Italian Easter menu

Will you be traveling during the Easter/Passover holidays? I will not. I'll be spending the two-day Spring festivity stuffing my face with traditional Pasqua foods. I say two days, because the day after Easter – Pasquetta – is as much of a holiday as Pasqua is.

It's all about eating oneself into a stupor, as a celebratory ritual, which in some southern Italian homes may begin with the head of the family, or the eldest member of the group, blessing the table, foods and its invited guests. In our home this is done by solemnly dipping an olive twig (saved on Palm Sunday) in some holy water (collected earlier at morning Mass) and splashing everyone with a prayer, and a word of hope.

If you're looking to cook your own Italian-inspired food fest, here are a few ideas for a typical Easter menu.

The classic Easter meal always starts with Corallina salami, golden and savory cheese bread and hard boiled eggs, ritually painted together on Good Friday. Casatiello is another Easter specialty, a rustic bread made with lard, and studded with an assortment of pork cracklings, salami, pancetta and provolone cheese – and which differs from similar "tortano" thanks to the symbolic addition of eggs that cook whole in their shells nestled within the dough.

A typical primo (starter) could be the world's easiest baked pasta dish ever, my unfailing angel hair timballo, whose condiment of choice could be the appropriate Vignarola, a flavorful medley of Spring vegetables and legumes like fava beans, peas and artichokes, sautéed together with chunks of crisp guanciale. Another Easter pasta tradition is making Lasagna, and in the south of Italy this means a complex production involving hard-boiled eggs, rich tomato sauce, ricotta, pork meatballs or crumbled sausage.

The Italian Easter meal cannot be complete without some kind of roasted ovine meat. This year, we will be having both, lamb AND capretto, duly accompanied by roasted potatoes and other side dishes, which may include seasonal delights, or savory vegetable pies, like Pizza di Scarola, braised artichokes "alla Romana", and a delightful specialty of Puglia, Fave e Cicoria (sautéed chicory and fava bean purée).

The meal usually ends with a slice of freshly baked Pastiera – a pie made of wheat, ricotta and orange blossom water; and colomba, a cake whose dough is similar to Panettone, and whose dove-shaped crust is studded with almonds and pearl sugar sprinkles. Copious amounts of wine obviously complement the meal.

A steaming cup of freshly brewed espresso, and a glass of Amaro to be sipped slowly, prepare both body and mind for a restorative nap, and... plans for the following day's Pasquetta meal.

 

Buona Pasqua!

Maionese recipe

Image © ecosalon.com

Homemade mayo rocks. Better tasting and definitely wholesome compared to the crap commercially sold in a jar or worse, in a tube.

The difficult part in making it at home is not having it separate while you add the olive oil as it thickens. In Italian we say our mayonnaise is impazzita, "gone crazy" when that happens.

To avoid this, some experts suggest to make it alone, without exterior noises, or disturbances. Some even push it as far as saying not to make it during your menstrual cycle.

Nonsense, I make it all the time, with kids playing soccer in the living room, or with heavy metal blaring in the background. Here's how I prepare it, foolproof and craziness-free.

1 egg yolk
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 pinches dry mustard
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
150 ml (3⁄4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1⁄2 lemon

Put the egg yolk, vinegar, mustard, and a little salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl and whisk until foamy and thoroughly blended. I use one of the small wood whisks pictured above, but a silicone whisk works well too


Tricky part.
Add 50 ml (1⁄4 cup) of the olive oil, a few drops at a time, whisking constantly.
Gradually add the rest of the oil in a thin, steady stream, continuing to whisk as the mayonnaise thickens.

Add 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice, and adjust seasonings if necessary. But the less you mess with mayo, the better.

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina recipe

The secret to gnocchi alla Sorrentina is the tomatoes that grow in the area, the local mozzarella and the indigenous fresh basil. That's why even the greatest chefs are never able to reproduce the true recipe elsewhere, without the original ingredients.

Image © incucinaconpeppa

I will nonetheless tell you how I saw it being made here, in its homeland. We began by assembling the ingredients to make the gnocchi:

1 kg (2 lbs) russet potatoes
300 g (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Boil the unpeeled potatoes 30-40 minutes (according to potato size) in lightly salted water. Let them cool a bit then peel and mash them with a hand-powered mill or a ricer into a bowl.

Let the mashed potatoes cool off a bit more, sift the flour over them, and mix it in with a wooden spoon. Pour the potato/flour mixture over a board dusted with flour and knead briefly as you would any other pasta dough.

Note: Over kneading may make the dough tougher, so keep it to the minimum to obtain a uniform consistency, dusting extra flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the work surface.

Cut a fist-size piece and roll it into sausage-like cords about 3/4" in diameter and use a knife to cut each into 3/4" buttons. Use your thumb to make an indentation in each piece. This can be achieved with the help of the back of a cheese grater or the tines of a fork, and it gives gnocchi a rough surface in which the sauce finds refuge. As you produce the gnocchi, moves them on a plate and keep going, fistful after fistful, until all the dough is used up.

Gnocchi by Marie Asselin - foodnouveau.com 

Technically all this can be done in advance, but it is better not to let too much time pass between the making and the cooking. While you’re cutting the gnocchi, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Once all the gnocchi are ready, toss a dozen of them into the water and wait until they all surface. This takes less than 2 minutes, so it is important that your attention does not wander. Use a skimmer (or a slotted spoon) to fish the floating gnocchi out of the pot and place them in a bowl covered with a tight lid so the gnocchi keep warm. Repeat the casting-fishing routine until all gnocchi are cooked.

Next we prepare the Sorrentina sauce. Be prepared to meet taste bud euphoria. This is Italian food history happening before your eyes, so a toast is in order. Uncork the wine, please.

400 g (2 cups) ripe heirloom tomatoes
1 large mozzarella (weighing about 1/2 lb) or Provola cheese, which is a local smoked mozzarella
Parmigiano, grated
Extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic, peeled
A bunch of fresh basil

Save 2 and blanch the rest of the tomatoes in 1 inch of water and a drizzle of olive oil for about 20 minutes. Peel them, remove the seeds and crush them through a food mill.

While you preheat the oven at 150° C (300° F) you can begin to sauté the garlic and half the basil in 3 tablespoons of olive oil for about 2 minutes. Add the pureed tomatoes and cook over a medium flame for about 10 minutes.

Coarsely chop the mozzarella (or provola) and the 2 whole raw tomatoes. Next we prepare 4 terrines (glazed and preferably earthenware) or a single deep oven dish with a few tablespoons of sauce, a few chunks of chopped mozzarella and raw tomatoes. Cover with some boiled gnocchi, cover with more sauce, more chopped mozzarella and raw diced tomatoes, torn basil leaves and a generous dust of grated Parmigiano, building layers to the top.

Pop in the hot oven and heat through until a crispy crust forms on the top and the cheese has melted.

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina demand to be eaten piping hot, so if you're serving them in the earthenware terrines, consume them directly out of those, minding that you don’t burn your tongue in a mad devouring rush.

The best wine to pair this dish with is a dry white, like a Chardonnay or a glorious Greco di Tufo.

Buon appetito!

Limoncello recipe

I thought we could celebrate the advent of this sunny spring weekend with Italy's most famous after dinner liqueur. I like mine tart, zesty, not too sugary, ice-cold and dreamy.

The homemade kind is always a million times better than the bottled, so here's the secret to lavish limoncello.

Ingredients will yield 2 quarts of limoncello

9-10 unwaxed large organic lemons - or enough to produce 300 g (10 oz lemon peels)
600 gr (2 ½ cups) sugar
1 lt (4 cups) 95% grade alcohol* (can be substituted with very good quality Russian vodka)
1.2 lt (1 quart + 1 cup) bottled water (not sparkling, I use Evian)

*Grain alcohol (Ethanol) is available at concentrations of 95% alcohol (190 proof) and 75.5% (151 proof). It is illegal to sell the 190-proof variety in some states of the U.S., including California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington. In some of these states, the 151-proof variety may be sold. In Canada, it is not sold in Saskatchewan but is available in Alberta. The British, Australian and New Zealand retail policies are, like in Europe, quite lenient as far as ethanol is concerned.

Soak lemons in tap water and baking soda for 10 minutes. 

Rinse well several times and pat dry. Peel the lemons as closely as you can, using a curved paring knife to remove any white sponge-like pith, which is too bitter and can spoil the outcome. 

Use the peel for this recipe and save the lemons for granita, juice or other applications. For limoncello, all you need is the skin of the fruit.

Soak the lemon peels in a large tightly closed glass or ceramic carafe or tall jar with the alcohol to macerate for 7 days in a cool, dry place. The rinds will become brittle through this procedure, extracting all their fabulous essence into the spirit.

On the final day, in a large stewpot, bring the bottled water with the sugar to a boil. When the sugar is completely dissolved, cover and remove the pot from the stove and allow your syrup to cool to room temperature.

Strain the alcohol with a tight mesh gauze or double cheesecloth, discard the peels and pour the filtered alcohol in the syrup in one single, steady splash. This will ensure opacity to the blend. Proper limoncello should not be clear, rather cloudy and bright pale yellow in color.

Transfer the resulting liqueur in individual glass bottles (makes about 2 liters, or a half gallon). Close each firmly with a natural cork stopper and wait until completely cool before storing in the freezer. On each bottle proudly apply a handwritten label that reads "limoncello made by me." 

Serve chilled in small shot glasses and pat yourself on the back.