Chocolate povitica: a winner. Photo courtesy
Strawberry Hill.

It is, as we discovered, an eastern European yeast cake similar to Russian babka—but better. Richer. More dense and buttery. And some flavors have cream cheese, which opens the door to cake and pastry heaven.

After tasting the first three flavors, we knew that Strawberry Hill Povitica would be a Top Pick Of The Week. Then, eight more loaf cakes arrived.

In handsome, reusable boxes, these scrumptious cakes, often in beautiful patterns, are at the top of our list for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gifts. We’ve become big fans of Strawberry Hill—as will anyone who takes a bite of their povitica.

Read the full review, check out all 12 flavors and our top three favorites.

See all the different types of cake in our Cake Glossary.

Looking for dinner salad ideas? Look no further than this alluring interpretation we had at Orsay, a restaurant in Manhattan that specializes in classic brasserie fare (with some modern dishes like this French-style “dinner salad”).

You can also serve it as a luncheon salad, or as a first course to a larger meal.

The concept is simple: Cook your protein and top it with a salad of dressed baby lettuces. Here’s the easy recipe template:

1. BASE LAYER: VEGETABLE OR STARCH. In the photo, a round of roasted winter squash is used as the base. Instead of squash, you can use any starch or vegetable: rice, mashed white or sweet potatoes, cucumber salad, tabbouleh or your favorite braised, grilled, steamed, sautéed or grilled vegetables (we like sautéed spinach or kale). If you want more salad, use salad as the base. Or, you can skip the base entirely.

3. TOP LAYER: SALAD. We buy mixed baby greens (mesclun) and snip in some fresh herbs, typically basil, cilantro or parsley. You can use one lettuce, such as frisée or radicchio, or whatever appeals to you at the market.

4. OPTIONAL SAUCE. Serve with lemon mayonnaise (add 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice to 1/2 cup mayonnaise), aioli (garlic mayonnaise, or a mustard-mayonnaise blend [use Dijon or grainy mustard]). The chef at Orsay added drops of mango purée to create a lemon-mango sauce.

5. OPTIONAL GARNISH. Use chives, shaved Parmesan curls, crumbled blue or goat cheese, or whatever you have in house, from an artichoke heart or water chestnuts, to a strip of grilled red pepper for color. A bit of fresh fruit also works: a slice of apple or mango, a halved grape or even crispy dried apple chips.
 
Have fun playing with the template.
 
Find more of our favorite salad recipes.

Don’t overheat your ham! Photo courtesy Snake River Farms.

Micheale Muse, culinary expert for Snake River Farms, producers of “the world’s best” Kurobuta hams, shares this advice:

Buy half the amount of candy and fill up the other half of the basket, bag or box with Easter- and spring-themed non-edibles. The temptation is to give a filled-to-the-brim basket of Easter sweets, but no one needs that much sugar.

We love delicious Easter candy as much as anyone, but know that we aren’t doing anyone a favor by overloading someone with it.

So here are some additional ways to fill the Easter basket.

SUGAR-SAVING IDEAS

 
Who says the Easter Bunny only brings candy!

Matzo “toffee”: white chocolate with pistachios and dark chocolate with almonds. Photo courtesy MysteryLoversKitchen.com.

There are approximately six million Jews in America, of whom an estimated 70% celebrate the holiday. Jewish law forbids the consumption of fermented grain products and related foods. For the eight days of Passover, there are no bread products except matzo and potato bread, no pasta, no beer, no year-round favorite treats.

 
We recommend making more than one batch: one for the home, one for a seder gift, one to treat friends and co-workers who have never tasted this addictive confection—which of course, can be made year-round.
*Variously spelled matzo, matza, matzoh or matzah.