Easter 2020 Lunch

For the first time in a few years, Travis and I are home for the Easter holiday. Before COVID-19 became a global pandemic, we’ve been fortunate to celebrate the holiday with family or while on vacation.

Yesterday, we made our monthly grocery run and added Easter meal ingredients to our list of inventory to restock. Today, we got to feast on a simple and delicious lunch that’s kept us satisfied for most of the day. Here’s what was on the menu:

Dessert
Toasted cinnamon raisin English muffin with lilikoi jelly (it is technically Sunday brunch, after all)

Hope you had a great Easter in this brave new world we live in – keep that social distancing up! Let me know what you enjoyed this Easter in the comments.

RECIPES BELOW

Servings: 4

Prepping the Ham
1.5 lb Budaball Fully Cooked Boneless Ham
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup organic apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Wright’s Hickory Liquid Smoke

For fastest results, use an Instant Pot to heat the ham, which shortens cooking time to ~10-15 minutes from start to finish. Pour the liquid ingredients in the pot, place a sheet of aluminum foil onto the trivet and position the ham on top so that the mixture doesn’t overwhelm the meat. Lock the cover in place, reset the venting pin if needed, and set the Pot to High Pressure for 3 minutes. It takes time for pressure to build and natural release to occur.

In the meantime, set the oven to broil. Prepare a sheet pan for the ham to brown and crisp up the skin. Once the Instant Pot cooking is complete, place the ham on the sheet pan and top it off with the maple syrup glaze. Broil for 3-5 minutes and allow for it to rest.

Prepping the Glaze
1 tbsp butter (I used Kerrygold salted butter)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard
1/2 cup bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup
1 clove garlic, minced (I didn’t have fresh garlic on hand so Spice World Garlic had to do)

Pour all ingredients into a saucepan over medium heat and stir occasionally for five minutes until mixture begins to bubble. Turn heat off and continue stirring to allow ingredients to fuse together.

Prepping the Sides
Fortunately, we had leftovers from earlier in the week when we prepared the butternut squash and rice for another meal. This was an easy 2.5 minutes in the microwave for each dish. But, if we were to prepare fresh:

Rice Pilaf:
1 box Near East Chicken Pilaf Mix

Prepare rice according to box instructions. I prefer to use avocado oil to toast up the grains before adding water, and I like to add dried cranberries to the rice after it’s cooked for that extra umami.

Roasted Butternut Squash:
1 medium butternut squash, halved
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp McCormick cinnamon sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. After the butternut squash is halved and seeds are removed, place skin side down on a baking sheet and add 1 tbsp butter to the hollow of each half. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on each of the halves. Roast for 45 minutes and check for doneness. If the flesh appears to be tough, roast for another 10-15 minutes. After roasting, allow to cool and remove the flesh, placing it into a separate bowl for mashing. Mash well and serve.

For a creamier texture, add heavy cream and mix until squash and cream are combined.

Prepping the English Muffins
2 Vermont Bread cinnamon raisin English muffins, halved
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp lilikoi jelly (I brought some back with me from my February trip to Kauai)

Toast English muffin haves to preferred doneness. Allow pads of butter to melt on muffin halves for 1 minute, and then spread. Spread on lilikoi jelly and serve.

All in all, this meal took me 20 minutes to prep. Easiest Easter Sunday meal we’ve had in awhile! Happy eating 🙂