Easter Dinner

Ham is traditional for Easter in the States due to long ago meat preserving traditions. Fresh pork that wasn't eaten during the winter was cured to last until after lent, thus ham. I, however, can't eat ham as it is a trigger for my migraine headaches (I'm not supposed to have red wine or chocolate, due to caffeine, either but I'd rather cut out the ham and cut down on the others).

The other more traditional Easter meal around the world is lamb. That being the case I don't feel so bad when I request my absolutely favorite dish Ed makes, crusted rack of lamb with blackberry reduction dipping sauce. He has made it a few times now, as a request for my birthday, for my family last New Years and now for Easter. Each time he makes it, it tastes absolutely fabulous. My grandma who "hates lamb" cleaned her plate!

The best place to get the rack of lamb is Costco where you can usually find a rack for about $11-13; you want to serve a half a rack per person. The delicious crust, which almost always falls off as you start to eat the lamb, consists of seasoned bread crumbs, sauteed chopped onions, dijon mustard and a raw egg to make it moist and stick to the lamb. The best part is the dipping sauce. Combine any kind of blackberry or black currant preserves or jam with red wine, worcestershire sauce, coarse ground pepper and a pinch of salt then reduce it for about 10 minutes. As a side dish we have made cous-cous or mashed potatoes.
This time Ed wowed his brother Rick and his wife Val who said, "this is one of the best things I've ever tasted".
And, of course, we dyed Easter Eggs...
...Then posed their baby Ella with them.