Easter-egg bread at Rocco’s Pastry Shop on Bleecker Street.
Recipe:
Asparagus with Warm Orange Oil
Easter for the lapsed Catholic is a hollow affair. If it weren’t for the huge amounts of food and chocolate bunnies, tons of relatives and friends, prosecco, and Chianti, it would be meaningless. Even when I was a child, it was all about the pizza rustica and the Rodda Peeps (I lapsed at a young age). I’m pretty confident in my lack of faith, but somehow Easter has a way of making me feel ever so slightly guilty, and gluttonous. And why is it that the weather is almost always cold, damp, and irritating, not the wacky bonnet, daffodils, white-patten-pumps sunshine it’s supposed to be? But on the other hand if I focus on the original, pagan meaning of the occasion, the rebirth of the earth, I can give early thanks for the upcoming local harvest and the beautiful ramps, asparagus, watercress, and strawberries that will soon be filling the stalls at the Union Square Greenmarket. In honor of my expectations, here’s a recipe for asparagus that will go very nicely with an Easter lamb dish or a pork loin (which is what my mother’s making) or a slow roasted side of salmon. (more…)
Erica De Mane 