Celebrating Easter at My Farm
I hope you all had a pleasant Easter weekend.
Holidays are so much fun. I love celebrating them with my daughter, Alexis, her beautiful children, Jude and Truman, and our close friends and family. This year, more than 70-guests joined me for Easter lunch at my Bedford, New York farm. The weather was cool with occasional annoying showers (24-children were supposed to sit outdoors at tables especially designed for them), but the children still enjoyed playing soccer outdoors and participating in my annual Easter egg hunt. Afterward, we all gathered for a delicious feast prepared by me, and my friend and chef, Pierre Schaedelin, of PS Tailored Events - it included salmon, ham, lamb chops, stuffed artichokes, asparagus potato pierogis, fresh salads, homemade biscuits, brioche, tarts, babkas, cookies and so much more.
Please enjoy our photos.
-
- Easter is among my favorite holidays and every year, we take out all the beautifully decorated eggs from years past – hundreds and hundreds. And every year, I dye even more. These are some of the eggs I hid for my annual Easter egg hunt for my littlest guests. These are hard boiled, dyed, and gold leafed.
-
- This year, I also set many tables – both inside and out – to accommodate the many friends and family members who came for lunch. My longtime housekeeper, Laura Acuna, who retired last year, came back to help me with all the decorations.
-
- Each table had a colorful theme – this one on my newly enclosed porch in bright shades of pink and silver lustreware with cranberry glasses.
-
- There were bunnies, eggs and jelly beans on nearly every table and surface.
-
- Guests love the antique German blown glass flowers I take out every spring – so fragile, and rare, but they add such lovely color to any room.
-
- Here’s another table set in my dining room with more blown eggs and antique glass jars. In the center, pretty fresh ranunculus flowers that I arranged the day before Easter.
-
- So many beautiful Narcissus are up around the farm. I cut some to place with the nodding fritillaria in this large round bowl. This was my favorite flower arrangement.
-
- Natural colored eggs in brown and shades of cream and blue surround a Depression glass rabbit candy dishes on my Brown Room dining table. I found several of the candy dishes at The Fairfield Women’s Exchange in Southport, Connecticut. http://www.thefairfieldexchange.com/
-
- And outside, brighter shades of green and white are used to decorate this table on my terrace. A napkin serves as a quaint nest for the egg.
-
- From above, this white collection of glass and porcelain bunnies and eggs looks so charming.
-
- And nearby, some of the giant egg-shaped sugar cookies by Dani Fiore, owner of Sweet Dani B – some of the cookies were personalized for my daughter and grandchildren and a few of our guests. We used these on the “Today” Show several days before Easter.
-
- More of Dani’s cookies, which she made using my method of the four “Ds” – dipping, dripping, decorating and drying.
-
- And don’t forget the children – their table was set with these larger than life-sized faux chocolate bunny figurines. These were 36-inch chocolate resin bunnies were the sell-out on QVC this spring. They are replicas of ones that my friend, Steve Girard, gave me. They look so fun on the table flanking a bowl of eggs.
-
- Easter lunch was served buffet style in my Winter House kitchen – everything was so delicious. We baked these angel biscuits early Easter morning.
-
- I made this delicious brioche from the new book, “Baking at Republique”. See my Instagram page @marthastewart48 for more photos. Behind are my renditions of my mother’s Easter babka.
-
- We also had several fruit salad platters with pineapple, mango, papaya, grapefruit, melon, and watermelon.
-
- Everything was so fresh and so colorful.
-
- These two bone-in smoked hams are from my friend, Pat LaFrieda. They were roasted early Easter morning – one with a cognac and brown sugar glaze, and the other with an apricot grainy mustard glaze. http://www.lafrieda.com/
-
- We also served these juicy lamb chops, also from Pat LaFrieda. Pierre roasted them and decorated them with herbs and cutout carrot flowers, then served them with mint jelly.
-
- Every Easter, I always serve salmon from True North, one of my favorite sources for fish. These were filleted and then poached and then reconstructed without the bones. The fish were decorated with cucumber slices and served with cucumber sauce. http://www.truenorthseafood.com
-
- Brightly steamed carrots in a variety of colors were served as a side dish.
-
- Several rings of kielbasa were sliced and served with my homemade mustard and my own homemade horseradish.
-
- Everyone loves the jumbo asparagus I serve. They are grown by Mister Spear in Stockton, California. Chef Pierre likes to trim an inch and a half off the bottoms of the asparagus stalks and then boil them. The carrot rabbits are made with a Japanese vegetable cutter I got years ago. They add a fun touch.
-
- These artichokes are also from Mister Spear – served with hollandaise sauce and topped with frisee.
-
- These artichokes were a big hit steamed with the cores removed – some were also served with a poached egg on top.
-
- Here’s one plate full of delicious food – everyone went back for seconds, some even thirds. I also made my Macaroni and Cheese 101. I made three large platters – everything was devoured.
-
- Of course, we also had several selections from Martha Stewart Wine Co. I served a 2017 Marquis de Bacalon Bordeaux Blanc, a 2017 Racine Cotes de Provence Rose, an Aligote, and a Fair Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon. https://marthastewartwine.com/
-
- And my cocktail of the day – freshly juiced cucumber and celery juice served with Lillet, Belevedere Vodka, and a splash of Pellegrino on ice – a popular choice for many. https://www.belvederevodka.com/
-
- Each glass was served with a stalk of celery.
-
- Our dessert buffet was also a huge hit. Molly Wenk, who often helps bake for my “Martha Bakes” television show on PBS, and who is also the face of “Frosted” on the Instagram page for marthastewart.com (with 500k views) came up to help me bake several delectable desserts – cookies, coconut cupcakes, and upside down lemon meringue tarte.
-
- We also made three Tarte au Fromage cakes from season-11 of “Martha Bakes”.
-
- Silver platters filled with my giant sugar cookies were also on display for all to enjoy. The recipe is is from my original 1982 “Entertaining” book.
-
- Here are more of my egg-shaped cookies – these with blue and white dragees.
-
- The egg hunt was smaller this year because of the intermittent rain, but all the little children loved searching for eggs – especially the gold leafed ones. This year I did not dye eggs for the hunt. Instead, I used natural colored hard boiled eggs from my hen house. My various chickens lay the most beautiful colored eggs.
-
- My grandchildren, Jude and Truman, helped hide the eggs this year – some in very interesting places.
-
- Two of my guests, Isabella and Maura, came especially from New York for the egg hunt. They found the most eggs. All but a few were found – it was a wonderful Easter for all. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend as much as I did. Share your comments with me below – I love hearing from you.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
