My family has always prided itself on tradition. We love the holidays (literally all the holidays) and we love being together. We also LOVE food. My mother comes from a long line of tradition holders, and she instilled that in each of her four daughters. But, as our family has grown and my sisters and I now have 9 kids between us and several states, time together is more scarce. As a result, our holiday traditions have had to shift to make more time to be together, and less time concerned about everything being perfect. Along the way we've adopted new traditions that we actually really love, and they work better with our much bigger family (sorry grandma). What we have landed on is clams and mussels for Christmas, BBQ for New Years, and as of last year, brunchy fair for Easter.
We did away with roasted ham, potatoes au gratin and ambrosia salad (thank God for that one) and replaced them with eggs Benedict, a fresh fruit platter, crispy potatoes, latkes, radish salad and more. There were no regrets.
This year we are carrying on with our new tradition and brunch is on the menu once again. Planning any holiday meal with my large extended family often includes a very involved string of text messages with food ideas, off topic gifs, and inside-jokes aplenty. In the end we are left with each of us committing to take on one dish that comes together with the others to make one seriously delicious meal.
Just like Oprah loves her bread, I love my eggs, and usually fight for the right to bring the egg dish. Last year in a fit of enthusiasm I outdid myself and made eggs Benedict for 24. This year I'm scaling back a bit, but am by no means skimping on flavor. Allow me to introduce you to my friend the onion tart. It’s like quiche, but has fewer eggs, a flaky, buttery crust, and a medley of onions cooked to caramelized perfection. The addition of a layer of lightly dressed arugula atop the baked tart is the perfect finish.
Arugula is arguably my favorite green to use for any kind of side salad. Its peppery flavor plays perfectly off the sweet, buttery onions and gives this dish a delicious little punch. A simple salad of arugula is also the perfect accompaniment to any heavy meal, and a great digestif. Because my lettuce hasn’t started popping up in my garden just yet (I’ll spare you my complaints about our recent weather), I went with the next best option and used Taylor Farms Organic Arugula. Washed, crisp and always full of flavor, it’s a close second to homegrown.
So, maybe you're not obsessed with holiday meal planning like I am, and maybe the idea of not having ham of Easter makes you want to cry. Either way, this onion tart with fresh arugula will make the perfect additional to your holiday meal, and might even become a new tradition of your very own.
This is a sponsored post written by The Modern Proper on behalf of Taylor Farms. The opinions and text are all ours.
