Not everyone serves an Easter feast to a long table filled with guests; sometimes, our guest list looks a more like a regular family dinner. And that’s where creative menu planning comes in. Though having leftovers from a whole roasted ham can be glorious, you may want to think smaller in terms of the sides and dessert. Here are several ideas that serve 4 (and can even be scaled down to two), but are still festive and celebratory of spring.
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RecipeRoasted Lamb Loins with Mustard-Herb Crust
The crunchy, sweet-and-savory breadcrumb crust is a delicious contrast to the tender, rosy-red meat of these small roasts. Serve with roasted potatoes and asparagus.
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RecipeLemony Peas with Bacon and Tarragon
Sweet peas play well with smoky bacon and tangy lemon. This makes a stupendous side for seared or grilled salmon or crisp-skinned chicken. -
RecipeStrawberry-Rhubarb Fool
A fool is an old-fashioned English dessert, but it never goes out of style because it’s simple, delicious, and beautiful. Plus, any fool can make it since it’s only a matter of folding a quickly cooked compote into whipped cream. A little rose water adds a floral sweetness, but the fool is lovely without it, too.
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RecipeSteamed New Potatoes with Green Garlic
Green garlic is young garlic that hasn’t had a chance to fully expand and grow its bulb into cloves. It gives us a bright, redolent yet mild expression of garlic that is a sure sign of spring. -
RecipeLemon-Garlic Lamb Chops with Minted Couscous
Here, a simple lemon-garlic sauce does double duty—it’s brushed on the lamb and stirred into the couscous. You can use lamb loin chops instead of rib chops, but they might need slightly more time under the broiler. -
RecipeSpring Vegetable Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
This recipe is excerpted from Southern Comfort: A New Take on the Recipes We Grew Up With. -
RecipeRoasted Asparagus with Almond-Thyme Crumbs
This simple spring side is dressy enough for Easter dinner, but quick and easy enough for a weeknight. -
RecipeThree Pea Sauté with Scallions and Pistachios
This quick and easy side shows off the sweetness of peas, enhanced with a little heat from Aleppo pepper. -
RecipePea and Scallion Soup
This fresh-tasting soup has a bit of texture to it. Add bread or a sandwich, and it’s a super-simple, homey lunch. Strain it, and it’s a silky, refined first course. It’s delicious chilled, too.
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RecipeClementine Crêpes Suzette
This is an update on the classic French dessert, which used to be a favorite in restaurants, prepared tableside by a uniformed maître d’. This version is fresher, with clementine juice rather than the traditional orange juice. The original recipe requires flambéing to caramelize the sugar, but here, a caramel-based sauce lends that bittersweet note of burnt sugar without the pyrotechnics.
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RecipeGlazed Carrots with Tarragon
Carrots are the iconic glazed vegetable, but the tarragon here is an update that offsets their intense sweetness. These are a great accompaniment for just about anything.Web extra: View an audio slideshow to hear the sound of the glaze as it crackles, indicating that it’s time to lower the heat.
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RecipeStrawberry-Mint Shortcakes
This recipe serves 8, but is easy to cut in half--or bake the full batch of biscuits but save them for later. -
RecipePastry-Wrapped Chicken with Vegetable Stuffing
Chicken stuffed with aromatic vegetables and wrapped in a buttery bread-like crust, known as “poulet au pain” in France, is the ultimate comfort food. As it bakes, the dough becomes golden and flaky, perfect for eating along with the tender meat and vegetables. It's a bit reminiscent of chicken pot pie. Video: Watch a step-by-step demonstration of how to wrap the chicken.
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RecipeChocolate Dutch Baby with Raspberries and Whipped Cream
A few tweaks are all it takes to get Dutch babies dressed up for a holiday You can use almost any fruit, but the macerated raspberries here pair especially nicely with the rich chocolate pancake. -
RecipeSear-Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Garlic and Fennel
Fennel is a classic flavoring for pork because it brings out the sweetness of the meat. Although this recipe is straightforward, you can make it even easier by skipping the browning step. Instead, roll the raw tenderloin in the garlic mixture and roast for about 30 minutes.
