in small bowl. Mix salt and black pepper in another small bowl.

Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Drain potatoes, then pat dry with kitchen towels. Transfer half of potatoes to prepared baking dish. Use hands to distribute and spread evenly. Sprinkle with half of salt-pepper mixture, then half of herb mixture. Sprinkle with half of cheese. Repeat with remaining potatoes, salt-pepper mixture, herb mixture, and cheese. Pour cream mixture over gratin, pressing lightly to submerge potato mixture as much as possible. (DO AHEAD: Can be made 6 hours ahead.) Cover with plastic wrap and chill. Remove plastic wrap before baking.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cover gratin tightly with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover; bake until top of gratin is golden and most of liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes; serve.

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Roasted Asparagus
Courtesy of Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa)

2 pounds fresh asparagus
Good olive oil
Kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and, if they're thick, peel them. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat the asparagus completely. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for 25 minutes, until tender but still crisp.

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Popovers
Courtesy of allrecipes.com



1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Spray a popover pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place pan on center rack of oven and preheat for 2 minutes.

Blend flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter until it looks like heavy cream, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Cut chilled butter into 6 even pieces. Place 1 piece of butter in each cup and place pan back in oven until butter is bubbly (about 1 minute).

Fill each cup half full with batter and bake 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.

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Pineapple Upside Down Cake
A variation on this recipe from Simply Recipes



Topping:
1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
20 ounces of pineapple slices

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
6 Tbsp cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups of sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
4 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

Start by making the caramel topping. Take brown sugar and butter and combine and melt in a saucepan on medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture is bubbly, this should take several minutes. (After sugar melts, don't stir.) Pour mixture into a 10 inch diameter stick-free cake pan with 2 inch high sides. Arrange pineapple slices in a single layer ontop of the caramel mixture.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk the flours, almonds, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in 2 additions each, beating well after each addition. Pour cake batter over caramel and pineapple in pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.