Here is my annotated menu

Here is my annotated menu for Easter:

Antipasti: we had salami slices with a variety of Greek olives (primarily kalamata and hondreolia), chevre and grissini. After the cocktail hour I served my homemade artichoke aperitif (my own recipe, if you are inclined towards this sort of thing, holler in the comments box and I will post the recipe).

Green Garlic Soup with thyme croutons. I used the recipe in Chez Panisse Cooking by Paul Bertolli. We get great green garlic this time of year, and this soup has become a bit of a tradition. It is basically a potato-leek soup with green garlic instead of leeks. Delicious. The only variations to the original recipe are that I use tarragon vinegar instead of just white wine vinegar, Yukon gold potatoes instead of reds, and a darker chicken stock than I imagine Bertolli uses. I served an excellent 2000 Byington Viognier with the soup.

Normally I serve a baby artichoke risotto, but I decided not to, as we had a smaller crowd than usual. I had thought about doing a different risotto, too, but in the end decided to skip it.

Asparagus, parboiled, refreshed and sautéed in butter, finished with Meyer lemon juice, sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper.

Fava bean ragu (from Chez Panisse Café Cookbook). Mountains of fava beans showed up at the San Francisco farmers’ market on Saturday, and they were great.

Lamb chops in a mustard herb crust. We went to the outstanding Little City Market in North Beach in San Francisco on Saturday. When Melanie asked for a leg of lamb, they looked at us with a look that said, "hey! Pazzi, you think you can waltz into the most popular butcher shop in the Italian district on Holy Saturday and still find a leg of lamb?" They had great lamb loins, so I had him cut them into chops. He also gave me some rosemary and French rue he had grown in the backyard. I chopped the rue, some of the rosemary, some fresh thyme, the zest of a Meyer lemon, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and a couple of cloves of garlic together. Then I added this herb mix to a mound of pannko (Japanese bread crumbs). I coated the chops with Dijon mustard, dipped them in the crumb/herb mix, and pan-fried the chops in butter.

I am so used to leg of lamb that at first I thought that chops would not be satisfying, but they worked just fine. I served a 2000 Barbera d’Alba with the lamb. I do not have the bottle with me (it is 90 miles away, and might get recycled before I can record the info – I usually take notes on wines, but this one got away from me). It was a good pairing.

For dessert, we had a colombina from the Victoria Pastry Company in North Beach (highly recommended, as well as their ossi, biscotti, and other pastries), served with assorted grappe, Meyer limoncello, and vin santo. My friend Jared and I had espresso and discussed art until late (but we waited until everyone else had gone home or to bed, as no one in his right mind who is not an artist wants to listen to technical talk for hours).

So that is my menu for Easter. I won’t republish any of the Chez Panisse recipes (go buy the books), but I will be happy to post any of my own, or answer any questions.