Divining the meaning behind foods associated with holiday

There are several reasons we associate Easter with certain foods, and they may vary, depending on religious beliefs.

Lamb is probably the food with the clearest Christian link to the holiday, said Elizabeth White Nelson, associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“It’s definitely a religious symbol equated with Christ,” she said. “There are strong connections.”

“The reason is tied to our belief that Christ is the sacrificial lamb who paid for the sins of the world through his crucifixion death and resurrection from the dead,” said the Rev. John Hondros of St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church.

For other Easter symbols, things get a little more divergent. The Easter egg, for example.

“The eggs are part of the pagan overlap,” Nelson said. “All of these Christian holidays incorporate pagan ritual.” Eggs were a symbol of fertility.

For Hondros, the egg connection is more closely tied to the story of the Crucifixion. It started with Mary Magdalene, he said, who found the empty tomb. When she reported the Resurrection to the Emperor Tiberius, she used an egg as a symbol of it, he said.

And for those who follow the Greek Orthodox faith, the connecting thread doesn’t end there. When Mary Magdalene told Tiberius that Christ had been resurrected, Hondros said, the emperor replied that that was as impossible as the egg in her hand turning red — which it did.

“The red obviously symbolized the blood of Christ,” Hondros said.

The red Easter egg lives on today in Greek Orthodox churches. At St. John, Hondros said, at the end of the Easter midnight Resurrection liturgy, the priest blesses a huge basket of cooked and colored eggs, which are handed out to the congregation. They can take them home and crack them with family members or at church with their friends — “probably about 2 in the morning,” he said — tip to tip and bottom to bottom, while intoning, “Christos anesti” (Christ is risen); “Alithos anesti” (truly, he is risen).

Hondros said the eggs also symbolize the breaking of the fast. The Orthodox fast from all meat and dairy products for more than 50 days, beginning with the first day of Lent.

The end of the fast is symbolized in other Easter-season foods. In Italian cuisine, which also incorporates lamb and eggs in many of its Easter celebrations, many people celebrate Easter eve with Pizza Pasqua or Easter pizza, which incorporates meat, cheese and eggs — and may be the forerunner of the deep-dish Chicago pizza, said John Arena, co-owner of Metro Pizza.

Arena said the rising of yeast doughs also serves as a metaphor for the Resurrection. La colomba, a sweet bread that originated in Lombardia, is

shaped like a dove in recognition of the holy spirit, he said.

Nelson pointed out that Easter culinary tradition also includes cakes baked in the shape of lambs.

“You don’t just eat the lamb as meat, but you eat the symbolism or representation of lamb,” she said.

OK, but how did eggs become chocolate? That, she said, is believed to have happened in the Pennsylvania Dutch region.

“That’s where the Hershey candy company is,” she said. “Among other things, commercializing the holiday was one of the things that kind of happened at the end of the 19th century.”

Commercialization of a holiday? Surely that’s a 20th-century phenomenon, no?

No.

“There was a big upsurge of interest in marketing candy to children in the 19th century,” Nelson said. “Local confectioners, and companies like Cadbury in England and in this country, Hershey, started actively thinking of children as consumers.”

Easter baskets may have grown out of a Polish tradition of taking a basket of food to church to be blessed, she added.

But there is, she noted, no explanation for Peeps.

And there’s at least one food that specifically wasn’t tied to Easter. Arena said the Sicilian cassata is so elaborate that it was at one time banned during Holy Week, so the nuns wouldn’t forget their other obligations.

Following are a few recipes that are a little easier than that.

DYED EASTER EGGS

2 dozen eggs, rinsed

4 cups water

½ cup white vinegar

3 tablespoons red food coloring

1 drop blue food coloring

Vegetable oil

In an 8-quart pot, combine water, vinegar and food colorings and stir to blend. With a large spoon, carefully place eggs in pot in a single layer, one dozen at a time. Add more water, if needed, to cover eggs. Bring liquid to a simmer over moderate heat and simmer 15 minutes.

Remove eggs with a slotted spoon to a pan or platter lined with paper towels. When completely cooled, coat each egg with oil and refrigerate.

— Recipe from “Culinary Treasures” by the Ladies Philoptochos Society, Annunciation of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church

EASTER BREAD

(TSOUREKIA)

1½ envelopes dry yeast

1½ cups warm milk

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon mahlepi, ground (see note)

1 teaspoon salt

6 eggs, slightly beaten

2 to 2½ pounds all-purpose flour (about 7½ cups)

1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water for glaze

Sesame seeds

Dissolve the yeast in warm milk. Add sugar, butter, mahlepi, salt, eggs and half of the flour. Mix to make a smooth batter. Add remaining flour and knead to form a soft but not sticky dough. Cover with cloth; place in a draft-free area and allow to rise 2 to 3 hours.

Divide dough into orange-sized balls. Roll each ball into a long strip. Using three strips each, form braids and place in well-greased loaf pans. Allow to rise until each braid has doubled in size, two to three hours. Brush tops of braids with glaze and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in center of a 350-degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes.

Makes 2 large or 3 small loaves.

Note: Mahlepi is sold in Greek specialty markets.

— Recipe from “Culinary Treasures” by the Ladies Philoptochos Society, Annunciation of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church

ITALIAN EASTER PIE

For crust:

4¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons nonfat dry milk

¼ cup olive oil

1½ cups lukewarm water

For filling:

1 dozen large eggs

1 pound good-quality, full-flavored ham

2 cups ricotta cheese, part-skim preferred

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, lightly packed

Salt, coarsely ground black pepper, and chopped fresh parsley, to taste

For glaze:

1 large egg

2 tablespoons sugar

Mix and knead together all of the dough ingredients — by hand, in a mixer, or in a bread machine — until you’ve made a soft, smooth dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow it to rise for 1 to 2 hours, until it’s quite puffy, nearly doubled in bulk.

While the dough is rising, make the filling. Hard-boil and peel 6 of the eggs. Place the hard-boiled eggs, ham (cut in chunks), and fresh parsley (½ cup or so) in the work bowl of a food processor. Process until chopped and combined. Don’t overprocess; the ham and eggs should still be a bit chunky. You can also simply dice the eggs and ham, and chop the parsley, if you don’t have a food processor.

Combine the ham, boiled eggs, and parsley with the raw eggs, ricotta and Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and about ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper.

Punch down the dough and divide into four pieces. Roll two pieces into rounds about 13 inches in diameter and place them on lightly greased or parchment-lined 12-inch pizza pans. (Or roll into ovals about 10 by 14 inches and place on two lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets.) If you’re using parchment, it’s easiest to roll right on the parchment, then lift the crusts, parchment and all, onto the pans.

Divide the filling evenly between the two crusts, covering them to within 1 inch of their edges. You’ll use a generous 3 cups for each crust.

Roll out the other two pieces of dough and place them atop the filled crusts, gently stretching them, if necessary, to cover the filling. Seal the crust edges by rolling the bottom crust up over the top and pinching together.

Using a sharp knife or pair of scissors, cut a 1-inch hole in the center of each top crust to allow steam to escape.

Make glaze by whisking together the egg and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and paint each crust with some of the mixture.

Allow the pies to rest, uncovered, while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees, about 15 minutes. Bake for about 25 minutes, until deep, golden brown. Remove from the oven and slide off pans and onto a rack to cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Makes 2 large pies.

— Recipe from King Arthur Flour

EASTER LAMB ROASTED WITH

ARTICHOKES AND POTATOES

3 to 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 3- to 4-pound leg of spring lamb, bone in, trimmed of fat

2 pounds all-purpose potatoes, such as Yukon Gold, peeled and quartered

Juice of 4 to 6 lemons, to taste

12 artichokes, cleaned

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a mortar, crush together the leaves from one rosemary sprig, a scant teaspoon salt, a little pepper, and about 1/3 cup of the olive oil. Rub this mixture all over the lamb, then season generously with additional salt and pepper.

Place the lamb on a rack in a large roasting pan. Place the potatoes in the pan, toss with the remaining olive oil, add a cup of water and season generously with salt and pepper. Add the remaining rosemary sprigs and half the lemon juice and mix in. Roast for about 30 minutes, tossing the potatoes occasionally and basting the lamb with the pan juices. Add the cleaned artichokes and a little more of the lemon juice and toss with the potatoes in the pan. Continue roasting, basting every 10 to 15 minutes, until the lamb is cooked to the desired doneness, 30 to 40 minutes. Season with additional salt, pepper or lemon juice. Remove from the oven, let the meat stand for 20 minutes to settle the juices, then carve.

Serves 4 to 6.

— Recipe from “The Glorious Foods of Greece” by Diane Kochilas

SUGARED CHOCOLATE EGGS

About 12 milk chocolate eggs, roughly 1/3 ounce each

½ cup white chocolate chips

1 teaspoon solid shortening (do not use butter, margarine, spread or oil)

Granulated sugar

Liquid food color

1 teaspoon pasteurized dried egg whites (meringue powder)

Unwrap chocolate candies. Line tray with wax paper.

Place white chips and shortening in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at medium (50 percent) for 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at medium an additional 10 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until chips are just melted when stirred.

Using a fork, dip chocolate candies in melted white chips. (If mixture is too hot the chocolate will start to melt. Cool until chocolate does not begin to melt when dipped.) Tap fork on edge of container to remove excess white coating. (If coating becomes too thick, microwave at medium 10 seconds and stir.) Place on prepared tray. Allow coating to harden.

Meanwhile, tint sugar with food color, if desired. Place sugar into individual small bowl for each color desired. Add several drops liquid food color. Stir until sugar is uniform in color.

With sharp knife, scrape or cut away chocolate “foot” that forms and any bits of hardened coating that are irregular. Lightly buff surface of coated egg with paper towel to smooth out any bumps.

Whisk together meringue powder and 1 tablespoon warm water until light and foamy. Using a small brush, lightly coat the outside of chocolate pieces with meringue mixture. Roll in or sprinkle with sugar; place on prepared tray to dry. Store sugared chocolates in cool, dry place.

— Recipe from Hershey

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at
hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474.