Last-Minute Easter Celebrations

We don't normally do anything special for Easter and prefer to have a quiet long weekend at home. But this particular year we had a small get together with my youngest sister and her friend visiting from overseas, and since she is a vegetarian, I decided on a vegetarian menu rather than Easter themed.

On our honeymoon I had a divine passion fruit mojito and since then, and always wanted to make it. My version of the drink consisted of crushed ice, white rum, soda water, Sprite (for some sweetness), brown sugar, mint leaves and passion fruit (or granadilla), of course. However, if I make it again, I will substitute the soda water with more Sprite, to give it a sweeter taste.

For the pre-dinner snacks I fried some halloumi cheese (this specific cheese had to be fried without oil, else it started to melt) and served it with sweet chili sauce. I also oven roasted cauliflower bits (they shrunk quite a bit, so rather cut bigger pieces), which was served with two dipping sauces. The one was sour cream with yogurt, parmesan and dried parsley, and the other was sour cream with mayo, paprika, cumin, tabasco, lime juice and some dried chili salt. The last (healthy) dish was cucumber bits, filled with sour cream, yogurt, honey and mustard salad dressing, topped with sun-dried tomatoes.

Since Easter is in middle of Autumn, I made butternut soup - warm, creamy and vegetarian! I made it in a slow cooker, which greatly enhances the flavours. Once dished up, I added fresh cream on top with a mint leaf. The soup was also served with mini panini loaves, some fresh and others toasted. I deep fried a few butternut squares for an additional crunch and also made crispy bacon bits (for the meat lovers). The bacon definitely complemented the dish. To set the table I used bamboo placemats with green linings - fresh from Thailand - a gift from my sister.

I incorporated a little bit of Easter into the dessert - making it look like a broken Easter egg. The dessert consisted of crushed gingerbread cookies, tempered chocolate half spheres, filled with white chocolate mousse and lemon curd to represent the egg yolk. The whole combination went really well together, especially when paired with coffee or cappuccino. The perfect dessert to end the evening!