Easter Dinner

I thought I would share links and recipes for our Easter dinner menu.

Here's the menu: Ham, green bean bundles, roasted asparagus, potato salad, homemade rolls, lemon pie.

Lemon Pie: The recipe we like is from Martha Stewart, but the meringue is best eaten the day it's made (ask me how we found this out!), so we'll just make her filling and make another kind of meringue, probably the recipe on the Wilton meringue powder can.

Roasted Asparagus: We do not make bundles, just place in a baking dish and roast with the oil and salt/pepper.

Green Bean Bundles: Simple, easy, great-tasting. Can be assembled the day before, which is a big plus for me!

Rolls: Actually, we will make milk-less rolls for our holiday. We'll double the recipe and add cinnamon and raisins to the second half to make hot cross buns for Easter breakfast.

But here's my best roll recipe. The dough makes huge rolls which are soft and taste very good! The dough makes good cinnamon rolls, too, and can be shaped either in loaves baked on a cookie sheet (great with butter and grated garlic inside) or cut with a biscuit cutter or shaped however you'd like them. The whole recipe makes a great quantity, but half a recipe makes about enough rolls to fill an 11x7 pan. The rolls are also good topped with dill seed, sesame seed, poppy seed or onion or garlic.

Buttermilk Rolls

2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1/2 cup sugar, divided
2 cups warm buttermilk (110-115 degrees)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
8-9 cups all purpose flour
Additional butter, melted

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 teaspoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the buttermilk, butter, eggs, salt, 4 cups flour and remaining sugar; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into fourths. Roll each portion into a 14in x 12 inch rectangle. Roll up jell-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seams to seal and tuck ends under. Place seam side down on two greased baking sheets. With a sharp knife, make five shallow slashes across the top of each loaf. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 4 loaves.

Note: Heated buttermilk appears curdled.