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An Italian Easter Tradition

I have fond memories of going to my Italian grandmother’s and my Aunt Millie’s house for Easter. They lived in a two-story home located in a small Italian neighborhood. Everybody knew them. Any time you stopped by, there was always company, and someone speaking Italian. Aunt Millie was the ultimate chef. She would always have mounds of food ready to be eaten the moment her boys (and girls) jetted in the house from school. Grandma lived upstairs and Millie was downstairs. Later when Aunt Millie had grandchildren, they would call them Grandma upstairs/downstairs. Being a part of the hustle and bustle of their home was where everyone wanted to be: family friends, neighborhood kids, and relatives. My mom worked in the area sometimes, and always stopped in, no phone call necessary. You were always welcome! My neighbor and I are like that. We still keep that open door policy and stop in and chat.

Salami & Egg Bread, Ricotta Cheesecake and Italian bread with the hard boiled colored Easter Eggs baked inside were always part of our celebration, and it was something I looked forward to every Easter. There is something savory and sweet about the Salami & Egg bread. It’s salty, because the cheese and deli meats, but sweet because the crust. It has the consistency and texture of a quiche, but is served cold. The Cheesecake is melt-in-your-mouth-goodness, that will be a hit! Both of these recipes have been in my family for many generations. I was so lucky to recover them to share with my family at Easter. I have my grandmother’s bread recipe, and I promise to share that soon!

Salad in a jar

When you are a busy family, it’s hard to find the time to pack your kid’s lunches and then your lunch. Here is a great lunch if you are on the go and you can make it the night before. Fill up a mason jar with all of your favorites like: veggies, cheese, turkey, marinated chicken, celery, carrots, red onion, romaine hearts, spring mix, spinach, hard boiled eggs, corn, and the list can go on and on. I think the best way to approach salad in a jar is to use what you have on hand.

The salad dressing will go in first, then you can build your salad from there. In this salad in a jar I added: tomatoes, carrots, celery, gorgonzola cheese, corn, cranraisins and spring mix salad. Then when you are ready to have lunch, shake and eat! You can eat right out of the jar or pour onto a plate. I like to add some extra lettuce for more crunch. This was a winning combination of flavors. The choices are limitless though. Here are some suggestions:

Spinach Salad – organic baby spinach leaves, hard boiled eggs, turkey bacon, cranraisins, tomatoes, strawberries, and poppyseed or vadalia onion dressing.

Romaine Salad – corn, shredded carrots, cheddar cheese, honey roasted turkey, golden raisins, and red onions with a light vinaigrette.

Go GREEK! – romaine hearts, tomatoes, cucumbers, red & green peppers, black olives, marinated chicken and red onion with red wine vinegar and a touch of olive oil.

Kale Yeah!– Organic curly Kale leaves drizzle with olive and lemon to soften leaves, corn, cranraisins, chick peas (my favorite!!!!!), chunks of your favorite cheese, and a lemon vinaigrette.

Cobb Salad – Romaine or iceberg lettuce, diced hard boiled eggs, bacon, blue cheese, avocado, tomatoes and a creamy dressing.

Appetizers

We are Italian, so serving mozzarella as an appetizer is always something I do. I decided to get creative because serving fresh mozzarella can get messy and it’s very expensive. I thought this is a great way to serve guests and give everyone a taste. These are also great for the older kid’s lunches. Here’s what you’ll need.

Start by finding fresh mozzarella cheese balls in olive oil. They are sold in most specialty Italian stores or major food stores. If you want to make these more kid-friendly opt for getting the cheese sticks and dicing them into bite size pieces and use those instead. Then, find the tiny tomatoes and taste them to be sure they are fresh. Then try to find the small salami slices that are pre-cut or you can get the regular slices at the deli and cut in half.

Assemble these on a toothpick by starting with the mozzarella, then the tomato and last the salami. Artfully drizzle balsamic vinegar & olive oil. I like red apple balsamic vinegar by Carter & Cavero. (Our cousin, Rosemary & Frank sent it to us as a gift! YUM!) For garnish and color add sprinkles of dried parsley. They are ready to eat and serve! They will be the hit of the party!!!

Ricotta Cheese Ravioli

Once you learn how to make pasta dough by hand, making ravioli or even tortellini is super easy. I hope you read through my post on Pasta Making 101, because it will teach you how to make the dough. My dough is made without egg, and it holds together perfectly. Practice makes perfect. My son who is 10 has become a pro, but it took a few tries.

Step One: Follow my dough recipe, then instead of making the pasta and cutting the sheets into long fettucini or linguini-like strands, cut the sheets into thick long stripes, and then into squares. It’s best to use a pastry cutter to get precise cuts, but the squares do not have to all be the same size. You may use a ravioli stamp as well, which creates more filling and less of a rim.

Step Two: Then fill every other square with a filling like a ricotta cheese mixture. You can create so many possibilities: ricotta with spinach, or ricotta with broccoli, ricotta with parsley and seasonings. What you put inside is all based on your personal preference. I like the ricotta mixture with the parsley, and herbs, and salt and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Once you mix your filling, taste it to be sure you don’t need anymore salt, pepper or seasonings. The filling will be the focal point of the ravioli, so you want to create a creamy and delicious filling. You may add an egg to bind the mixture. I skip it because my son is allergic. I cannot emphasize enough, that you use fresh parmesan cheese that you grate yourself. It does make a difference.

Step Three: Use a large plastic bag and fill it with your ricotta mixture and snip off one corner. Be sure the bag is sealed at the top too. You will pipe your filling onto every other square. Then put one square on top of the other, one with filling and one without filling, and sandwich them together. Then seal the edges using a fork and making indentations all the way around the square. You can wet the fork a little if you’d like. They will be sealed and the filling will stay inside the ravioli. Then if you want precise edges use a pastry cutter to trim all the way around. Alternatively, you may keep the pasta in long sheets and pipe a dollop two inches apart and fold over the top sheet. Then use the ravioli stamp.

Step Four: Put the ravioli on a lined cookie sheet with flour so they don’t stick and be sure they are not touching. You can freeze them on the tray, once frozen solid, transfer to a Ziploc freezer bag. You can freeze up to one day, otherwise I have read that the ricotta cheese might get gritty. Toss them in boiling water either frozen or fresh and give it a stir so they don’t stick. BUT before you add them to the water be sure your water has lots of salt to flavor the pasta!!!! You want to choose a large pot to be sure they have lots of room to move around, and don’t let the water get to a rolling boil, because it will break apart the ravioli. After 4-6 minutes, they will rise to the top and you can fish them out with a wire mesh ladle. Don’t pour into a colander, they will break apart. Test one and taste it. You don’t want the ricotta to appear curdled, if it does you cooked it too long so adjust your time.

Step Five: Add your desired sauce and serve warm! YUM

Here are the steps in picture order: