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Easter Ricotta Pie

  • April 5, 2022

Have you started planning your Easter dessert yet? Easter is one of my favorite holidays for the plethora of traditional foods that are found on most tables in Italian or Italian-American homes – from appetizers to main course to dessert. See the end of this post for more ideas. One of my all-time favorite Easter desserts is this ricotta pie, and there are endless variations, including one with the addition of chocolate chips. I have nothing against that – I’d happily eat a couple of slices — but for Easter, give me a pure, unadulterated ricotta pie with a hint of orange – the Italian version of cheesecake – and one that’s very popular in my household.

Feel free to use your favorite homemade pastry crust recipe or a store-bought one. I relied on Trader Joe’s this time, but it can be a bit fiddly to use since it has a tendency to split when you’re placing it in the pie plate. No problem, just press the pieces back together. Prick the pie crust and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Make sure you drain your ricotta (full-fat only please) thoroughly. I line a sieve with paper towels, add the ricotta, cover with plastic wrap, then put a weight on top and leave it in the fridge overnight.

Look how much liquid came out. If you don’t take this step, you risk having a soggy bottom crust.

I started out with three pounds of ricotta and was left with a little over four cups after draining overnight.

Mix with the orange and lemon peels as well as the rest of the ingredients. If you don’t have orange blossom water, use some orange flavored extract. Mix it all well then place into the prepared crust.

Cover with lattice strips and crimp edges. It’s easier to weave the lattice strips if you cut them out and place them in the freezer for a bit before placing on top of the pie.

Bake and let it cool thoroughly before serving.

Buona Pasqua tutti!

Here are a few more ideas for Easter dinner:

Ricotta Broccoli Rape Torta – This is a dish my son makes as an appetizer for Easter, using broccoli rape. No, that spelling is not a mistake, it is rape in Italian, while most Americans spell it broccoli rabe or raab. Any way you spell it, it’s delicious, and a lighter alternative to the heavier, meat-laden pizza piena.

Braided Easter Bread – This bread, studded with hard boiled eggs, is braided with soppressata, olives and cheese, and would be perfect with drinks before dinner.

Grilled Leg of Lamb – Marinated and cooked on the grill, this lamb recipe from Julia Child, is tender and full of flavor.

Honey Baked Ham with roasted grapes – This recipe will make you forget those prepared hams purchased from franchise ham shops – and it’s so easy to make too.

 Neapolitan Pastiera – This traditional Southern Italian dessert is made with ricotta and wheat berries.

Colomba Pasquale – It wouldn’t be Easter in most Italian households without this Easter dove, which you can make at home too.

Coconut covered lamb cake – A childhood favorite, I continue the tradition with the same cake mold my mother used more than sixty years ago.

chocolate lamb cake – Why not give equal time to the black sheep? This cake, decorated with crushed cookie crumbs, will please the chocolate lovers in your family.

coconut cream Easter eggs – These are a weakness of mine, which is why I can’t make them more than once every few years. Otherwise, I’d end up eating dozens of them.

Perfect hard boiled eggs – And if you don’t make any of the above recipes, you’ll probably make hard-boiled eggs at some point. If you’ve ever struggled with peeling them, here’s a primer that will help you avoid frustration.

Buona Pasqua a tutti!

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Easter Ricotta Pie
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • Two of your favorite homemade or store-purchased pie crusts (one for bottom and one for the lattice top)
  • 4 cups drained full-fat ricotta cheese
  • (I started out with 3 pounds of ricotta from the supermarket and there were more than 4 cups when it was all drained.)
  • 6 eggs
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • juice of one orange (a little less than ¼ cup)
  • grated rind of two oranges
  • grated rind of one lemon
  • ½ teaspoon orange blossom water (or 1 teaspoon vanilla)
Instructions
  1. Drain the ricotta cheese overnight in the refrigerator.
  2. To do this, I place a paper towel in a sieve, put the ricotta cheese in the sieve, then cover with a piece of plastic wrap and finally, a heavy weight.
  3. Roll out the pie crust and place it in a deep-dish pie pan.
  4. Prick the crust with a fork.
  5. Place it in the refrigerator for a few minutes while you roll the lattice.
  6. Roll out the other pie crust on a cutting board or something that will fit in the freezer.
  7. Cut nine lattice strips and place the whole thing, cutting board and all, in the freezer.
  8. Make sure you can keep it flat.
  9. This technique of putting the strips in the freezer for a few minutes will help keep when the lattice strips from breaking apart when weaving them on the top after you have placed the filling inside.
  10. Beat the eggs gently (but don't beat too heavily or the pie will rise too much, and then deflate too much.)
  11. Mix the eggs with the ricotta and the rest of the ingredients.
  12. Place the filling in the pie shell.
  13. Place the lattice work on top, weaving over and under till you get the desired effect.
  14. Swipe the lattice with either some beaten egg, milk or cream.
  15. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven forr one hour.
  16. When cooled and ready to serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar and top with grated orange peel.
 

 

Paglia e Fieno with Prosciutto, Peas and Parmigiano Cheese

  • April 13, 2021

Paglia e fieno literally translates to straw and hay in Italian, and it’s not hard to find these “nests” of green and yellow pasta already made in specialty stores or good supermarkets where I live. However, like most things, homemade is best, so if you have the time and inclination, make your own pasta. I made a big batch of both regular egg fettucine and spinach fettuccine on Easter Sunday, which is when we ate this dish. If you want a recipe for making spinach pasta, click here.   For plain egg pasta, the fine OO flour from Italy is best, combined with fresh eggs. You can make a well on a board and mix it the old-fashioned way, but these days, I mostly use a food processor and dump the flour and eggs in there, starting with about 1 1/2 cups of flour and two eggs. Add more flour until it forms a ball in the food processor bowl, then remove it and knead it some more, adding a little flour if necessary. When it’s smooth as a baby’s bottom, cover it and let it rest for at least a half hour, then roll it out with a pasta machine, or by hand, and cut it in the fettuccine shape.

The sauce is a classic — and also a waist expander, but if it’s a special occasion, who cares? It’s worth every calorie. Sorry I don’t have any photos while I was making the sauce, but it comes together so fast and we were all so hungry that I failed to snap any photos. You make the sauce while the pasta is boiling in the water– it’s that quick to do. Start by cutting up the prosciutto into bits and cooking it briefly in the butter. Add the cream and peas and let the cream reduce a bit. However don’t let it thicken too much because  the parmesan cheese will naturally thicken the sauce. Drain the pasta, but retain a cup or more of the pasta water in case you need to loosen the sauce. Add the drained pasta to the cream, prosciutto and peas and bestow it a healthy amount of freshly ground black pepper. Swirl everything around and if it seems too thick, add some of the pasta water and swirl a bit more. Turn off the heat and add the parmesan cheese, incorporating it into the dish. Serve with additional parmesan grated on top.

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Fettucine Paglia e Fieno
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds paglia e fieno pasta
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream
  • ¼ pound (or more if you like) prosciutto, cut into small bits
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Cook the pasta in ample salted water and drain, but save about a cup of the pasta water.
  2. Make the sauce while the pasta is cooking.
  3. Cut the prosciutto into small pieces.
  4. Melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the prosciutto bits until they start to crisp.
  5. Add the cream and the frozen peas and cook a couple of minutes.
  6. The cream will start to reduce.
  7. Don't reduce it too much.
  8. It will thicken more when you add the parmesan cheese.
  9. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce, sprinkling with a generous amount of freshly ground pepper.
  10. Swirl the pasta in the sauce.
  11. If need be, add a little of the reserved pasta water.
  12. Turn off the heat, and add the parmesan cheese.
  13. Swirl to blend it through, then add more once on top once it's in the serving dish.
 

Pork Tenderloin with Stewed Dried Fruits

  • April 17, 2019

Still undecided about what to make as your main course this Easter? For us, it’s typically lamb, or sometimes ham, but if you want to try something different, yet festive, easy and delicious, then give this recipe a go. Roast pork and fruit are a delicious pairing and perfect for any holiday or special occasion. It won’t keep you from your guests for long, since it can be prepared ahead of time and takes only a half hour to cook. You can roast the meat while you’re sitting down to pre-dinner drinks with friends and family. Stew the fruit the night before to save time, but even this takes only 15 minutes. I bought an assortment of dried fruits – peaches, apples, pears, prunes and apricots, plus some orange and lemon peel – and covered them with boiling water, a bit of sugar and a cinnamon stick and whole cloves.

The fruit can sit in the fridge overnight, and you can reheat it at the last minute, while the meat is resting. After you slice the meat, arrange the fruit around the sides, and pour both the meat juices left in the roasting pan, and the fruit juices all over the meat.

Buon appetito e Buona Pasqua a tutti.

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Pork Tenderloin with Stewed Dried Fruits
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 pork tenderloins (about 1½ pounds each)
  • Dijon mustard
  • salt, pepper (or herbed salt)
  • herbs de Provence
  • about two cups of mixed dried fruits (apricots, prunes, apples, pears, peaches)
  • water, to cover
  • ½ cup sugar
  • a few strips of orange peel
  • a few strips of lemon peel
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • a couple of whole cloves
Instructions
  1. Bring the meat at room temperature and dry with paper towels.
  2. Smear a little olive oil on the bottom of a roasting pan.
  3. Place the meat on the pan and smear with a light coating of Dijon mustard.
  4. Season with salt and pepper (or herbed salt) and a light sprinkling of herbs de Provence.
  5. Place the meat in a 375 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reaches 140-145 degrees. (The temperature will continue to rise for a bit when you take it out of the oven.)
  6. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest for 10 minute, then slice.
  7. FOR THE STEWED DRIED FRUIT:
  8. Place the fruit in a saucepan with water to cover.
  9. Add the sugar, the citrus peels, the cinnamon and the cloves.
  10. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until fruit is softened.
  11. Remove the citrus peels, the cinnamon stick and the cloves.
  12. Remove from the heat, and serve along the sides of a serving platter with the sliced meat.
  13. Pour the juice from the fruits and any juice from the meat (on the carving board) over the sliced meat.
 

 

 

Easter Dinner Ideas

  • March 29, 2018

Easter is just a few short days away and many of you have your menus all ready. But for those of you still looking for ideas, here are a few from blog posts in the past. Click on the name of the dish below the photo to take you to the recipe.

Ricotta Broccoli Rape Torta – This is a dish my son makes as an appetizer for Easter, using broccoli rape. No, that spelling is not a mistake, it is rape in Italian, while most Americans spell it broccoli rabe or raab. Any way you spell it, it’s delicious, and a lighter alternative to the heavier, meat-laden pizza piena.

Braided Easter Bread – This bread, studded with hard boiled eggs, is braided with soppressata, olives and cheese, and would be perfect with drinks before dinner.

Grilled Leg of Lamb – Marinated and cooked on the grill, this lamb recipe from Julia Child, is tender and full of flavor.

Honey Baked Ham with roasted grapes – This recipe will make you forget those prepared hams purchased from franchise ham shops – and it’s so easy to make too.

 Neapolitan Pastiera – This traditional Southern Italian dessert is made with ricotta and wheat berries.

Colomba Pasquale – It wouldn’t be Easter in most Italian households without this Easter dove, which you can make at home too.

Coconut covered lamb cake – A childhood favorite, I continue the tradition with the same cake mold my mother used more than sixty years ago.

chocolate lamb cake – Why not give equal time to the black sheep? This cake, decorated with crushed cookie crumbs, will please the chocolate lovers in your family.

coconut cream Easter eggs – These are a weakness of mine, which is why I can’t make them more than once every few years. Otherwise, I’d end up eating dozens of them.

Perfect hard boiled eggs – And if you don’t make any of the above recipes, you’ll probably make hard-boiled eggs at some point. If you’ve ever struggled with peeling them, here’s a primer that will help you avoid frustration.

Buona Pasqua a tutti!

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Chocolate “Lamb” Cake

  • April 10, 2017
Italian families have lots of food traditions at Easter, and I’ve made many of them through the years, such as pastiera, a sweet pie made with ricotta and wheat kernels,
 or the colomba, a rich, eggy brioche cake made in the shape of a dove that’s on every Italian’s dessert table at Easter.
Once every few years, although it’s not an Italian tradition, I also indulge in making chocolate covered coconut cream Easter eggs. My mother-in-law used to make these (and peanut butter eggs) each Easter as a fund raiser for a local charity and they’re  a real weakness of mine, but so much better than store-bought, especially when you use really good dark chocolate.
But the dessert that holds the most memories for me is the lamb cake that my mother always made when I was growing up.
It wasn’t the chocolate version, as seen in the first photo. It was the white cake version, pictured below, that I often make each Easter.
I’ve already written about the white cake version here, covered with buttercream and coconut, but since I attempted a chocolate version last year, I thought I’d show you the little brown lamb cake, and give you the choice of making either — or both.
I thought for a while about what to use to simulate the dark fleece of a brown lamb, and I came up with this combination: ground up chocolate wafer cookies mixed with ground up amaretti cookies.
It tasted good and I think worked well as wooly fleece, pressed into the chocolate frosting.
I used some cut up jelly beans for the eyes, nose, mouth and ear details, but if you have other ideas, I’d love to hear about them, or see a photo, so send it on. Don’t forget to tie a ribbon around its neck to dress it up in Easter finery.
I inherited the lamb pans from my mother, but you can find them for sale in many places, including on Amazon.com. You fill only one side, then cover with the other very well greased half.
I used a chocolate pound cake recipe I found online, and I knew there was more than enough for the lamb cake, so I baked the extra batter in some small, individual “cakelet” pans I had.
Clearly, I loaded the pan with too much batter, since it started to leak out near the end of the cooking.
No worries though. I just trimmed it up and proceeded with the frosting.
This is how the chocolate cake looks before frosting. Don’t worry about the small holes you see here and there.
I had to keep him company, so I made the vanilla version too. That recipe is here. Again, there seemed to be more batter than I needed, so I baked a couple of cupcakes too. Make sure you grease the pan thoroughly, then dust with flour. After greasing with butter, and before flouring, I sprayed with some nonstick spray just for extra “insurance” against sticking.  Following those instructions, I’ve never had a problem – not even with the small ear parts.
When you release it from the pan, it sits upright like this – in desperate need of frosting and decoration.
Side by side, they make quite a cute pair. It’s almost a shame to cut into them.
But we do — starting from the back end. By the end of the day, we were left with these decapitated heads. I can assure you they didn’t go to waste.
Wishing all of you a happy Easter, or a Happy Passover, and if you don’t celebrate either of those holidays, Happy Spring to all of you.
Let me also take this opportunity to let you know we have a few spaces left in our memoir writing workshop on beautiful Lake Como, Italy.
Your home away from home for a week will be Villa Monastero, in Varenna — open to tourists during the day who come to see the beautiful gardens here, but closed at night to everyone but our workshop attendees. Life is short – don’t postpone your dream. For more information, go to www.italyinotherwords.com.
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Super Rich Chocolate Pound Cake
From JamesDean’sGirl via Food.com
printable recipe here

 

Ingredients

    • 2 1/2 cups flour
    • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I use Dutch processed)
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 cup butter, softened
    • 2 cups sugar
    • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    • 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325*F.
  2. Grease and flour a 10″ fluted tube pan.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
  4. In another large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  6. Blend in the vanilla.
  7. In 3 additions each, beat in the flour mixture and sour cream just until combined.
  8. Do not overmix.
  9. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
  10. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until the center tests done.
  11. Cool 10 minutes in pan; invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.===========================================For the frosting:
    6 Tablespoons softened unsalted butter1/3 cup milk2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar2 t. vanilla extract3/4 c. cocoa powder
    Beat the butter in a mixer until smooth, then slowly add the rest of the ingredients until everything is blended to the proper consistency. If it’s too thick, add a little more milk. Spread over the lamb. You’ll have more than you need to coat the lamb, so freeze the extra.
    For the “wooly” coat:Buy some chocolate wafers and some amaretti cookies. Place some of them in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin (or pulse in a food processor until the proper texture). Using your hand, spread the cookie crumbs over the chocolate frosting, pressing in to secure.Decorate the eyes, ears, nose and mouth with bits of jelly beans or other candies.

Honey Baked Ham with roasted grapes

  • April 7, 2015

 I know this would have been more useful had I posted this ham recipe before Easter, but it’s still perfect anytime you’ve got a crowd coming. Kentucky Derby party in your future maybe? 

 It’s a great dish for company, especially when you don’t have time to fuss. And it tastes so much better than those store-bought pre-sliced honey-baked hams sold at franchises.
This big ole’ ham was also purchased pre-sliced, but I normally buy one that isn’t. I just happened to be at a Costco before Easter, when the pre-sliced ones were all that was available. Throw out any seasoning packet that may have come with your ham. You can do better, without using artificial ingredients or flavorings.
Mix some melted butter, honey and light corn syrup together, pour it over the ham, occasionally baste with it while it bakes and you’ve got a lip-smacking ham that everyone will love and that serves at least 15 or 16 people.
I added some roasted grapes at the end too, just because roasted grapes have become my new favorite ingredient for adding to recipes.
Use the leftover ham bone and bits of ham to make this bean soup recipe.

 

Honey Baked Ham
printable recipe here
1 large bone-in ham (mine weighed about 12 pounds)
1/3 cup butter, melted
8 oz. honey
1/8 cup dark corn syrup
Roasted grapes are optional, but if you want to add them, roast them on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet for 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Set aside. (You can do this the day before)
Place the ham flat side down and bake, covered with aluminum foil, for one hour at 250 degrees fahrenheit.
Melt the butter together with the honey and corn syrup.
Remove the foil from the roast, raise the temperature to 350 degrees fahrenheit, and reposition the ham so that the fatty part is on top. Cook for another hour, basting with the butter/honey/corn syrup mixture several times.
If using the roasted grapes, add the cooked grapes during the last minute or two, just to heat them through again.
Slice, swishing the slices through the honey glaze as you put them on the serving platter.

Rack of Lamb

  • March 25, 2015

 Springtime is finally here and to me, that means more than just daffodils and fresh produce in the farmer’s markets. It’s also a time for lamb, a meat that I love not just for its taste, but for its profound religious and artistic significance. 

The lamb features importantly in the story of Passover in the Jewish religion, and at Easter in Catholicism. Walk into many churches in Italy, and you’ll see exquisite mosaics of Christ as a shepherd, with his flock. This one is in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, in Rome.
Lamb is traditionally eaten at Easter time among Italian families, and I love to make a whole grilled leg of lamb when serving a crowd. Unfortunately, most Americans infrequently cook lamb, if at all.
When prepared properly, it’s a flavorful meat to serve to family and always is a hit when company comes to call, especially when prepared in this style, which is fork tender and so delicious.
A rack of lamb is an elegant, albeit expensive dish to serve to company, since one serves just two to three people. Two of us had no trouble polishing off this rack of lamb in the photo below. So if you’re planning on company, you’ll want at least two racks. Make sure they’re people you really like, and who really like lamb.
This roast comes from a half a lamb I bought locally from a friend of a friend who raises a few lambs organically not far from where I live. It wasn’t trimmed as well as I wanted, so I “Frenched” it (trimming out the fat to expose the tops of the bones) and cut away almost all traces of fat and the “silver skin” under the fat. )If your butcher can’t (or won’t) do this, it’s not hard to do and is essential. Otherwise, the fat won’t melt during the short cooking time and you’ll end up biting into a layer of fat, and fighting the toughness of “silver skin” to get through to the meat, which is truly tender.
This rack weighed only 1.7 pounds before trimming, and you can see how much fat I trimmed from the roast. You’re bound to trim off some specks of the meat too, but that can’t be avoided. Be sure to use a very sharp, thin knife.
This knife is one of the several treasured ones made by my grandfather for me decades ago, when he would take an industrial file of carbon steel and whittle it down on a spinning stone wheel in the basement, before inserting it into a wooden handle.
Smear a good amount of Dijon mustard over the front and back of the roast.
Then cover it with the mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, and herbs.
Roast it at high heat for ten minutes, then lower the heat and roast for fifteen minutes longer.
After letting the roast rest for 15 minutes, slice between the bones and serve.
Buona Pasqua.
************
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Rack of Lamb
serves two to three people
1 rack of lamb, about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds before trimming (double the recipe for two racks)
3 cloves minced garlic
3 sprigs rosemary, minced
grated lemon peel from 12 lemon
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 T. grated parmesan cheese
2 T. olive oil
salt, pepper
Dijon mustard to spread on lamb
If the rack of lamb is not already trimmed by your butcher, you will need to do so, by cutting out the fat and bits of meat between the ribs (a process called Frenching) and by trimming away all the visible fat. Most butchers leave some fat on the meat, but this cut of meat is very tender, and the fat doesn’t need to be there to tenderize or flavor the meat. Besides, when the roast is covered with mustard and bread crumbs, and spends so little time in the oven, the fat won’t melt into the meat, leaving you a layer of unappealing layer of fat when you bite through the bread crumbs into the meat. Beneath the fat you’ll find a layer of “silver skin” and it’s best to trim this away too.
Make sure you leave the roast at room temperature for an hour (I left it for two) before roasting in the oven. Otherwise, you can’t be assured of even cooking.
After trimming off the fat, sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper, then spread a layer of Dijon mustard all over, top and bottom.
Mix together the garlic, rosemary, lemon peel, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Dab the mixture over all sides of the roast.
Place the roast on a rack in an oven that’s been preheated to 450 degrees. Roast for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 300 degrees and roast for 15 minutes more if you like it cooked medium rare (as in the photos). Use a meat thermometer for accuracy – 120-130 degrees for rare (barely cooked inside) 130-140 degrees for medium rare (bright pink to red inside), 140-150 for medium (pale pink inside.) Let the roast rest for 15 minutes. It will continue to cook a bit further and the temperature will rise slightly.
Slice between the ribs and serve.

Happy Easter

  • April 12, 2009

When I was a young girl, my mother made a lamb cake for Easter, using a specially shaped aluminum cake pan. I inherited the pan decades ago, and carried on the tradition when my kids were little, but then forgot about it as they grew up. A few years ago, I resurrected it when my niece and her then two-year old son Hayden came for Easter. It was a big hit, even though it just didn’t seem right cutting into the cute little creature for dessert.

I don’t have my mother’s original recipe, but I found a pretty good one on Allrecipes.com a few years ago that I’ve included below. It’s a nice firm-textured white cake that holds up well as you stand the lamb upright to frost and serve. I once used this cake pan for my daughter’s birthday, repositioning the ears and frosting the cake to resemble our cat Rocky. At that time, I used a cake mix, but the softer texture didn’t hold up well. When I went to serve the cake, to my dismay, Rocky’s head had fallen off. A few wooden skewers later and a camouflaging ribbon around the neck and he was good as new. Lesson learned – don’t use a box cake mix for this specialty pan.

I like it with a buttercream icing, but you can use a cream cheese icing, or any kind you prefer.
The hard part is cutting the first slice. I hate to see that little lambie’s butt sliced off. It’s even harder to see it decapitated, but all that icing and coconut around the ears makes me come to my senses.

I know there are similar pans available for sale on various websites including Amazon.com. You may even be able to find one at a good kitchenware store where you live. If you don’t have a lamb form, it’s also delicious as a layer cake using two 9″ cake pans.

Lamb Cake

  • 2 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups white sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 egg whites

Directions

  1. First, prepare your mold. Coat with vegetable oil, let sit for a few minutes then wipe clean with a paper towel. Then grease and flour your mold, making sure to get all the little areas.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift the cake flour, then sift again with the baking powder and salt; set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Stir the batter until smooth after each addition. Add the vanilla.
  4. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then quickly fold in the remaining whites.
  5. Fill the face side of the mold with batter. Move a wooden spoon through the batter GENTLY, to remove any air pockets. Make sure not to disturb the greased and floured surface of the mold. Put the lid on the mold, making sure it locks or ties together securely so that the steam and rising batter do not force the two sections apart.
  6. Put the mold on a cookie sheet in a preheated oven for about 1 hour. Test for doneness by inserting a skewer or wooden toothpick through a steam vent. Put the cake, still in the mold, on a rack for about 15 minutes. CAREFULLY, remove the top of the mold. Before you separate the cake from the bottom let it cool for about 5 more minutes so that all the steam can escape and the cake can firm up some more. After removing the rest of the mold, let the cake cool on the rack completely. DO NOT sit the cake upright until completely cooled.
  7. I frosted my lamb with a buttercream frosting, then covered it in coconut and pressed in some small pieces of raisin for the eyes and nose. Give it a little ribbon collar and lay it on a bed of coconut dyed green with food coloring. Decorate with jelly beans and/or small chocolate eggs if desired.

Standing Rib Roast and Yorkshire Pudding

  • April 11, 2009

We don’t serve rib roast for Easter but I made one last weekend when our kids came home and we celebrated both of their birthdays. I thought I’d post the recipe for those of you who might be choosing rib roast for your Easter dinner over the more traditional lamb or ham.
While it can be expensive if you don’t buy it on sale, a standing rib roast is always impressive (when properly cooked) and it’s a snap to make too.

Yorkshire Pudding

This was my first attempt at making Yorkshire Pudding, the typical accompaniment to rib roast. It too was easy to prepare and a big hit with everyone. Long after we were sated with enough roast, we sat around sipping our wine and munching on these little popovers studded with herbs. Yorkshire pudding isn’t really a pudding as you can see, but more of a bread made with a thick batter that’s poured into muffin tins greased with beef drippings. You can use butter if you prefer. Either way, it’s not as fattening as it sounds since you use only a small amount of fat for each portion.
Once you get the meat into the oven, mix up the batter for the Yorkshire puddings and refrigerate. After the roast is cooked and resting, pour the batter into the muffin tins and bake.

For the rib roast, I used Ina Garten’s recipe with some modification. Her recipe calls for a 7 to 8 pound standing rib roast. Since I was cooking one that weighed only 3.5 pounds (more than enough for four people and we had leftovers too), I eliminated the last step where you kick up the temperature to 450 degrees. Just make sure to keep checking with a meat thermometer and roast it to the degree of doneness you like. When the meat reaches 125 degrees, for me that’s perfect and I take it out of the oven. The cooking continues even while it rests on the countertop. During the time it’s resting, I put the Yorkshire pudding into the oven. When they come out about 20 minutes later, the medium-rare roast is ready to slice and eat.

Standing Rib Roast

1 T. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Rub the meat all over with the salt and the pepper. Two hours before roasting, remove from refrigerator and let it come to room temperature (I let mine sit out for only one hour, but I had a smaller roast). Place the rib roast in a roasting pan in a 500 degree preheated oven. Roast it for 45 minutes, then reduce temperature to 325 degrees and roast for another 30 minutes. Test with a meat thermometer for the required doneness. If you’re cooking a small roast, as I did, it may be done. I took mine out of the oven at about 125 degrees. For a larger roast, check the temperature. If it’s not done yet, boost the oven temperature back up to 450 degrees and roast for another 15 to 30 minutes. Take the meat out of the oven and let it sit, covered with aluminum foil, for at least 15 – 20 minutes before slicing.

Yorkshire Pudding

1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 – 4 T. butter or beef drippings from the roast
1 cup flour
snippets of fresh herbs (I used chives, sage and thyme)
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine flour, chives, thyme and salt.
Whisk milk and eggs. Add to the flour and herb mixture. Refrigerate while the roast cooks.
Spoon a little bit of melted butter or beef drippings into the bottom of each of about 12 muffin tins. Tip the tins to coat. Pour the batter into the individual cups, about 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake in a 450 degree preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Good Friday in Taormina

  • April 10, 2009

Good Friday is the most solemn day of holy week for Catholics, and no where is it observed with as much pageantry as in Sicily. Many towns and villages across the island hold elaborate processions commemorating the suffering, or passion of Christ as he was led to his crucifixion.

Each town has a different custom, but the processions almost always end with bands playing lugubrious music as worshippers carry a statue of Jesus Christ through the streets.
Several years ago we were Taormina during holy week. Taormina is a jewel of a town on the eastern coast of Sicily overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, Mt. Etna and the Calabrian peninsula. Tourists stream into the town because of its scenic location, abundant flowers, quaint architecture and ancient Greek amphitheater.
But all that pales in contrast to the spectacle that is Good Friday in Taormina.
The event starts in the late afternoon just before dusk, as hundreds of women clad in black, carrying orange-colored lanterns, descend the narrow steps linking the main streets, and begin the procession.
Young girls wearing white dresses and white cotton head coverings follow the women.
A local priest and altar boys come next. Then comes another group of women who are supporting on their shoulders a statue of the blessed mother engulfed by flowers. A band playing somber music processes behind them, while the men of the village begin their march, bearing the statue of Jesus on their shoulders. The entire group slowly walks to the duomo and back.

After dark, the procession is repeated in silence, except for a lone drummer tapping out a haunting beat. At this point, shopkeepers turn off their lights, a hush comes over the town and the faithful make their final homage to Christ, illuminated only by the glow of candlelight. Whether you’re Catholic or not, you can’t help but get caught up in the beauty, the history and the solemnity of the occasion.

Click on the video below and you’ll see what I mean.