Easter entertaining shortcuts

A sponsored post for Woolworths

With Easter just around the corner and school holidays in full swing, I wanted to put together some entertaining ideas for you guys that are simple, quick to make, no fuss, DELICIOUS and not too pricey – the kind of stuff I will be cooking, and enjoying.

We always have a house full of visitors for Easter – before my sister and Mum moved down here to the Highlands, we would host them and over the past few years my sister has come up from Melbourne with her kids to stay for the weekend. We have our annual Easter markets in the village that sees lots of visitors and LOTS of volunteer work for us, so I need to create food that can be easily whipped up, pulled out of the freezer or created by using the odd shortcut or cheat that no one needs to know about. After a very long school term, this Mum doesn’t have much left in the tank.

I always love to use some shortcuts where I can, as right now I’m flat out with the girls and the shop. I try and use a little store bought, mixed in with a little homemade when it comes to creating some tasty food for Easter. It’s what I have been on about all this year through my work with Woolworths in these posts that I have written about:

Ladies Lunch under $65 and less than 30 mins prep
Christmas dessert hacks
My top School lunchbox tips
DIY date night
Easter entertaining with Created with Jamie
Easter slow cooked lamb

A little store bought, a little home made. Low effort, high impact. I know you guys love this stuff, because you tell me, you cook the food, you grab the products, tag me in your photos and let me know in the comments. So, this Easter I have a few more great ideas that you can use when planning your Easter entertaining menu.

Lots of you will be looking at seafood for Good Friday, so I thought I would share a great idea I have used to make both the kids AND adults happy. Whip up a huge platter of these and everyone will gobble them up. A simple fish soft roll with homemade tartar sauce.

You’ll need:

Woolworths Frozen Crumbed fish fillets $4.20
Lettuce
Soft bread rolls (I used these soft mini hotdog rolls)
For the tartar sauce:
Woolworths Whole egg mayo $2.85
Bunch dill (finely chopped)
Handful bread & butter pickled cucumbers
Handful capers
Squeeze lemon juice
Salt & Pepper

1.Place the frozen fish onto an oven tray and bake as per the instructions until they are crispy and golden brown (about 20 minutes). Then set aside

2. To make the sauce, finely dice the cucumbers, capers and dill and throw into a bowl with some salt, pepper, a decent squeeze of mayo and salt and pepper. Mix well, taste and season if needed

3. Cut the bread rolls, and chop the fish fillets in half to fit inside the bread roll (you could use fish fingers too if you wanted). Add in some lettuce, a piece of fish and a good spoonful of the fresh tartar sauce. Pile them up onto a platter and hand them around to people with drinks, or just onto a table for kids to grab.

Everyone in my family LOVES these: the homemade sauce is packed with flavour and completely lifts the roll. They are delicious, trust me and for under $10 for 12 rolls, not bad is it?

If you wanted to make your own rolls for an added extra homemade touch you can try this recipe, perfect for seafood rolls. There’s NOTHING like a fresh white roll with prawns or lobster on Good Friday, right? Last year I made a batch of the rolls and snipped the edges to look like an Easter bunny! Although these did look a little demonic …. you get the general idea!

Another great tip for canapés with drinks are these Woolworths Polenta & Parmesan Chips ($5.00) which are SO easy and taste great. Add something fresh on top (I always smother with lashings of fresh parmesan) and a few fresh sprigs of rosemary and instantly lift that store bought product to a new level.

Simply cook as per the instructions and place on an oven tray. To serve, place on your serving board with some fresh rosemary and grate the fresh parmesan over the top to finish. Tip: these are perfect to hand around with drinks.

Don’t forget this great recipe for salmon rillettes which are also perfect for Easter. Serve them as lunch or as an appetizer with drinks.  They are so simple and delicious and perfect to make use of the seafood available at Easter.

A great lunch option for the long weekend (whether it’s for Good Friday lunch, a light Easter Saturday meal or even for the main event on Sunday) is this great twist on a nicoise salad. I love deconstructing all of the parts, placing it on a  platter and whacking it into the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves to. I love eating like this and I LOVE serving people this way, as it’s so easy!

You’ll need:

Salmon fillets
Eggs (boiled)
Beans
Asparagus
Woolworths Solanato Tomatoes
New potatoes
Kalamata olives  
Baby cos lettuce

1.Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper and place onto a hot pan with a little olive oil. Let them cook until crispy on both sides and cooked through to your liking. Set aside.

2. Boil the new potatoes until tender. Scoop out of the water and add into the same boiled water as the eggs, then asparagus and beans until cooked.

3. Chop the bigger potatoes in half or leave whole if they are small enough. Then, chop the tomatoes and eggs in half, cut the salmon into smaller portions and place onto baking paper.  Rinse the lettuce and pull off the leaves, then place the olives into a bowl and place on the platter for people to help themselves to.

Tip: if you like, you can also make a dressing to accompany the salad. Maybe a simple dill mayo (whole egg mayo, dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper) or a red wine vinaigrette to add into a bowl or jug to pour over the salad too.

Simple, healthy, delicious food that is easy to make and that everyone will enjoy.


This year Woolworths have some great priced fresh seafood options that make it easy for you to do at home. A new incentive is the Bag & Bake that you can find at  your local Woolies seafood counter.

Bag and bake is a great way to make things even easier for you this Easter. Also, don’t forget the range of platters that you can order and pick up at Woolworths…so easy and convenient.

I hope that these ideas are useful to you this Easter (and beyond). Great, tasty food that doesn’t break the budget and looks great. I just love the mixture of store bought, with a little homemade, which together provide great flavours that take everything to the next level.

I hope that you have a happy and safe Easter. I think it’s my favourite of all the holidays: the weather, the long weekend, the relaxed nature of it all without the stress and angst (and HEAT) of Christmas. I hope you get a chance to sit and enjoy a little of it too.

What are your plans for your Easter menu?
Or what are you doing for the long weekend?
Home? Visiting others? Camping?

Comments

  1. How good do those rolls look? Like my childhood fave fish finger sambo but grown up. And polenta chips! So easy but so yum.

    I’m also gonna need that tablecloth, thanks

  2. Those rolls are definitely a goer for Good Friday lunch ! Delicious

  3. I got all excited about Woolies selling polenta chips so I googled the ingredients. Sadly they unnecessarily add butter and wheat flour to the ingredients. (Allergies)
    Back to making them myself…..

  4. Roadtripping for us this year, heading down to Foster, Vic, to spend a few days with the in-laws. 12hr drive…. lord help me!

  5. your food and table settings always looks ab/fab beth
    such an entertainer hun!
    much love mxx

Trackbacks

  1. […] this quick and easy Dill mayo, that I whipped up on Good Friday for our fish burgers – the recipe from the lovely BabyMac. I mean, who doesn’t love dill? And my family is a fan of anything with pickles in […]

  2. […] this quick and easy Dill mayo, that I whipped up on Good Friday for our fish burgers – the recipe from the lovely BabyMac. I mean, who doesn’t love dill? And my family is a fan of anything with pickles in […]

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