Once again our family is on its way out of town. We're headed to California to go on a trip with some friends (that's where T was born)! It should be warm and relaxing, assuming T copes ok with the time change. As such Ten Dinners? will be on hiatus until we return on April 2nd. I hope that spring arrives more fully by the time we get back so that we can really enjoy it!

Saturday - Happy Easter (one day early)!!!

Mixed olives and rosemary crostini

Ham (heat and serve)
Roasted potato slices with homemade aioli
Steamed asparagus with lemon

Hot tea
CANDY!
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M and I are celebrating Easter (at least the dinner part) one night early. Our family is leaving for a week long trip on Monday morning, and it seemed weird to do the big dinner right before a trip. This way we can have ham sandwiches tomorrow after T's egg hunt. Regardless, because this is right before a trip and it's just us, this is a pretty scaled back holiday meal for our house. It feels festive even though it's very low key. There are no recipes to post for tonight (yes, it's that scaled back). You warm the ham, blend minced garlic, lemon, salt, and pepper into some mayonnaise to make aioli, roast potatoes, and steam asparagus. Very easy. I hope all of you who are celebrating around now enjoy your feasts!

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Potatoes
Time: 50 minutes, mostly unattended as potatoes roast
Make ahead: Yep. I like roast potatoes best fresh, but they can sit and be re-warmed if need be.

Reaction
J: "Easter Vigil = easy, festive, and sinfully yummy!"
M: "Happy Easter!"

Friday

Poached stripper fish (recipe in the comments)
Whole wheat cous cous
Baby carrots, green beans, and wax beans

Hot tea
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We always try to have something very simple on Good Friday. This years choice is both one of our simplest and also most loved dishes. Poaching fish is incredibly easy - it's almost impossible to do badly - and it's a very healthy way to cook fish. It was our second "go to" fish preparation after we perfected a variety of packet recipes, and I feel like it's even easier and certainly faster. We created this version of poached fish many years ago and rely on it when we're in the mood for a simple supper. That said, the flavors are so delicate and the preparation so easy to perfect, this is an ideal dish for company. Stripper is a new fish to us, but was featured in the Trader Joe's flyer. I was very impressed. It has a meatier texture than a fish like sole, and, thus, more presence on the palate, while maintaining the same mild taste. Even better it's less expensive than sole! Win win.

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Super easy
Chopping: Garlic
Time: 20 minutes
Make ahead: I would do this all right before serving.

Reaction
J: "Simply perfect."
M: "The best easy fish recipe in the world."

Thursday

Pear and blue cheese flatbread (recipe in the comments)
Spinach, white bean,and shallot salad

Hot tea
Chocolate eggs
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This is a new recipe from Cooking Light. I thought that their cooking directions were way off (far too long on the crust), but the blind baking (baking the crust with no toppings) followed by regular baking actually makes this more of a flatbread than a pizza. The crunchy result is very satisfying. M and I love pears and blue cheese and wanted to make this before pears were out of season. The pears are still very flavorful and, as we could get up to 10"of snow tomorrow, - after a week or more in the 40s!!! - a light, but winter-y dish seemed appropriate. Will spring ever truly be here?

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Red onion, sage, pears, shallots
Time: 30 minutes
Make ahead: You could pre cook the onions for the pizza, but I would do the rest last minute.

Reaction
J: "Elegant enough to make a weeknight feel special."
M: "Surprisingly complex."

Wednesday

Corned beef hash (recipe in the comments from 3/17)
Mixed collard, turnip, and mustard greens
Applesauce

Hot tea
English toffee
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Today is meal two from the St.Patrick's celebration. We had just under 4 lbs of corned beef to start, had it for dinner and then M had a lunch of it, so we only had 2 cups of corned beef, rather than the 3 cups this recipe calls for. But, hey, hash is all about stretching food, right? This is a great recipe for any sort of meat hash. We have had excellent results with turkey (using leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving) and salmon. The salmon is especially unusual and very tasty. You can even use canned, boneless, skinless salmon for it. Easy and yummy. The recipe is very forgiving on amounts and if you'd like other vegetables in there, by all means add them. Some people like to make hash patties and fry them individually, more like potato pancakes. That would certainly work with this recipe. This is also a great breakfast/brunch option. As for tonight, the St. Patrick's celebration continues!

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Corned beef, onion,bell pepper, parsley
Time: 30 minutes
Make ahead: Saves great!

Reaction
J: "We live in Hash House."
M: "Potatoes. Onions. Meat. Eggs. Need I say more?"

Tuesday - Dinner out

Tonight we went out with a speaker who visited M's department today. A free meal was had by all. Whoo hoo!

Monday - Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Corned beef with carrots, potatoes, and onions (recipe in the comments)
Grainy mustard and horseradish
Boiled cabbage (recipe in the comments)
Soda bread
BEER

Hot tea
Guinness ice cream (Thank you Zingerman's!)
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This is dinner one of three meals that will come from this one piece of meat! How very Irish! We make a crock pot corned beef with lots of vegetables and the slow cooking creates a wonderful broth, which we save. It freezes beautifully and in a few weeks will make an incredible corned beef broth soup. Later this week, we'll use the leftover meat to make corned beef hash. Yum, yum! All three recipes are included in the comments from today's post. Even though we're not Irish, we love this holiday and the amazing food we get to make to celebrate. Doing it in the crockpot just makes the preparation easier and the celebrating comes earlier in the evening - important when you have a 21 month old and it's Monday :)

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Super easy
Chopping: Carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage
Time: 20 minutes prep, 8-10 hours cooking (unattended), 15 minutes to cook the cabbage last minute (mostly unattended)
Make ahead: You bet your leprechaun.

Reaction
J: "Maybe we are Irish."
M: "Faith and begorrah!"