Month: April 2017

Colomba di Pasqua, Easter cake bread

Colomba di Pasqua – Easter Dove Bread

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An Easter tradition in Italy is to make a dove-shaped sweet bread, or Colomba di Pasqua, which symbolizes peace and the Holy Spirit. It is to Easter what panettone is to Christmas. It is usually made in a dove-shaped pan, but if you don’t have one you can shape the dough by hand.

This recipe uses fiori di Sicilia, which is a citrus and vanilla flavored extract with essence of flowers. It can be hard to find so you can substitute vanilla and orange extracts for it.

It also uses pearl sugar, a type of sugar which looks like Brioschi (remember those? We used to eat them like candy when we were little!) but is actually a hardened piece of sugar which does not melt easily during baking.

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Ingredients
1/4 c warm water
1 T active dry yeast
1/2 c warm milk
2/3 c granulated sugar
1 stick butter, melted
1 T grated lemon zest
1 tsp fiori di Sicilia
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
4 1/2 to 5 cups all purpose unbleached flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg white, slightly beaten
2 T almonds
1 T pearl sugar or coarse brown sugar

  1. Bring the eggs to room temperature.
  2. In a large bowl, put the warm water and yeast together and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture ferment for 10 minutes.
  3. Add the milk, sugar, butter, lemon zest, fiori di Sicilia, whole eggs, and egg yolks and beat on low speed with a mixer to blend well. Then beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.
  4. Add 4 cups of flour and the salt and beat on medium speed. Gradually add as much flour as is needed, a little at a time, until soft dough is formed.
  5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
  6. Punch the dough down and knead for several minutes until smooth. Place it in a greased colomba pan.
  7. Cover the pan with a sheet of buttered waxed paper and a towel and let rise in a warm place until almost double the size, about 20 minutes. Do not let it over-rise or the shape will be lost in baking.
  8. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  9. Brush the dove bread all over with the egg white. Sprinkle with the almonds, and pearl sugar or brown sugar.
  10. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown.

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Roasted Leg of Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic

Roast Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic

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One of the many traditions in Italy during Easter is serving roasted leg of lamb. This tradition goes back many centuries, even before the first Easter celebration, to the first Passover of the Jewish people. The sacrificial lamb was eaten, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, in hopes that the angel of God would pass over their homes and not harm them. As Hebrews converted to Christianity, they brought along their traditions with them. In Christianity, the lamb is the symbol representing birth and the Shepherd, and Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God.

This is a delicious yet simple recipe using rosemary and garlic. You can either use a bone-in or boneless leg of lamb. While boneless is easier to carve, the bone-in is more flavorful. Either way the meat is very tender. When you remove the lamb from the oven, let it rest for about 15 minutes so that all the juices don’t come running out while you are cutting because that will dry out the meat.

Ingredients       Serves 8

1 6 to 7 lbs leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat
2 T olive oil
2 T chopped fresh rosemary
lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 c white wine
salt, to taste
fresh rosemary sprigs
fresh parsley

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Place lamb, fat side up, in large roasting pan. and sprinkle with salt.
  3. Mix oil, chopped rosemary, lemon juice and garlic in bowl, then rub all over lamb.
  4. Roast lamb until thermometer inserted into thickest part reaches 130°F for medium-rare, or 20 minutes/pound, basting occasionally with pan juices. Transfer to platter. Cover loosely with foil and let stand for 15 minutes.
  5. Remove some of the fat from the roasting pan with a spoon; add 1/4 cup water to pan and any lamb juices from the platter. Place on top of the stove on medium heat and bring to boil, scraping up browned bits on bottom of pan. Season with salt.
  6. Cut lamb into thin slices on the platter and pour pan juices overt them. Garnish with rosemary sprigs or fresh parsley.

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