Easter Holiday Meals

[Angela]

If I were in Italy, I would be eating lamb, prepared like this:


Instead, I will be eating baked ham, which is also good, of course.

It is to be a buffet, so I was instructed to prepare some suitable "sides", preferably "Italian". I may be getting a bit of a complex...do they want me for me...or for my cooking?

Potato salad, consisting of boiled potatoes, dressed while still warm with a dressing made of olive oil, lemon juice, chopped parsley and salt and pepper, of course. (I boil the potatoes with two or three cloves of whole garlic which I then remove...this can be omitted.)


Green beans and cherry tomatoes simply dressed with olive oil and vinegar:


Stuffed vegetables Ligurian style:



My Torta di riso:



Since I am reliably informed that it wouldn't be Easter without my mother's meat ravioli and without stuffed artichokes, I made those during the week and served them yesterday with a leg of lamb. Otherwise, I would have had a mutiny on my hands...



My children like them stuffed southern Italian style so I oblige them...


I would prefer them fritti alla giudia...fried Jewish Roman style, although I never met an artichoke I didn't like. You need very small, tender artichokes for that, however. I order them from an online source in Castroville, California.


Oh, for English speakers, I recently discovered a you tube channel done by an Italian American which is quite good. She also has a blog where she posts the measurements. It was very enterprising of her...she now has a show on the food channel. She has great technique and seemingly a good palate, in my opinion. I can only take her in small doses, however, as perky and cutesy is not my thing...

I don't make this very often, because it is far too fattening, but it's delicious and super easy. Probably most of her followers don't know that she's actually a good cook...they just like her obvious enjoyment of what she does and of the food itself!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhtwwkefZBQ

[Maleth]

Angela those are all so familiar dishes to us too (except for the rice dessert :) ). I had Lamb yesterday just like the picture, however people do prepare different dishes too these days. (Like Turkey is not standard for Christmas any more tho the most popular) I must say I love Lamb, especially with a mint sauce......and stuffed aubergines....yummie. By the way I was told stuffed aubergines are popular in Greece and Turkey too.

[Angela]

Angela those are all so familiar dishes to us too (except for the rice dessert :) ). I had Lamb yesterday just like the picture, however people do prepare different dishes too these days. (Like Turkey is not standard for Christmas any more tho the most popular) I must say I love Lamb, especially with a mint sauce......and stuffed aubergines....yummie. By the way I was told stuffed aubergines are popular in Greece and Turkey too.

Those are hot house zucchini. I don't love aubergines, although they are beautiful...I do oblige people who like them, which seems to include all southern Italians, but they're not my first choice, so I didn't make them for this weekend. :)

Another tradition, besides our local rice pie, is braided sweet bread with eggs put into the dough.

Laura Vitale's version is much like mine, but she should have colored the eggs, and hers didn't rise high enough for some reason.





Southern Italians make wheat grain pie...I like it a lot for easter, but I cheat and buy it...reallly time consuming to make.
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/73c4d8abab671eeed730e86b6867b0728c42295b/c=0-0-640-480&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/Poughkeepsie/2015/03/17/wp-POU-DishNThat-6061-easter2-copy.jpg

[Maleth]

Those are hot house zucchini. I don't love aubergines, although they are beautiful...I do oblige people who like them, which seems to include all southern Italians, but they're not my first choice, so I didn't make them for this weekend. :)

Another tradition, besides our local rice pie, is braided sweet bread with eggs put into the dough.

Laura Vitale's version is much like mine, but she should have colored the eggs, and hers didn't rise high enough for some reason.





Southern Italians make wheat grain pie...I like it a lot for easter, but I cheat and buy it...reallly time consuming to make.
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/73c4d8abab671eeed730e86b6867b0728c42295b/c=0-0-640-480&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/Poughkeepsie/2015/03/17/wp-POU-DishNThat-6061-easter2-copy.jpg

Looks delicious, I presume the texture will be something similar to panettone, and with that orange zest would defiantly be to my taste.

Our tradition sweet for Easter will be figolli. Its a sweet cake like pastry filled with rich almond (marzipan type) of filling with chocolate eggs on them cut in different shapes mainly bunnies hearts and other shapes, decorated with icing sugar.

man25a.jpg

That grain pie looks interesting and delicious. Does it have ricotta?

I love hot cross buns too by the way. They are also very popular here at this time of year

[Angela]

Looks delicious, I presume the texture will be something similar to panettone, and with that orange zest would defiantly be to my taste.

Our tradition sweet for Easter will be figolli. Its a sweet cake like pastry filled with rich almond (marzipan type) of filling with chocolate eggs on them cut in different shapes mainly bunnies hearts and other shapes, decorated with icing sugar.

man25a.jpg

That grain pie looks interesting and delicious. Does it have ricotta?

I love hot cross buns too by the way. They are also very popular here at this time of year

I really like hot cross buns too. Our local bakery makes them and, at this time of year, Irish soda bread too, sweet and not, both.

This "Easter" bread is more dense, less "airy" than Panettone, doesn't contain candied fruit or raisins, and has a slightly different taste.

I've never really converted to the northern European protein breakfasts, so I make (more often make) or buy these sweet breads quite often. One slice with a cup of coffee is fine for me most mornings. I actually find bread making even more therapeutic than just regular cooking. I think it's the kneading...

Yes, the grain pie filling is mostly ricotta cheese...very rich. A lot of times it also has a lot of candied fruit in it. Delicious, but deadly to the figure. Southern Italians definitely make the best sweets in Italy. Not that the rice pie is actually in the running to be in any diet plan, but it's not as rich as that, and it's a lot less work. The wheat pie has to be prepared over three days because it takes a lot just to make the "grano", the wheat, edible.

I like marzipan, but a little goes a long way...it's almost achingly sweet for me.

I've always been interested in the ancient roots of some of these foods...obviously connected with agriculture rituals or perhaps even fertility rituals.