Enjoying the fruits of our labor

Since this is Easter, I thought I would share some thoughts on a dinner party Mark and I had last weekend.

The table was dressed with Easter egg candles that my mom got me some years back which went perfectly with some cuttings from my quince shrub. I purposefully waited to trim the quince until the flowers were just budding so that their coral-orange blossoms would look their best in the vase and last into this week (see photos of quince below).

The meal featured a ham from Mark's business Tails & Trotters which went particularly well with the spiced blueberry relish (to the left of the plate) we made with the berries from our neighbor Andrea's garden last summer.

We were all amazed by just how well the sweet, yet spicy flavor of the relish complimented the ham - a definite keeper in our growing canning project lexicon!

Mark gilded the lily by roasting the accompanying potatoes in goose fat and lightly poached the white asparagus in butter and lemon juice.

(Hummm...Perhaps a some chopped chives from the garden would have worked as a garnish and helped to break up the monochromatic color palette of the meal? Ah well, next time...)

The ham before plating.

We have enjoyed the ham in a number of dishes this week too...for example, today I added some of our peach salsa (also canned last summer) to a medley of veggies (chard, pepper, carrot) that I sauteed with some ham - yum!









I just love this quince. It has lovely flowers in spring and then it has tiny quince fruit during the winter.