Easter menu: how to celebrate it with traditional Sicilian recipes
When April arrives we are all a little happier. The most beautiful season arrives, we get closer to summer, but most importantly we get to eat Easter eggs! Come on, tell the truth, you also wait for April for chocolate eggs.
We Sicilians are happy for another reason: Easter lunch is approaching and in Sicily it’s a bit like Christmas. Tradition, joyful atmosphere and good food on the table, which does not only mean binge eating but also sharing a nice moment with family or friends.
The Easter menu in Sicily is a hymn to tradition. It celebrates the end of Lent, bringing to the table many typical dishes.
Sicilian Easter recipes are a mix of flavors and fragrances, and there is something for every taste. Rich appetizers, meat or vegetable dishes and sumptuous and delicious desserts are consumed at the same time.
From province to province, the Easter Menu changes and transforms, each place has its own special gastronomic tradition. But let’s not waste any more time, here are the dishes that should not be missing from the Easter Menu in Sicily!
Easter menu: how to prepare for the big lunch
Easter is just around the corner and also this year we have to do this last big binge of the season before going into fixation with the costume test.
As we said, from country to country, the tables are set with different dishes, delicious and tasty. From the best known traditional dishes, in short, the great classics, to revisited dishes that satisfy any palate.
From appetizers to desserts, from western to eastern Sicily, get ready to take notes to enjoy a truly amazing Easter lunch!
For example, in Ragusa and its surroundings for Easter are prepared lamb meat, breaded, lamb aggrassato, with a side dish of seasonal artichokes and other vegetables and torta pasqualina as dessert.
Also in Palermo lamb is one of the main ingredients of Easter lunch, together with falsomagro or bruciuluni and the inevitable cassata or ‘u pupu cu l’ova.
In Messina, however, on the table there are delicious dishes such as pasta ‘ncaciata or ‘ncasciata, u’ sciusceddu pasquale and, dulcis in fundo, a cuddura cu l’ova.
Is your mouth watering? Well, then let’s see now some of the best typical Sicilian recipes to organize a mouth-watering Easter lunch.
The sciusceddu of Messina
Let’s start from Messina this time, to discover a traditional dish not very common in the rest of Sicily: sciusceddu. The sciusceddu messinese, from the dialect “sciusciare” (literally “to blow“), is a unique and very substantial dish of ancient origins.
It is believed that the idea of making such a rich dish was born by some nuns of Messina who, after fasting during Lent, decided to make something nutritious and regenerating.
This dish consists of meatballs dipped in hot broth and covered with a layer of ricotta cheese, eggs and pecorino cheese. In short, a dish for strong palates, especially if accompanied by other dishes of the rich Easter menu!
Lamb meat in its many forms
Despite lamb is one of the traditional dishes of Sicilian gastronomical culture and it is the symbol of Easter in many regions of Italy, many have decided to renounce to it for ethical reasons.
However it remains an appreciated tradition the one of lamb meat for Easter in Sicily, which becomes the protagonist of different declinations of typical dishes: from lamb meat in sauce with potatoes to ‘mpanate or Sicilian scacciate stuffed with lamb meat and grassato.
Falsomagro
Falsomagro is one of the most famous specialties of Sicilian cooking, especially during Easter time. It is made of a slice of beef (or minced) stuffed with minced beef, mortadella or bacon, lard, hard-boiled eggs and caciocavallo cheese cooked with tomato sauce, peas, carrots and parmesan cheese.
The filling may vary according to the place where it is prepared, but it is a typical dish of the province of Palermo. Needless to say, but it is good to serve it as a single dish if you want to stay on track.
Pasta with artichokes
It is precisely at this time of year that artichokes become one of the main ingredients of the Easter Menu.
Battered and fried or roasted, they can be served as a side dish to the main dishes or become a delicious main course, such as stuffed artichokes with anchovies and pecorino cheese.
A good and tasty dish that satisfies everyone. Even those who do not eat meat!
Taganu of Aragona
Originating from the city of Aragona, in the province of Agrigento, “taganu” is a very tasty and elaborate pasta dish (well, yes, a bit like all the others).
This dish takes its name from the pan in which it is cooked, which in Sicilian dialect is called “taganu” or “tianu“.
Like many dishes of Sicilian cooking, it was born from the need to use leftover food and scraps of meat and cheese which would otherwise be thrown away. According to tradition, it was invented by a local woman who decided to place all the ingredients she had available in an earthenware terrine and to cook them.
The pasta, usually rigatoni, is seasoned with minced beef or pork, broth, caciocavallo cheese, tuma cheese and breadcrumbs.
Obviously, there are no rules about the ingredients. What matters is to arrange them in many layers and create a real timbale which is slowly cooked in the oven.
Pasta ‘ncaciata or ‘ncasciata
Another typical pasta dish of Sicilian tradition, especially prepared during Easter time, is pasta ‘ncaciata or ‘ncasciata.
An excellent alternative to the Aragonese taganu but always rich and tasty. Pasta ‘ncaciata or ‘ncasciata is typical of the territory of Messina and it is based on meat. It is a classic recipe which, in other periods of the year, becomes a unique dish because of its abundance of ingredients.
Its name derives from the way it is cooked, the pasta is put in a casserole and cooked in the oven or barbecued. It is a dish which is very reminiscent of the classic pasta timbale baked in the oven or the traditional anelletti pasta al forno. The ingredients are macaroni with meat sauce, boiled eggs, salami or cooked ham, caciocavallo cheese, fried eggplant, peas and bread crumbs.
A real treat that will make adults and children happy!
Pupu cu l’ovu and Cuddura cu l’ova
But let’s move on to desserts, because the Easter Menu cannot be considered finished if dessert does not arrive on the table.
Beloved and become a symbol of Sicilian pastry tradition are Pupi cu l’ova or Cuddura cu l’ova. These are very particular Sicilian cookies made of short pastry, covered with sugar icing and colored confettini. They also contain a surprise! A hard-boiled egg “set” right inside that emerges on the surface.
In Palermo, the name of this dish is Pupu cu l’ovu, while in the area of Catania it is called “cuddura“. These are certainly the most known names, but this sweet is also prepared in Trapani, with the name of “campanaru” and in the area of Ragusa with the name of “palummedda“.
The difference between the various Sicilian desserts is just in the shape. In fact, they are real works of art, modeled in order to give life to various shapes such as the Easter dove or the woven basket, a bell or a simple circular shape.
In all cases, the ingredients are simple and of a poor nature: flour, sugar, lard, milk and lemon peel. And remember, the egg is not to be missed!
Sicilian Cassata
Did someone say party? Well, then you can’t miss the queen of Sicilian desserts: the cassata!
Actually, you should know that although it is omnipresent in the life of Sicilians and has become the symbol of Sicilian pastry in the world, the Sicilian cassata was born precisely to be eaten during the Easter period.
It was born to celebrate Easter after the Lenten sacrifices, with colorful details and sumptuous shapes. The ingredients, probably, you already know them: sweet sheep ricotta cheese, almond paste, classic sponge cake wet with Marsala or rum and candied fruit decorations.
Easter Sheep or Lamb
And if we all know cassata, maybe less known is the dessert par excellence of Easter Menu: the pecorella or Easter lamb.
This is a very famous dessert in Sicily which, according to the territory where it is prepared, is made with different ingredients. For example, in Favara and in the area of Agrigento, Easter Sheep has a filling made of pistachio, whereas in other parts of Sicily the classic almond filling is used.
This sweet is modeled, like the Pupu cu l’ova, to give the classic shape of the sheep and then decorated with chocolate drops and sugar confetti.
A symbol of purity, but above all of peace and prosperity, which in this particular historical period becomes a wish shared all over the world.
We hope you enjoyed this Easter Menu and if you have other recipes to share with us, do it in the comments!
Beautiful recipes, grazie. Sono prima generazione Canadese pero Siciliano nel cuore. Buona Pasqua.