Easter Sunday is a family affair, so that is what we catered to. We set up round table to facilitate conversation, sharing, and together-ness. We dressed them with Easter colors – warm, inviting, and bright. Then we brought in the crowd. They celebrated the coming of age of a young man while Jasmine Catering crew prepared a hearty buffet. We chopped up some romaine hearts and tossed them with green beans, pasture-raised hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, and a creamy poppy seed vinaigrette. This was the fresh portion of the meal while the Chicken Provencal held down the hearty side. We sauteed organic chicken breasted in white wine, tomatoes, basil, capers, and kalamata olive sauce for a little kick. For the palate neutralizer and the body energizer we bedazzled some saffron rice with middle eastern spices, caramelized onions, carrots, and some nuts and raisins for flavor and texture.
Since Easter is a family affair and we were celebrating a transition out of childhood it begets a wide range of ages and thus food preferences, so we created a children’s pasta bar with penne pasta and a choice of marinara or pesto that could be topped with parmesan cheese if so desired.
Following the buffet was dancing, chatting, laughing, and even a little bit of singing. Also following the buffet was another buffet – this time adorned with dessert. We themed the dessert buffet in line with the Easter holiday – all the treats were atop a grass runner and were collected in little Easter baskets. We had a whole host of things, but one of the favorites was the Magic Bars. They are made of Graham Cracker Crust topped with sweet condensed milk, coconut, chocolate, and nuts. The ingredients list is simple but somehow in putting them together, there has to be a little enchantment added in because the combination is truly magical.