Easter is a
great time for cooking, baking and experimenting with new recipes, as well as
Christmas time. My mum and I messed around
in the kitchen as usual twisting old recipes and mixing them with new ones to
the delight of the whole family. This year we decided to skip the traditional
pastiera, colomba and bread with cheese, and looked for
alternatives. We made biscuits, of course, in the shape of bunnies,
butterflies, chicks and eggs coated with chocolate and sprinkled with cake
sprinkles. We gave them as presents to friends and neighbours packaged in boxes
tied up with rainbow ribbons. We also added a haiku by Matsuo Bashō, the
renowned Japanese poet, written on cards I brought back from my recent journey
to Japan. They were very much appreciated, both the biscuits and the poems.
Here are some examples:
Spring air –
woven moon
and plum
scent.
Ebb tide –
willows
dip to mud.
If I’d the
knack
I’d sing
like
cherry
flakes falling.
Spring’s
exodus –
birds
shriek,
fish eyes
blink tears.
Sleeping
willow –
soul of
the
nightingale.
We used a lot
of ricotta in our new recipes, which is a typical ingredient for Easter time,
and vegetables for a
healthier twist.
Pancakes with peas, parsley and ricotta
You need:
100 g of ricotta, 100 g of peas, 100 ml of milk, 50 g of flour, 2 eggs, some
fresh parsley, one tbsp. of grated parmigiano, salt, pepper, olive oil, half an
onion.
Slice the
onion thinly and fry it slightly in a frying pan with some olive oil. Add the
peas, salt and pepper and let it simmer for half an hour, add water if
necessary. Let it cool and prepare the pancakes. Beat the ricotta with the eggs
in a bowl, add parmigiano, flour and milk and the parsley thinly cut. Add half
of the peas then beat the mixture till it is smooth. In a frying pan heat some
oil and cook the pancakes. Serve warm with the rest of the peas as side dish.
Pie filled with ricotta, asparagus and parmigiano
For the
dough you need: 250 g of self-raising white flour, salt, one tbsp. of olive
oil, a glass of lukewarm water.
For the
filling you need: 500 g of ricotta, 15-20 asparagus, half an onion, salt,
pepper, olive oil, 10 g of butter, one egg.
Prepare the
dough mixing all the ingredients, knead it and let it rest for one hour in a
warm place covered with a tea towel.
Boil the
heads of the asparagus in hot water for 5-10 minutes. Cut the onion thinly and fry
it slightly in a frying pan with some olive oil and the butter. Add the
asparagus and some of the water in which they were cooked plus salt and pepper.
Let it simmer for half an hour adding some more water if necessary. Let it cool
and mix the asparagus with the ricotta and the egg. Roll out half of the dough
and line a greased rectangular tin. Pour the ricotta and asparagus mixture in
it and cover it with the rest of the dough. Bake at 180° C for half an hour.
Soup with broccoli
You need: 200
g of broccoli, olive oil, a clove of garlic, crushed chili, 250 g of macaroni,
one tbsp. of tomato passata, salt and parmigiano (optional).
Boil the
flowering heads of broccoli and keep the water. Fry slightly the garlic and
chilli in a pan with some olive oil. Add the broccoli with some of the water,
salt and a tbsp. of passata. Bring to boil and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes,
add some water if necessary. Cook the macaroni in the broccoli and water
mixture and serve hot with grated parmigiano.
Easter biscuits
Here are
some new recipes to make biscuits with alternative flours. I coated the
biscuits with melted dark and milk chocolate and sprinkled them with cake
sprinkles and decorations.
Intriguing bunnies
You need:
150 g of soya flour, 150 g of self-raising white flour, 100 g of golden caster
sugar, two eggs, four tbsp. of soya unsweetened milk, a pinch of salt, 70 g of
melted butter.
Beat the
eggs with the sugar. Add the flours, salt and butter. Finally add the soya milk
and knead the dough until it is smooth. Let it rest for half an hour covered with a tea towel. Roll it out and cut the biscuits.
I used a biscuit cutter with the shape of a bunny. Bake the biscuits on a
greased oven tray at 180° C for 15-20 minutes.
Lovely butterflies
You need: 150 g of rice flour, 150 g of white self-raising flour, 50 g
of melted butter, one egg, two whites whipped stiff, 100 g of sugar, some drops
of vanilla extract, four tbsp. of milk.
Mix the flours with the egg, the sugar and the butter. Whip the whites
of the eggs stiff and add them to the mixture, add the milk as well and the
vanilla extract. Knead the dough and let it rest for half an hour covered with
a tea towel. Roll it out and cut the biscuits. I used a biscuit cutter with the
shape of a butterfly. Bake the biscuits on a greased oven tray at 180° C for 15-20 minutes.
Funny eggs
You need: 200 g of kamut flour, 100 g of ground almonds, 100 g of
Demerara sugar, two eggs, 80 g of melted butter, a tsp of baking powder, the
grated zest of a lemon.
Mix all the ingredients and knead the dough. Let it rest for half an
hour covered with a tea towel. Roll it out and cut the biscuits. I used a
biscuit cutter with the shape of an egg. Bake the biscuits on a greased oven
tray at 180° C for 15-20 minutes.
Japan inspired some delicious recipes. In Kyoto I bought a packet of
cherry blossoms in salt at a market. Pointing at some pictures they explained to
me that you need to soak them before use. I experimented with them in biscuits
and crostata, which is a pie
decorated with crossed stripes on top. The cherry blossoms add a slightly salty
taste and possibly, in the realm of imagination, the perfumes of spring. For
the crostata, I am also suggesting a
superb Italian version with Fabbri amarena in syrup. Here they are.
