Traditional Sicilian Easter lunch : lovers of Sicilian cuisine will surely wonder what this Easter menu reserves for the lucky guests who have the pleasure of being able to taste it. As it is obvious to deduce, as it happens on the occasion of all holidays - commanded and not - in Sicily one expects nothing more than to sit down at a table in the company of one's loved ones to consume together a long (and interminable) series of delicacies. And the Easter menu is certainly no exception. Let's see which are the most delicious Sicilian Easter recipes to celebrate the anniversary in the best way.
Sicilian Easter lunch, all the traditions
The Sicilian traditions linked to Easter do not differ much from the national ones. And this is how eggs and meat are the great protagonists of Easter and Easter Monday in Sicily . The former find space in cuddure and pupi cu l'ova , both in the sweet version (with a biscuit base) and in the savory version, in which they are set in bread .
Obviously, the Easter traditions vary from province to province, but what is missing on almost no table are kid and lamb . Marzipan is no different either: it is found to give life to the classic sweet little lambs , but also inside the cassata , the Easter cake par excellence which, fortunately for its admirers, can be enjoyed all year round.
Sicilian Easter menu
There are those who would give anything to sit down and enjoy an Easter lunch made of typical Sicilian recipes , those of their grandmother . How to blame him? In short: who, faced with the rich dishes of Sicilian cuisine that celebrate the end of Lent, would be able to resist? This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about the subject by diving into the Sicilian gastronomic culture. Ready?
Sicilian Easter appetizers
A Sicilian Easter menu worthy of the best tradition must be rich in courses, starting with the appetizer. More often than not, this is rather rustic and based on pickles and pickles (those prepared during the previous summer, in the best case with vegetables from one's own garden). These are combined with typical cured meats and cheeses , olives and homemade bread. From the latter – which is often the bread we mentioned earlier – the hard-boiled eggs are detached, peeled and enjoyed together with what has just been listed. Typical of the Ragusa area are breadcrumbs , similar to scacce stuffed with lamb (or turkey/chicken and potatoes).
Easter first courses of Sicilian cuisine
The Sicilian Easter first courses can be of two types: macaroni (to avoid misunderstandings, it is a typical pasta format of the island made up of long and thick spaghetti, obviously homemade) with pork sauce , and those cooked baked. Among these, the classic lasagna, cannelloni, baked pasta and pasta 'ncasciata are very popular. In the Palermo area, the timbale of baked anelletti is opted for, while in Agrigento and its province the real protagonist is the pan of Aragon (' U taganu or tianu di Aragona), an evocative name that implies a first course of baked pasta flavored with cinnamon and cooked in a terracotta pan (“ tianu ”, in fact). Lastly, u sciusceddu deserves a mention, a soup of French origin based on eggs, chicken and ricotta that can be tasted in the Messina area.
Typical Sicilian Easter second courses
As for the second courses, tradition dictates lamb and kid . The first one is often made with a sauce or stewed with potatoes (the so-called Aggrassato Lamb ); the second in the oven, still with potatoes. Also meat-based are grandma's meatballs , which are usually never lacking on the table; the sausage and thefalsomagro , a roll of meat stuffed with different ingredients that vary according to personal tastes but which usually include hard-boiled eggs.
Sicilian Easter sweets
Here the choice is vast. We will not dwell on cannoli and classic cassata , which you will certainly know, but the baked cassata deserves a mention, which has little or nothing to do with the traditional one, and which looks like a sort of tart covered with filled shortcrust pastry of ricotta cream (and which many, let's face it, prefer to the glycemic threat that the first represents).
Martoran fruit , sheep ( picureddi ) and almond paste lambs, cassatelle (typical of the Ragusa area), cassatelle di Agira (thin pastry filled with cocoa and toasted almonds), mpanatigghie , cuddure , Lenten biscuits , but also a large variety of handcrafted Colomba , often personalized with the best raw materials that the island offers (such as the pistachio Easter Colomba ) complete the offer.
The Easter lunch in Sicily can only end with the tasting of a liqueur, be it a limoncello or a mandarinetto , the perfect digestives to facilitate the disposal of what has been swallowed in view of the Easter Monday barbecue because yes, it is not over yet… To be continued
