An Italian Easter Table Is Always A Vision Of Beauty And Goodness
They have this saying in Italy, paese che vai usanza che trovi you meaning, you visit a village, you find a new habit.
If you have been to Italy or know something about Italian food, the same applies to Italian kitchens, especially on special, traditional occasions.
Easter is one of them.
Culinary Italy is divided by habits, but always unified by its delicious dishes.
Some of the dishes on a typical Italian Easter Table have regional roots, but many transcend regions and areas and can truly be considered national.
Let’s have a look at them…
Typical on the table of almost each Italian family on Easter Sunday is lamb.
Agnello, or abbacchio as it is known in Rome, is traditionally cooked all over the country on Easter. It is a dish with deep meaning, as it symbolically recalls the religious symbol of the Christ.
In truth, the association of lamb with religious celebrations is older than Christianity, as its use was already described in the Old Testament, where lamb was chosen as the meat to be consumed by the Jewish people on Passover.
To the Jewish community, the lamb embodies the sacrifice offered to God by His people before leaving Egypt.
This ritual tradition was then adopted by Christians who, as we mentioned, transformed it in a symbol of the sacrifice of Christ for humanity.
Lamb is usually roasted, often with carrots and potatoes, flavored with rosemary and laurel, but is also often cooked as a stew with vegetables.
Very popular are also lamb dishes accompanied by artichokes, which are a popular Spring vegetable in many parts of Italy.
More varied are the options for primi .
If you spend Easter in the North, you will very likely be served tortellini in brodo, ravioli or lasagne.
Tortellini in brodo are a relatively light dish consisting of fresh meat tortellini, boiled and served in a freshly made vegetable or meat broth, and lashings of delicious grated Parmesan.
Ravioli are often made fresh at home and dressed with meat sauces or with butter, sage and Parmesan.
Lasagne are a very popular choice of Emilia Romagna’s families.
If you are about to celebrate Easter in the Center or the South of Italy you will enjoy pasta dishes with tomato based sauces, often flavored with lamb meat.
Easter would not be Easter without the ubiquitous eggs.
I am not talking about the large, chocolate eggs you find at the baker’s or in super markets .
Popular all over the country are smaller eggs, pretty much of the same size as a real hen egg, made with dark Chocolate and covered in candied sugar glaze; these eggs are often made with thicker Chocolate and can be found in coffee and food shops.
Colomba is another staple of Italian Easter.
Similar in ingredients to panettone, it’s covered with a hazelnut or almond glaze. They are easily found in super markets, but if you want to try something really delicious, you should get a fresh one at the baker’s.
Fluffy and buttery, Colomba is enriched with raisins and candied fruit, even though Colombe with chocolate or vanilla cream are not uncommon.
In Sicily, you will find a delicious variety made with Pistacchio.
Pastiera
Pastiera is one the most delicious cakes out there and is commonly made in Campania, parts of Calabria and southern Lazio.
This rich, sweet cake is prepared with sheep ricotta, candied citruses and “grano cotto,” cooked wheat, poured in a base of shortcrust pastry. It’s often flavored with orange blossom water, or vanilla, cinnamon and orange peels.
Grano cotto is probably the most interesting of pastiera’s ingredients: it’s simple wheat cooked in milk, but it’s usually bought ready made and canned, a bit as in the US with the pumpkin for Thanksgiving’s pumpkin pie.
Pre-cooked grano cotto is not easy to come about in many areas of Italy, especially in the North. For this reason, many substitute wheat with barley, which needs to be soaked in water overnight and then cooked in milk for 30 mins. Pastiera purists may not be happy with the variation.
Pastiera appeared on Neapolitan tables in the 1600’s. It’s mentioned in the narrative of La Gatta Cenerentola by Giambattista Basile, a baroque writer from Campania, known for having been the 1st to use fables as a form of traditional literary expression.
The origins of pastiera are fabulous
According to the legend, it was Partenope the nymph, mother of the City of Naples, to create it. More prosaically, the dish may have found its roots in the contemplative Christian tradition of Naples, as it used to be typically made by Nuns in convents.
People in Naples prepare it on Holy Thursday or Good Friday to be consumed on Easter Sunday, even though today you can find pastiera in Neapolitan bakeries all year round.
It is one of the most fragrant, full bodied and delicious cakes ever. A small slice is enough.
Casatiello
Casatiello is from Naples too and is typical of Easter. It’s a large donut-shaped savory cake, made with bread dough, scamorza cheese, pancetta, lard, grana padano, pecorino and salame.
It symbolizes Christ’s crown of thorns, the latter represented by eggs laid on top of the “ciambella.” Just as in the case of pastiera, it’s thanks to La Gatta Cenerentola by Giambattista Basile that I learned casatiello was already known in Naples in the 17th Century.
Sciusceddu
Sciusceddu is a typical recipe of Messina prepared for Easter.
Beef meatballs are boiled in meat broth, covered with a mixture of sheep ricotta and egg, then baked in the oven.
The final result is similar to a soufflé, some prefer their sciusceddu not baked, but cooked in a pan, where the ricotta and egg mix is added directly to the meatballs and their broth.
Torta Pasqualina
Torta pasqualina is typical of North western Italy, and of Liguria and Piemonte in particular.
Tradition associates ti with the Genoa area, but its diffusion in the whole of Liguria and Southern Piemonte is ubiquitous.
Torta pasqualina consists of several layers of a very thin dough made with water, flour and olive oil, in which a savory mixture of ricotta, chard, artichokes and peas is poured. Typical of it is the presence, within its filling, of full eggs, which are cracked on top of the filling mixture, then baked in the oven.
Torta pasqualina is the Notice of Spring, all of its ingredients are seasonal, genuine, fresh, and it is usually served on Easter Sunday, although is also often eaten cold on Easter Monday, which is holiday in Italy and the rest of Europe.
Ciambelle di Pasqua
Easter ciambelle are large, sweet dough donuts traditionally made in the South of Italy for Easter.
Lemon zest and aniseed liqueur are used to flavor a slow risen bread dough, which is twisted in the shape of a circle, to which eggs are added. The ciambella is then baked.
Eggs are associated to Easter, they are the symbol of life and rebirth and even giving eggs as a present has been considered a sign of good wishing and happiness for endless time.
The Persians, well before the coming of Christianity, used to do it, and so did the Egyptians.
The Persians even had the habit to decorate eggs, just as we for Easter.
Christians began to associate eggs with Easter in the Middle Ages, when Lent became a period of complete abstinence from all foodstuff of animal origin.
This is why eggs where often kept and decorated, then blessed on Easter Sunday, to mark the end of the abstinence.
It is easy to see how eggs make it so often within traditional Easter recipes, not only as an ingredient, but also as a form of decoration, as it happens in the case of the ciambelle di Pasqua, but also for casatiello.
Easter is one of Italy’s main festivities, its relevance also shown by the variety and wealth of the cuisine related to its celebration.
Each region has specific delicacies for this time of the year, and many of these dishes mirror the beauty and wholesomeness of Spring, The Easter Season.
If in Italy at Easter, no matter where you find yourself, an Italian Easter table is always a vision of Spring beauty and culinary goodness.
I have fond memories of my years there. I love Italian food, it is Real!
Happy Easter.
Paul Ebeling
HeffX-LTN
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