Authentic Italian Cooking
Italian Easter recipes
Every Italian region has its traditions for Easter menu. Besides we Italians have the habit to plan the traditional day out on Easter Monday, weather permitting, but focusing on completely different recipes. Despite the differences I find that there are points of contact especially about ingredients. Think of eggs, for example. There are people who use them to decorate cakes or savory pies, others that make omelettes but first of all we Italians like them hard-boiled, shelled, garnished with mayonnaise to accompany assorted salami and cheese. There are many other examples to do ;)
Italian Easter lunch
It is always important for us Italians who love to celebrate at home with relative or friends.
Generally we prepare a full menu from appetizers to dessert according to local or family tradition.
We usually start our meal combining hard-boiled eggs with assorted cheeses or a cheese cake, cured meats and seasonal vegetables.
The first course has pasta as protagonist, stuffed or baked, but seasoned with delicious meat or vegetable sauces.
Our second course
is based on meat. Lamb is chosen especially in the southern regions but Italian families have their own preferences and so there are a lot of Easter recipes with every kind of meat. Fish is cooked in the previous days for example on Good Friday.
Dessert closes every Italian menu. Apart from the classic Colomba and chocolate egg, Italian tradition has a lot of cakes, stuffed with ricotta cheese combined with other ingredients, or leavened cakes with sourdough ... all mouth-watering!
Italian recipes to plan an Easter menu
Easter pie or torta pasqualina, Genoa style
This savory pie is a typical recipe of Liguria. Every region in Italy has its own traditions for Easter. Actually this cake is known outside Italy and is done throughout the year. My version has some variations compared to the original recipe, too rich in fat and calories. For example, I use quail eggs to use less large eggs.
Easter cheese cake is a typical recipe of central Italy. I learnt to make it when I lived in Umbria. If you are used to working with leavened dough, it is not very difficult. It just takes a little patience :))
Neapolitan pastiera is truly a classic recipe for our menu. But not all people love it because its filling is made of ricotta, cooked wheat, candied fruit and sugar. Think of it: at the beginning it was a typical dessert of the convents and its filling was done with pasta! Recipe of Campania.
Instead of the more traditional Colomba (dove-shaped Italian Easter bread), I prefer to do a cake with the shape you can see in the photo because I find it easier to garnish. But beware, as it happens for all cakes and desserts, calories, fat and sugars are not a joke. And there are no whipped cream and custard ;)
Scarcella | Easter ring cake from Apulia
Scarcella is a leavened cake from Apulia. It's very simple to do and you need only few ingredients. Here you can see the most traditional shape but you could shape your dough as a dove or a basket too.
Roast leg of lamb, Umbria-style
The roast leg of lamb is a traditional recipe in many Italian regions. The version that I show you is from Umbria. I lived for many years in Umbria and here I learnt a lot of cooking techniques that I still use for I think they are unbeatable ;)
Lamb stew with Parmesan cheese and eggs
Lamb stew is delicious but this recipe is unbeatable. It's a typical recipe from Abruzzi. How many memories! A part of my roots is firmly in this region. My father was from Abruzzi. This lamb recipe with Parmesan cheese and eggs could not miss on our family table at Easter when I was young. Saying only tasty is an understatement. You must try it. The recipe is from my paternal grandmother.
This is another traditional Italian lamb recipe, in this case from Sardinia. Wonderful the sauce with lemon and eggs you need to garnish your stewed lamb. Their flavors combine very well with lamb meat. My husband and I tasted the recipe in Sardinia some years ago and we wanted to experience just once back home. Here's our version!
“Bella Rosina” eggs that is garnished hard-boiled eggs
Bella Rosina eggs is a typical appetizer of Piedmont cuisine, created during Risorgimento period that is in the nineteenth century.
They are very easy to prepare but at the same time scenographic. You only need eggs and mayonnaise.
It isn't difficult to garnish a chocolate eggs according to spring subjects. Place it in a basket and you have a nice-to-see table decoration!
Marzipan flowers and butterflies on a chocolate egg
If you have to make a gift for Easter, this can be a good idea. Easy to do too.
I used it as centerpiece in my Easter table some years ago :))
Autore: Loretta Sebastiani
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