We are almost there: Easter is coming and with it the typical Easter dishes, to be prepared for friends and relatives. Even if the saying goes “Christmas with your family, Easter with whoever you want” , this year many will opt to spend the Easter holidays with the family. In this way they will have the opportunity to spend the holidays in peace and serenity, perhaps preparing for an Easter Monday outside the door.
But what are the typical Easter dishes to prepare for the occasion?
We have prepared for you an in-depth analysis useful to know more specifically some recipes typical of the Easter period, which you can easily prepare at home.
Peppered mussels
Typical dish of the Easter holidays, especially during Holy Week, and the peppered mussels . Prepared with oil, parsley, garlic and pepper, mussels are usually accompanied by croutons, which, dipped in the sauce, will make this dish tastier. This seafood contains many nutritional elements: it is rich in iron, calcium, phosphorus, selenium and vitamin B12. So goodness and at the same time health for this typical dish of the Easter holidays.
Casatiello and tortano
Another typical dish of Easter celebrations is the Neapolitan casatiello . Typical of the Campania region, casatiello contains cured meats, eggs, cheese and is prepared in large quantities during this period.
The egg-free version is instead called tortano, and both specialties are usually served as an appetizer before the main courses. Often times it is also kept for the next day, Easter Monday, when it is taken with you on trips out of town.
Fellata
Let’s stay in Naples, where in the Easter period there are many typical recipes of the Neapolitan culinary tradition, talking about Neapolitan fellata. This dish is also usually served as an appetizer before the main courses and consists of various types of cold cuts (such as the famous capocollo or Neapolitan salami), cheeses (especially ricotta salata) and hard-boiled eggs, cut into thin slices.
Easter crescent
Let’s move now to Umbria and Marche to tell you about another typical Easter dish: we are talking about Crescia, a savory panettone prepared with meats and cheeses, also used during Easter instead of bread. It is a typical recipe of these two regions and it is artfully prepared according to tradition.
Pasqualina cake
The pasqualina cake is instead a typical Ligurian recipe, which is usually eaten even during Easter Monday outings. This is prepared with chard, or alternatively spinach, then adding eggs, parmesan and pecorino. It looks like a kind of puff pastry and is very famous in Genoa.
Easter first courses: from the famous baked pasta to ravioli
After the appetizers below with the first courses! From this point of view, the Italian culinary tradition is full of recipes, which may vary from region to region. The most famous and most prepared first courses during the Easter holidays are the iconic bucatini with kid sauce , followed by baked pasta and lasagna , the latter two recipes loved by young and old.
If we want to do something different, we can dare with stuffed ravioli or tortellini . A recipe to try if we are in the mood is that of gnocchi with broad beans, asparagus and ricotta. If you are Tuscan, you will surely have heard of spaghetti alla chiantigiana, typical of the region where the famous Chianti wine is produced, and prepared with the same wine, shallot, bacon, salt and pepper.
Easter main courses
If you are not already “full” after appetizers and first courses, below with the second courses. Here too you are spoiled for choice! As a matter of practicality, when we talk about main courses, we refer specifically to kid, prepared in the oven with potatoes or in its antithesis, with peas and eggs. These two recipes are typical and found throughout Italy. But if you are from Abruzzo, then tradition says arrosticini. An alternative is also represented by the roast leg with potatoes.
Easter sweets
We finally arrive at the typical Easter sweets . Here too we are spoiled for choice and it will be an exercise only for the bravest, who after the many courses will have kept a bit more space for dessert. Let’s see what are the typical Easter sweets, below.
Neapolitan Shepherd
We could not begin with the legendary Neapolitan pastiera our story of the typical Easter sweets. Prepared with eggs, ricotta, candied fruit and presented in many different variations according to taste (some prepare it for example with custard), this Neapolitan dessert is typical of the Easter holidays. The Neapolitans just do not give up on this recipe when the Easter period arrives. In Naples it’s not Easter without the pastiera!
Dove
Another typical Easter dessert is certainly the colomba , with or without candied fruit, which is usually served after the main courses, and perhaps together with a good amaro, useful for digesting everything that has just been regurgitated.
The Easter Colomba today is prepared according to many different variations, and the preparation of this dessert, to be strictly artisanal, is only up to the imagination of the pastry chefs.
Easter eggs
We close our story of Easter recipes with chocolate eggs, to be donated on the occasion of Holy Easter and also in this case prepared in many different variations, according to taste. The custom of exchanging decorated eggs dates back to the Middle Ages and has since become the symbol of man’s rebirth.
The origins of the chocolate egg can be traced back to the Sun King, Louis XIV. He was the first, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, to have his chefs prepare a chocolate egg. Since then this tradition has been consolidated and expanded also here with us. In fact, it is not a respectable Easter without the famous Easter eggs.
