easter

Torta Pasqualina (Ligurian Easter pie)

Tags: baking, easter, eggs, Liguria, recipes, vegetables
March 17, 2015
19 Comments

Easter is just around the corner, believe it or not. I love the work that goes into Easter traditions — pies that take days to make, like the Neapolitan pastiera and the abundant use of spring eggs like in Tuscan Easter schiacciata. This torta pasqualina or Easter pie (pasqua means ‘Easter’ in Italian), made with fine layers of dough and filled with chard, eggs and ricotta, is no exception.

Tags: baking, bread, easter, florence, recipes, traditional
September 4, 2012
18 Comments

These lovely little buns with a delightfully sticky top, fragrant with fresh rosemary and studded with sweet, zibibbo raisins, have always been a little indulgence of mine. Often written also as pandiramerino (which looks like you’re saying it so fast that you don’t even need to take a breath), pan di Ramerino, means literally “rosemary bread” (rosemary is actually rosmarino in Italian but the Tuscans hold on charmingly to their own dialect word, ramerino, with this old-school pastry).

Tags: baking, dessert, easter, holidays, nostalgia, recipes, spring, traditional, tuscany
April 3, 2012
26 Comments

“Variety is the spice of life. Italy has infinite variety and infinite spice.” Professor Mario Pei in 1950 was right on the money when he wrote this in reference to Italy’s strikingly diverse regions and cuisines. Not only are Italian regions so different that language, food, habits, rituals and culture change from border to border, but – in a smaller and no less distinct way – this happens even from town to town within a region.

Tags: baking, dessert, easter, holidays, italy, recipes, spring, traditional
April 18, 2011
47 Comments

The first time I came across Naples’ famous Easter dessert, pastiera, I wasn’t entirely sure how to react — except that I knew I needed to have more. It’s a rather unusual, unique pie made with an array of ingredients that seem almost to have accidentally ended up together but are each in their own symbolic and traditional to Naples. And as a whole, they create an absolutely delicious concoction.

Torta Pasqualina (Ligurian Easter pie)

Pan di Ramerino – Rosemary & raisin buns

Tuscan Easter: Schiacciata di Pasqua

Pastiera Napoletana