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I am planning on making spoonbread (from Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine), leeks sautéed in butter with petits pois and blanched asparagus with torn mint, perhaps a root-vegetables Diane (martha stewart), followed by greens (mache, etc.) and an assortment of cheeses, and for dessert, a lemon tart (Nigella) and marble cake baked in the shape of a lamb.

-the spoonbread is super easy, and the trick I have found is to use extremely fine cornmeal -- it looks and tastes like a soufflé!
-the veg are quick, easy, and very low-fuss
-an ordinary potatoes Diane simplifies shopping, and is easier and lower-fat than scalloped -- however, the root veg are nice, and it bakes in the oven -- low-fuss that can be prepared before people come

A correction about the "houska"

in Czech "houska" jusst means "bun", as it can refer to a hamburger bun (it implies a crunchy crust); housky are always salty, that is, savoury (often topped with salt, or caraway seeds).

What you baked in your recipe is actually a Vanocka (there should be a hook on the c, for a ch sound) -- a Christmas braided bread. It is traditionally eaten on the morning of Christmas eve with coffee for breakfast.

The same dough is used at Easter, although it is not braided, and is called a mazanec (the c is pronounced "ts")


http://www.radio.cz/en/html/food.html

Czech Easter Menu


To this day, however, Easter just isn't Easter without mazanec (hot cross buns), which is the Easter equivalent to Christmas's vanocka. It's made from the same dough, but it has the shape of a bun, on the top of which a cross is carved before baking. Another traditional Easter bread is the Easter Ram, which is whipped dough poured into the shape of a sitting ram or lamb. After baking, the ram is given eyes - two cloves poked into the dough. Today, of course, chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies and hard-boiled eggs have also become a part of Easter.

Dough for two mazanec's
6 cups of medium flour
9 teaspoons of sugar
4 ounces of butter
1 tablespoon of yeast
1 cup of milk
1 yolk
a pinch of salt
vanilla sugar
a lemon rind
a nutmeg nut
star anise
3 tablespoons of raisins
3 tablespoons of almonds
an egg for the icing
Crumble the yeast into the room-temperature milk, add in 1 tablespoon of sugar, sprinkle evenly with flour, and then leave it in a warm place to rise. Put the rest of the flour, 8 tablespoons of sugar, the vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt, the lemon rind, the grated nut of nutmeg, one egg yolk, and the grated star anise into a bowl with the previous mixture when well-risen and mix well. After this, add in the softened butter and continue to mix well. When the dough no longer sticks to the side of the bowl, stir in the washed raisins and the cleaned, sliced almonds. Shape the dough in the bowl into a smooth loaf, dust it with flour, and leave it covered in a warm place to rise (with a larger amount of dough even all night.)

With the risen dough, form two small loaves and place these loaves on two different pieces of greased paper, so each may be rotated during baking as necessary. Leave the loaves on the baking sheet to finish rising. Then, before putting them in the oven, baste them with the whipped egg, sprinkle them with the chopped almonds, and carve a cross on the top of each with a sharp knife. Reduce heat and bake for about 45 minutes.

Kahlua Peaches!!! We make these for just about every holiday, but they're really good with ham.

2 Cans of halved peaches in syrup
1/2 c Kahlua
1/2 c Brown sugar, packed
1/4 c Tarragon white wine vinegar
3 Thin strips orange peel
3 Thin strips lemon peel
2 Sticks cinnamon

Drain 1 1/2 cups syrup from peaches into saucepan. Add Kahlua, sugar,
vinegar, peels and cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Then simmer for 5
minutes. Pour over drained peaches. Cool and refrigerate. Makes 12 to
14 spiced peaches.

Roast a whole sheet-pan of asparagus, then brown some butter and add a bit of balsamic vinegar and pepper (to taste on both) and drizzle over the roasted asparagus - tastes awesome hot, and even better after it has hung out for a while on the buffet table -in fact make 2 pans, it always goes!

Everything sounds sounds so good! Especially the kahlua peaches.

I would suggest rich and creamy au gratin potatoes.

ingredients:

idaho potatoes, peeled

heavy cream

cheese (your favorite)

salt

white pepper

method:

reduce heavy cream in a saucepan by about a third.

add salt and white pepper to the cream and taste. the cream should taste like it's too salty on its own.

Slice potatoes 1/4" thick on a mandoline or by hand trying to make each slice exact. Keep the slices stacked.

Line your baking dish with the sliced potatoes by holding a stack of potatoes in your hand and fanning them vertically to make straight rows. They should overlap by half.

Pour the cream over the potatoes and with the palm of your hand, gently press everything down making sure the potatoes are flat and the cream covers everything.

Finally, cover the potatoes and cream with grated and/or shredded cheese and cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil.

Bake at 350 F. until the tip of a knife pierces the potato with no resistance. 45 min - hour.

Remove the foil and "gratin" the potatoes under a broiler.

Kahlua peaches. Yum. I'm likely going to have lamb, couscous and asparagus on Easter, but I think I could easily work the peaches into the menu.

asparagus is my favorite easter vegetable. I like it blanched, then chilled and topped with sea salt and sesame seeds!

The ham in the photo looked amazing. My bunch would love potato salad of some kind, or maybe cheese grits with green chilies added. But the one thing they always demand is broccoli salad with red onions, raisins, cashews, and bacon. It's colorful and delicious.
(Kahlua Peaches! oh I am trying this)

Thank you everyone! I'm going with potato salad, asparagus and the peaches (and a key lime tart). - Tricia

i second aaron with the cold steamed asparagus. very easy.
potato salad easy too since you make ahead. keep it simple!!!!!!!

you could also do sweet potatoes. bake ahead, cool, mash, warm with cream and nutmeg before serving. easy.

I just made the Kahlua peaches! They're cooling in the kitchen. It wasn't until I got to the end that it occurred to me that you probably meant the big cans of peaches, and I used the little. So these are some saucy peaches! Maybe if I have my wits about me tomorrow morning I'll pick up another can on my way and just dump them in when I get to my end location.