The Royal Chef At Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining

C hocolate and Easter are a happy pairing; a sweet celebration after forty days of Lent. When I worked in the Royal household, we chefs labored to create all sorts of tempting chocolate treats for the Queen, who had given up her favorite Bendicks Bittermints and Charbonel et Walker chocolates as part of her Lenten observation. We made handcrafted chocolate eggs created from dark chocolate, the dark er the chocolate the better for Her Majesty. Of course we used milk chocolate and white chocolate too… but for the royal nursery. Chocolate cakes of all kinds were baked, espe cially her favorites like chocolate biscuit cake, chocolate perfection pie, Whisky chocolate mousse and a sunken chocolate soufflé called Andrassy pudding. There were also some traditional English cakes, like Simnel cake, a kind of light fruitcake with marzipan that dates back to medieval times. We Brits love our fruit cakes. My wife and I bring a bit of England to Texas with our annual Easter Egg Roll. The tradition of rolling eggs on grass goes back hundreds of years in England and when I was growing up, it wasn’t done with chocolate eggs, but real, hard boiled ones. The eggs were traditionally wrapped in onion skins and boiled to color them a light gold color which made them easier to see in the grass. Armed with long- handled kitchen spoons, we would compete to see who could roll their egg the furthest. It seems that kids in Texas enjoy this game as much as I did. What a reprieve for little ones all dressed in their Sunday best to let loose and race around the grass trying to find out who has won. Of course, a large decorated chocolate egg goes to the victor. Easter should be a sweet moment for children and adults alike. Cakes, chocolates, jellies and puddings are a perfectly fine lunch once a year. A CHILDREN’S EASTER EGG ROLL

17 SPRING · A CHILDREN’S EASTER EGG ROLL