An Easter picnic in Santa Barbara wine country - includes recipes

Sunset, April, 1996 by Christine Weber Hale

Three generations of a vintner's family gather for an egg hunt and an informal feast of their favorite Greek foods

What to serve for easter dinner is never a difficult question for Kate and Brooks Firestone, owners of Firestone Vineyards and Carey Cellars in Santa Barbara County. Their family's traditional Greek-themed meal holds strong sentimental value.

The Firestones' interest in the Greek Easter celebration began years ago on their honeymoon when, unknowingly, they arrived in Greece just in time for the Greek Orthodox Easter, which is usually celebrated later than Easter in Western churches. The unexpected experience of this festive religious holiday resulted in an enduring fondness for the country, the people, and the cuisine, and they return to Greece as often as possible.

Now settled in the picturesque Santa Inez Valley near Solvang, the Firestones still favor Greek cooking - and their children and grandchildren have come to love it as well. Kate's Easter menu is, for the most part, traditional, but she has made a few adjustments in flavors and ingredients to take advantage of the local produce and, of course, the Firestones' own wines.

Their feast begins with dolmas - grape leaves wrapped around a mixture of rice, onions, ground beef, and herbs - with an accompanying sauce of yogurt, lemon juice, peel, and a little sugar. Kate makes her own dolmas, but purchased ones are quite good and much less work if you're pressed for time. Look for them (canned or loose) in gourmet stores, Middle Eastern markets, well-stocked supermarkets, and delicatessens.

Barbecued butterflied leg of lamb takes center stage on the Firestones' Easter table. Kate studs the meat with garlic slices and rosemary pieces, then marinates it in a red wine - brown sugar mixture before grilling. To accompany the lamb, she mixes cooked orzo with chopped tomatoes, fresh mint, and lemon juice. Steamed spring vegetables - often pencil-thin asparagus or young green beans - and a salad of romaine (about 1 1/2 cups per serving), sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, thinly sliced red onions, crumbled feta cheese, and pitted kalamata olives, also grace the table. (Dress the salad with your favorite homemade or purchased vinaigrette dressing.)

Bunches of spring flowers and a Greek Easter bread (tsoureki) often serve as a table centerpiece. Kate shapes this slightly sweet egg bread as they do in Greece, as a braided ring studded with red-dyed hard-cooked eggs (the dyed eggs symbolize Christ's blood).

The Firestones end the meal with a typical Greek dessert - a dense nut cake soaked with a spiked honey syrup. Serve small pieces with scoops of lemon sorbet or vanilla ice cream.

The menu offers great serving versatility. It can be a formal sit-down affair, a buffet, or - the Firestones' favorite - a picnic in the field or in a charming old barn on their property.

Grilled Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

Cooking time: About 40 minutes

Prep time: About 25 minutes, plus at least 2 hours marinating time

Makes: 14 to 16 servings

1 leg of lamb (about 5 lb.), boned and butterflied 1 to 2 ounces rosemary sprigs, plus additional sprigs for garnish 4 to 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1 1/2 cups dry red wine 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1. Trim off and discard any surface fat on meat. Lay lamb boned side up. With a small sharp knife, make small slashes (1 inch long, 1/2 inch deep) all over meat surface. Cut the rosemary sprigs into 1-inch pieces. Tuck a rosemary piece and garlic slice evenly into each slash.

2. In a deep noncorrodible bowl or 2-gallon heavy-plastic food bag, mix wine, sugar, soy sauce, and mustard. Add lamb, and turn to coat evenly, being careful that garlic and rosemary remain in slashes. Cover or seal, and chill, turning occasionally, at least 2 hours or up to 1 day.

3. To prepare barbecue, ignite 60 charcoal briquets in a barbecue with a lid. When the coals are mostly covered with gray ash (about 30 minutes), push equal portions to opposite sides of the firegrate; place a drip pan in the center. To maintain temperature, add 6 briquets to each side. (Or turn gas barbecue on high, and heat, covered, for 10 minutes, then adjust for indirect cooking.) Place a lightly oiled grill 5 to 6 inches above the coals.

4. Lay lamb on grill; reserve marinade. Brush meat with half the reserved marinade.

5. Cover barbecue (open vents for charcoal). Cook until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of meat registers 140 [degrees], about 40 minutes. Brush halfway through with remaining marinade.

6. Transfer meat to a carving board. Garnish with additional rosemary sprigs. Cut into thin slices to serve.

Per serving: 156 cal., 31% (49 cal.) from fat; 19 g protein; 5.4 g fat (1.9 g sat.); 6.2 g carbo.; 115 mg sodium; 61 mg chol.

Orzo with Mint and Tomatoes

Cooking time: About 15 minutes

Prep time: About 20 minutes

Notes: You can saute the onions and cook the pasta up to 1 day ahead, but chop the mint, which turns black when it sits, just before serving and add with tomatoes. If pasta mixture seems dry, add more broth, 1/4 cup at a time, until mixture is as moist as desired.