The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An Italian Easter table
Regional recipes create a festive holiday feast
Dreaming of foreign travel? For me, it’s Italy, but since I can’t be there at the moment, I’m inviting Italy to my Easter table.
In Italy, Easter is known as Pasqua and is the second most celebrated religious holiday after Christmas. After 40 days of fasting and abstinence during Lent, Easter menus across the country celebrate spring bounty.
While much of Italy celebrates Easter with a roast leg or shank of lamb, Rome and the Lazio region of Italy celebrate with family recipes for Easter Lamb Stew (Agnello Brodettato) featuring tender meat slow-simmered in white wine. Onions are sauteed with minced pancetta before browning the lamb. Slightly tricky, but worth the effort, is finishing the dish with a rich, luscious and unforgettable sauce made from egg yolks, pecorino Romano and lemon juice.
Easter Spinach Pie (Torta Pasqualina) is a timeless dish hailing from the Liguria region of northern Italy. The savory spinach pie is encased in layers of puff pastry, considered to be a representation of the 33 years of Jesus’ life. Rich ricotta cheese combined with chopped spinach and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano makes for a hearty dish. Hidden in the filling are four whole eggs, which are beautifully revealed when serving a slice.
Nearly every regionof Italy prepares its own version of Easter Bread (Pane di Pasqua). Colomba di Pasqua, similar to panettone but with candied fruits instead of raisins, is popular in the Lombardy region. Casatiello, popular in Naples, is a savory bread stuffed with salami, pancetta and cheese. Here I’m sharing the recipe for sweet and aromatic braided wreaths common at Easter in Umbria. Enriched with eggs, butter and citrus zest, they symbolize the crown of thorns, resurrection and new life and are a sweet treat at the table.
My love for Italy will be on full display this spring with these regional specialties.