Easter Recipes:Cheese Pascha Kulich
Mammoul (Lebanese Easter Cookies)
Baked Ham with Sweet 'n' Sour Plum Sauce
Pecan Crusted Rack of Lamb
Sweet Nut Roll
Egg Cheese - Hrudka - Serrik - Sirecz
Russian Potato Salad (Salat Oliver)
The sun continues its long trek northward and the first shoots of spring slowly muscle their way to the surface. Soon they burst open into a kaleidoscope of color, heralding rebirth from a long hard winter to the newness of spring. Likewise, the long season of repentance, Great Lent, draws to a close with the crescendo of Holy Week and the much anticipated Feast of Feasts; Easter (known as Pascha in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition). The solemnity of the season of abstinence and repentance is eclipsed by the joy and brilliance of the resurrection to new life. The Lenten recipes lacking meat and dairy are replaced with glorious meats and sumptuous cheeses of every description.
Orthodox Christians the world over feast on Pascha as they have for two millennia. There are many different traditions and recipes characteristic of local customs but the spirit is the same. This is the Feast of Feasts, the most joyous time of the year.
Greeks and Arabs dye heaps of hard-boiled eggs red and distribute them to everyone. Kids and adults alike tap the end of their egg against another’s to see whose will break first. The tables are covered with lamb, kibbee, kabobs, sweets and cheeses of all kinds.
Ukrainians have spent the last few weeks dying their eggs in the brightest colors with patterns so intricate you think they must have been painted, not dyed. They and other Eastern Europeans, Slavs, Poles, Carpathians, Romanians, Georgians and Russians fill huge baskets with all the foods from which they have abstained these many weeks. Eggs, cream, butter, cheeses, sausages, hams and beef are all loaded into the family basket with amazing breads, wine, sweets and condiments. The baskets are taken to the church for the midnight Resurrection Liturgy where they are blessed in the church hall in the wee hours of Pascha on Sunday morning. Then the feast begins.
One of the highlights of the feast is the vast array of Cheese Pascha, a sumptuously sweet mixture of sweet cream, cheeses and sweeteners, molded and decorated with bright crosses and sweet candies. Each recipe is a variation on the theme. Recipes are shared and techniques are discussed. The newly baptized and visitors alike, amazed by the vast richness and variety, join in the joy of the feast. Whether you have labored from the first hour of the fast or have only arrived at the eleventh hour, come one, come all, the table is richly laden, enter into the Master’s joy.
Christos anesti ; aléthos anesti!Kristus vstal z mrtvých! Vpravdě vstal z mrtvých! Христос Воскресе! Воистину Воскресе!
Lamb Recipes, Ham Recipes, Side Dish Recipes, Dessert Recipes, All Recipes
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|