Rethinking holiday dinners

Easter and Passover are two of the biggest food holidays of the year, but 2020 is shaping up to feature much more intimate feasts. This means rethinking what is going on the table. If there are only going to be two to four instead of a dozen or more, you are going to need to scale back unless you want to eat the same thing for many days in a row.

Let’s look at the silver lining to this seemingly soul-crushing change of events. That picky relative won’t be around, so feel free to indulge in whatever food he or she doesn’t enjoy. You won’t have to fight over the last of the mashed potatoes, and you can have two pieces of pie without worrying that someone else didn’t get a slice (we will save for later the discussion of finding new clothes because you keep eating two pieces of dessert).

This also gives you a chance to try out new recipes and deviate from the standard playbook that everyone demands. Try a different method to make the lamb, roast a chicken instead of a ham, and change up the sides to suit you and your confinement-mates, even if they are just your pets. Speaking of lamb, if finding ingredients is proving to be a challenge, head over to Food & Wine, which features 10 Easter foods you can order online (including candy).

No matter what you serve, get out your best china and fancy napkins – a little bit of pomp and circumstance will make the meal feel more special. Put on nice clothes. Get a Zoom chat going with family or Facetime with your favorite friends and have a virtual toast. Eat too much and take a nap afterward. Let’s hope that by the next major food event we will be able to join our friends and families once again.

Photo of Pan-roasted double-cut lamb chop from Food Network Magazine