Easter breakfast is a true Sunday brunch. Eggs, artichokes, Easter pizza ricresciuta with corallina salami or lamb, the traditional breakfast begins upon waking and ends with a dive onto the sofa, then starts again and continues indefinitely. Now, let the Easter gastronomic marathon in Lazio begin!
Symbol of life and fertility, the egg is the emblem of Easter and spring. Already centuries ago the Persians believed that the hen’s egg was a good omen for the renewal of Nature. In Christian tradition, on Good Friday children used to offer blessed eggs, the first food that broke the fast.
Let us start with the boiled egg. It is easy to say, but many of you do not cook it properly. For a perfect result, take the egg out of the fridge in advance and immerse it in a saucepan full of cold water. Let it boil for 7-8 minutes, and then let it cool immediately in cold water. There you go!
Painted or decorated, we can savour chocolate, sugar-coated eggs or the original bewitched ones, whose top secret recipe is handed down by the cloistered Benedictine nuns in Veroli.
frittata with artichokes
The frittata must not be missing on the Easter table, strictly prepared with spring ingredients, such as the artichoke and the asparagus. Fried, stuffed, alla Giudia or Roman style artichoke, the Carciofo Romanesco del Lazio PGI, can be prepared in plenty of recipes, especially in Ladispoli, Sezze or Rome, where mint is added.
frittata with asparagus
In Tuscia, we can taste the Canino IGP Green Asparagus with its typical bright green colour. During the Asparagus Festival, at the end of April, a record frittata with over 1,500 eggs and almost 120 kg of asparagus is cooked in a two-metre diameter pan, an experience not to be missed!
roman corallina
The Corallina Romana is the true protagonist of the Easter Season in Lazio, cut into slices almost a finger thick. It is a traditional agri-food product from Lazio, whose curious name comes from the casing used to stuff the meat, obtained from the small intestine, or coral. The tasty flavour of Corallina is enriched by pepper, garlic (Rome and Rieti) or fennel (Frosinone).
pork loin
The pork loin is another very tasty traditional agri-food product from Lazio. In the Rieti area of the Monti della Laga, it is enriched with black pepper, while in Ciociaria and Tuscia Viterbese it is more spicy. This speciality is accompanied by the red wine Cesanese del Piglio DOCG in Frosinone and by the white wine in the Reatino and Viterbese areas. It is said that in Tuscia, since the beginning of the 1900s, pork loin has been eaten during Easter Breakfast and on the traditional Easter Monday picnic together with the Easter Pizza, which may be both sweet and savoury or with cheese.
Someone said Easter Pizza? Sweet or salty, Its religious symbolism is related to wheat and therefore to the Eucharist, the body of the risen Christ. Similar in shape, they have different ingredients in each Lazio province but a long preparation in common.
Let us explore the countless recipes from Lazio.
Easter cheese pizza
Typical of Central Italy, the Cheese Pizza is enjoyed at Easter in Upper Lazio. It is a sort of leavened bread with parmesan, pecorino and emmental, and has an excellent peppery aftertaste.
The Easter Pizza from Civitavecchia combines sugar, eggs, cinnamon, chocolate, special old reserve wine, Ricotta, flour, star anise, and, according to an old recipe, seed oil, butter, a few drops of alkermes and sweet vanilla.
The moment in which the Easter Pizza is put on the table is called the time of the “Sciorta della Gloria”. Civitavecchia, in the province of Rome, reigns supreme in the preparation of this recipe, so much that a local poet reveals in rhyme the ingredient that distinguishes it from other Lazio pizzas, the Ricotta.
Easter palombella
Palombella is a typical Easter dessert from the province of Rieti. It is a doughnut sprinkled with granulated sugar with a hard-boiled egg in the centre. In ancient times, on Holy Saturday, the Palombella was brought to church and blessed, before being eaten during the Easter breakfast. The traditional preparation still takes the whole day today, as the doughnut must rise twice within an interval of several hours.
viscotta sanfeliciana
Tórtolo from Sezze and Terracina is a round loaf of bread to be stuffed with the Roman Corallina. A similar delicacy is the Viscotta of San Felice Circeo, a sweet Easter bread.
Easter pigna
The Pigna Ciociara is similar to the Viscotta except for its pointed shape, hence the name Pigna, which means pinecone. It is a delicious, scented cake with raisins, candied fruit, vanilla, cinnamon, lemon and sweet liqueur.
lamb coratella with artichokes
Abbacchio (suckling lamb) is a must in the Easter cuisine of Rome, Lazio and Italy. The Abbacchio Romano IGP is raised and slaughtered in Lazio only. Pluck lamb with artichokes is an ancient dish, typical of the Roman-Jewish cuisine. It is prepared with poor ingredients: liver, lungs and heart, parts of the so-called fifth quarter. Once the fifth quarter included offal left to the people, a leftover from the prized quarters intended for Roman aristocrats. To get the best results you have to cook the ingredients one at a time according to their hardness degree.
Happy Easter everyone!