Easter 2012 Outtakes

I actually made most of the dishes I made for Easter during the preceding week to test them. Does anyone else do this? I have a phobia of feeding people bad food. An honest to God phobia. I get the shakes and hyperventilate and feel like I'm going to have a heart attack. Does anybody else do that?
As I get older, no doubt, all this panic will be replaced with serenity and grace. Good old Grace. Anyway, these are the dishes that didn't quite make the cut.

Roasted Beetroot with Almond and Horseradish Sauce - from Moro East. Unpleasantly sweet and suspiciously dense. The boyfriend likes the sauce but I found it gritty and astringent

Hot Cross Buns - from Louis P de Guoy's Bread Tray. I don't remember why I bought this book but it's not particularly useful, all the recipes are written for an American kitchen and many include archaic ingredients. I would give an example but I've already given the book to a charity shop to ruin some other sucker's life. I must have done something wrong because the bun dough was too runny to shape and had to be poured into makeshift tinfoil cases. The taste was exactly as a bun should be, but they were a little too heavy and well just look at them!

Courgette Strudel - from Vegiterranean. This book has never been very good to me, but I think the reason I keep it around is that it tells a great story and I'm a creepy peeper who likes to pry in other people's personal lives. I ended up making this strudel twice, once as written and once filled with leftover fruity chicken stuffing. The first time I forgot to add the egg to the dough but the result was nice enough (a little too slippery to eat while hot but delicious when cold), the second time I made the dough as instructed and it turned into stone in the oven. In the end it was nice enough but not outstanding in any way.

Sweet Lemon and Olive Cookies - from New Portuguese Table. These were easy to make, unusual and delicious. I usually hate making desserts from American cookbooks because they're always too sweet for me but these cookies are thin, crisp and combine saltiness and sweetness. The olives are a good balance to the tartness of the lemon. The only reason these didn't make it to the Easter table was because I thought they might be a little controversial for my stepmother. I was right - she'd bought a frozen Black Forest Gateaux. More for me.

Last note, check out this olive oil I got from a Portuguese deli near my office, it's so green and mild. On the boyfriend's insistence we have always bought Spanish olive oil, but this was a steal at £15 for a whole case, so I'm switching allegiances. O fim!