Eco-Soul Kitchen: The Rebirth Brunch

A spring menu celebrating resurrection, revival and rejuvenation.

DERIVATIVE

Equinox-Easter;

Rebirth and resurrection

are synonymous.

Betsy-Katrina;

Rebirth and resurrection

are synonymous.

--b. terry

I bet you're already thinking about this Sunday's Easter dinner.  Come on.  Admit it.  Visions are dancing in your head of succulent honey glazed ham surrounded by sweet, caramelized, roasted root vegetables; rich, creamy mac and cheese with a golden brown crust; meltingly tender mustard greens; hot, just-out-of-the-oven, fragrant dinner rolls with butter slathered on top; and that bunny shaped coconut cake, that you can't stand.  Wait.  I'm sorry.  I was having a childhood flashback.  Actually, I don't celebrate Easter anymore, unless I happen to be visiting my parents.  I never eat ham, and I rarely eat cheese.  But the fact is, I still have nostalgic memories of longstanding dinner traditions shared with my family.

It wasn't until I spent Christmas away from my family for the first time two years ago that I realized that holidays mean a lot to me.  No matter what my philosophical opposition to their consumerist overtones might be now, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter were the times that my parents were on vacation, my sister and I were out of school, we visited extended family, expressed love, gave thanks, and ate good food.

And I'm sure you have your own sacrosanct Easter traditions.  So I won't be offering ideas for this Sunday's dinner.  If you can consider ways to include local, seasonal, and sustainably raised foods and health-supportive cooking techniques into your meal, do it.  If not, do your thing.  Celebrating with family, friends, and community on special occasions is much more important then obsessing over nutrients and micronutrients.

What I'd like to serve up here is a brunch menu that would be perfect on Saturday and could possibly work on Sunday, depending on how long the sermon lasts. And this is a brunch for everyone, whether you observe Easter or not. Think of it as a culinary commemoration of spring, one that celebrates rebirth, resurrection, revival, and rejuvenation in its many iterations.

These recipes are my spring gift to you and yours. You'll notice I've given this menu a creole twist. It is an ode to a city that I love —New Orleans— as well as a prayer for its continued rejuvenation.

I'll be spacing the recipes out throughout the week, to give you time to think and plan. But to whet your appetite, here's what's coming up.

Rebirth Brunch

Agave-Sweetened Double Orange Pekoe Tea

Watercress Salad with Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette

Johnny Blaze Cakes

Cajun-Creole-Spiced Asparagus Frittata

Hopin' Jean

Potato and Sweet Potato Pancakes

Maple-Coated Pecans

Soundtrack

New Orleans Suite,Duke Ellington

Alone Together,Clifford Brown & Max Roach

Requiem, Branford Marsalis Quartet

Resurrection, Common

Ultimate Rebirth Brass Band, Rebirth Brass Band

Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), Jay Electronica