Easter Brunch: Jesus makes a comeback

       Easter is one of my favorite holidays, partly because I like rooting for the underdog, but mostly because I like celebrating anything with mimosas and chocolate eggs. Cooking for Easter is always way more fun than Christmas, because brunch is pretty low-key in my family, and it gives me a chance to try out some new things ( case in point: last year's mad sausage making experiment).
        This year that meant a pretty wacky hash, making candy and three types of bread, and the toughest challenge of them all, poaching a dozen eggs at once. I'm happy to say I think I did pretty darn well all around.

 A very bad picture of some very delicious muffins. Top: savory ricotta muffins, and below: zucchini bread muffins. Yuuuuuum.

Yet again, I forgot to take a picture until I was almost halfway through with the meal. Duck confit hash with poached eggs, bread (thanks, Mark Bittman!), and bitter greens salad. Brunch WIN!

Side note: do you realize how fatty duck is? really. It is astounding. I know this because I had to render fat from 6 duck legs and shred them by hand, and boy, it was not pretty. There was a good half inch of fat on each of those legs and it was NOT easy to handle. I guess that's why it tastes so good. On the other hand, I now have several cups of duck fat in the freezer which means.... duck fat fries!

And the best part, dessert! Lemon tart (not as good as I thought it would be. A rare disappointment from Cooks Illustrated) and fresh fruit tart (delicioso).

       And, because I felt I had not cooked enough in 24 hours, Margaret and I made salted chocolate caramels. Like a lot of Smitten Kitchen's recipes, this one wasn't as simple and pretty as her pictures made it seem. Of course, it didnt help that I a) dont own a candy thermometer, and b) was cooking about 3 things at once. In these situations I like to use the old "eyeballing" technique I picked up, which usually leads to the old "burning" phenomenon. The caramels had... a bit of a smoky flavor. But the chocolate and the saltiness actually worked really well-- and a little extra sea salt on top added a whole new level of whoa to these babies.

         The wrapping of all these caramels was also.... a labor of love. But, since I didnt give up anything for lent except white wine, I feel like me and Jesus are cool now.

         And if these caramels weren't cute enough, we got all crafty and stamped these gift bags. Ducks and umbrellas! It's spring!