Well, it's really Orthodox Easter, which includes Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians and a number of others. In our family, Easter involves a midnight service at church, that lasts until 230am or 3am, then I head off to White Castle with my nephews and we get a ton of sliders.
The next day my sister roasts a whole lamb in the backyard and the extended family, and friends, partake in a big Greek feast. This year, mom was waylaid a bit by a bum leg, so I got to make the pastitsio (people call it Greek lasagna, but it really isn't) and the creme caramel (aka flan). Both turned out well, as did all the food really. It was an exceptionally good year for all the food. Here's my nephew's plate (with a sorry iphone photo that I took out of focus, sorry).
So, included on the plate... let's start with the lamb and work clockwise. Lamb, spanakopita (spinach, eggs, feta, cream cheese, in phyllo dough with lots of butter), Greek potatoes (lots of garlic and lemon), Greek meatballs in a tomato sauce (ground beef, egg, mint, bread crumbs, onion, maybe even cinnamon), Greek salad, pastitsio (a layer of noodles mixed with romano cheese and egg, followed by a layer of ground beef with cinnamon, nutmeg, onion, mint, tomato paste and tomato sauce, followed by another layer of the noodle mix, topped with a bechamel sauce (eggs, milk, roux, romano)).
A hearty, if not totally heart-healthy meal. Oh, and lots of feta cheese and olives too.
Mom will deny that we had nearly the identical conversation about my brother's vegetarian then-fiancée, but we did.
