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OUICOOK: 3 Side Dishes for a Traditional (or Nontraditional!) Easter

  • April 7, 2022
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Easter is coming up really soon! Time to start prepping new and old recipes for The Easter feast. In France, Easter is the occasion to have family over and have a beautiful luncheon. Here are some of the most delicious side dishes to add to your easter meal. All these recipes are very simple and easy to make to spice up easter dinner this year. 

The first recipe is a roaster feta with thyme and homey. Its perfect as a starter to snack on before the meal or even as a side dish.

 

Roasted Feta with Thyme Honey

Ingredients:

  • One 8-ounce slab Greek feta, blotted dry
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Greek thyme honey, or other honey
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Greek-style pita bread, toasted and cut into wedges
  • Heirloom tomatoes, roasted beets, nuts or pickled vegetables (optional)

 

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Select a small oven-to-table earthenware dish or a small ovenproof sauté pan lined with aluminum foil to help transfer the cheese to a plate after roasting. Place the feta in the dish and cover with the olive oil. Bake until the cheese is soft and springy to the touch but not melted, about 8 minutes.
  2. Preheat the broiler. Heat the honey in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water until it is fluid enough to be spread with a pastry brush and then paint the surface of the feta with it. Broil until the top of the cheese browns and just starts to bubble. Season with black pepper. Serve immediately with pita wedges and, if desired, sliced heirloom tomatoes, roasted beets, nuts or pickled vegetables.

 

Some of our favourite baking pans:

 

Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto and Burrata

This recipe is the perfect side dish for easter meal. This is a revamped version of roasted carrots that you will love. After making this recipe once you will want to make it for every family gathering. Let’s jump right into the recipe:

 

Ingredients:

For the carrot top pesto:

  • 4 cups lightly packed washed carrot tops, stems discarded and roughly chopped, a small handful reserved
  • Handful basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
  • 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 medium garlic clove, halved lengthwise
  • 1 teaspoon Maldon or other flaky sea salt
  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

 

For the carrots:

  • 20 small carrots, scrubbed and tops trimmed but stems left on
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
  • 1 teaspoon plus a few pinches flaky salt
  • 1/2 poundburrata, drained and at room temperature
  • 3 tablespoons carrot top pesto, plus more to taste
  • Small handful basil leaves
  • Half a lemon
  • Bread, for serving (optional)

 

Our favourite measuring cups:

 

Directions:

  1. Make the pesto: Combine the carrot tops and basil in a food processor, pulse, then add the nuts, cheese, garlic, and salt. Pulse again, and then with the machine continuously running, add the oil in a thin stream. (You’ll have to stop to scrape down the sides a few times.) Taste and adjust for seasoning.
  2. Make the carrots: Heat oven to 500° F with a rack in the center.
  3. Pour 2 tablespoons of the oil into an ovenproof pan large enough to hold the carrots in a single layer (or do this step in two pans). Let the oil come to barely smoking over high heat, then add the carrots and stir to coat them in the oil. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt.
  4. Cook, turning occasionally, until the carrots are browning in spots—this should take 6 to 8 minutes, and the carrots won’t yet be cooked through.
  5. Once they’re nicely browned in spots, place the whole pan in the hot oven and roast, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender and cooked through, about 8 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
  6. Toss the cooked carrots very gently, as they’ll be soft, with the prepared pesto, using more or less based on your taste. Transfer the coated carrots to a platter, and top with the burrata. (You may want to halve or quarter your burrata, depending on its size, but that part is up to you.)
  7. Add a few more dollops of pesto to the carrots, here and there, and sprinkle each piece of burrata with a bit of flaky salt.
  8. Dress the reserved handful of carrot top sprigs with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of olive oil, and a small pinch of salt, then top the carrots and burrata with the greens. Serve with toast for mopping up the cheese and bread, if you like.

 

The best cooking pans:

 

Easter Bread

Easter bread is the perfect and fun dish to add to your meal! The thing that sets Easter bread apart from other easter recipes is that using dyed eggs makes the bread so colourful. This recipe is perfect for kids. dying the eggs and making the bread is the best activity to keep your kids entertained on easter day. Let’s hop right into this recipe!
 
Ingredients:
 

Easter bread:

  • 1 cup (240 grams) whole milk
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick, about 113 grams) unsalted butter, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, divided
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons (one 1/4-ounce packet, about 7 grams) active dry yeast
  • 3 large eggs
  • 4 1/4 cups (612 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil, plus more for eggs
  • 5 large hard-boiled eggs (dyed, if you’d like; see recipe below)
  • 1 tablespoon water

 

Naturally dyed Easter eggs:

  • 5 large eggs
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
  • Blue eggs: 1/2 red cabbage, thinly sliced
  • Pink eggs: 2 red beets, grated
  • Yellow eggs: 2 tablespoons ground turmeric

 

The best bread pans:

 

Easter bread

  1. Add the milk and butter to a small pot over low heat and stir constantly, until the butter has melted and the milk reaches 120˚F to 130˚F on a thermometer. Transfer the milk mixture to a large heatproof measuring cup or medium bowl and add 1 teaspoon sugar and the yeast over top. Let the mixture rest until the yeast begins to bubble, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add 2 eggs to the milk mixture and whisk until combined.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and salt. Mix on medium low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add the milk mixture and continue to mix until fully incorporated into the dough, about 1 minute. The dough will be sticky. Continue mixing until the dough comes together and feels smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
  3. Grease a large bowl with the 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Turn out the dough onto a work surface and quickly shape into a ball. Transfer the dough to the greased bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
  4. Punch down the dough in the bowl, then transfer to a clean work surface. Divide the dough into three equal parts and roll each piece into a 24-inch rope.
  5. Place the ropes on a parchment-paper-lined sheet pan. Without pinching the ends together, braid the rope, then bring each end together to create a ring shape, pinching the ends together to create a circular braid.
  6. Rub each of the prepared hard-boiled eggs with oil, then gently tuck them into the ropes that make up the braid, making sure they are equally spaced throughout the round.
  7. Cover the bread with a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
  8. Heat the oven to 375˚F.
  9. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining egg and water. Brush the dough with the egg wash, making sure to avoid the hard-boiled eggs.
  10. Bake until the bread is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

 

The best mixing bowls:

 

Naturally dyed Easter eggs

  1. Place the eggs in a medium pot and cover with cold water. Set the pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat and set a timer for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath. When the timer goes off, transfer the eggs to the ice bath to cool to room temperature.
  2. Add the water, vinegar, and your coloring of choice to a small pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
  3. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and let cool completely. Add the hard-boiled eggs to the dye and let them soak until your desired color is reached, at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.

 

Our favourite pots for boiling the eggs:

 

 

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📷 Credit: Food52

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