Inspired by what our Nonnas in Italy used to prepare for our Easter lunch, we put together a simple menu that you can replicate at home for your Easter day and bring some Italian touch on your table!
Let’s start with Gisella’s grandma, Rina. Her famous recipe for Easter is LASAGNA WITH ZUCCHINI AND CRESCENZA CHEESE.
Ingredients:
Zucchini (5-6 big ones)
Crescenza cheese (1 package)
Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Salt&pepper
Egg pasta(1 package)
Instructions:
Wash the zucchini and cut them julienne, using a grater with big holes or a kitchen robot.
Dry them accurately (press them with your hands if necessary) and then put them in a bowl, together with a little bit of olive oil and salt.
Prepare a liquid béchamel and put one package of crescenza cheese in it.
Now it’s time to build the lasagna: béchamel goes first, then egg pasta, zucchini and parmesan cheese. Try to make as many layers as you can.
Once ready, cook it in the oven at 360° Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes. For the first 15 minutes, cover the lasagna with an aluminum foil to prevent burning the surface.
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Carlotta’s grandma, Liliana, usually delights her family with her delicious FRIED LAMB RIBS.
Ingredients:
Lamb ribs (6)
Eggs (4)
Parmesan cheese
Bread crumbs
Salt&pepper
Corn oil
Instructions:
Beat eggs in a bowl and put some salt and pepper in it. In another plate prepare some bread crumbs. Then you take the ribs and, one by one, you soak them in the bowl with eggs and then in the bread crumbs.
Heat some corn oil in a pan (use a low flame) and when the oil is boiling put the ribs in it (a couple of ribs at a time). They are normally ready in 10 minutes (remember to turn them occasionally).
You can serve them with some seasonal asparagus, like in the picture.
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Isabella’s grandma, Rosetta, would like to share the secrets of her PALOMBA with you.
Ingredients:
Flour 00 (500 gr)
Yeast (half sachet)
Caster sugar (100 gr + 500gr for the frosting)
Ammonia for sweets
Olive oil
Vanilla (1 sachet)
Eggs (3 + 2 for the frosting)
Water
Lemon (1)
Instructions:
Place the flour on the table and put sugar and two eggs at the center of it. Start to knead. Add vanilla, olive oil and yeast and ammonia and continue to knead (add a little bit of milk, if necessary).
Oil a casserole and scatter some flour. Place the dough and give it the shape you desire. Before putting the dessert in the oven, place one boiled egg in the middle of the dough and ground it with two slices of the same dough, to form like a cross. Spread some yolk on the surface and cook everything in the oven at 360° Fahrenheit for 50-55 minutes. Once ready, cover your palomba with frosting.
For the frosting: place the sugar in a pot and cover it with water. Cook it using a slow flame and keep on stirring. Once boiling, take a small amount of it with a wooden spoon and place it on a plate: if it’s not spreading, the frosting is ready.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and add them to the mixture. Add some lemon. Place the frosting in a bowl and keep on stirring for a while. Then pour it on the palomba. You can also use some coloring sugars for decorating.
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Don’t forget to put on your Easter table a basket of decorated eggs.
This is an activity that you can do with children the day before.
It’s super easy, all you have to do is boiling the eggs and then use some food coloring or natural coloring obtained by red turnip, spinach, onion skin or coffee. And then you can clean the eggs by simply re-boiling them for a couple of minutes.
The tradition of decorated eggs dates back to the Middle Ages when they were considered a pledge of love or a trophy for sportsmen. But they became a typical Easter gift, covered with a gold leaf, only in the 14th century. It was then Peter Carl Fabergé, goldsmith at the Romanov court in 1887, to introduce the art of decoration, on the order of Tsar Alexander III of Russia.
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