Pasqua

Pasqua is the Christian feast of the Resurrection, which falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, and it closes the fasting of Lent. In the Italian regional tradition it is the principal table of the spring, and the volumes of Slow Food Editore treat it region by region, since the dishes of the day belong to the household and the village before they belong to the nation. Its table rests on the produce of the season: lamb, kid, eggs, fresh cheese, early greens and the enriched breads of the pastoral and farming south and centre.

The table of Pasqua is defined first by what it follows. Lent withdrew meat, and in many households eggs and dairy produce as well, so that the meal of Easter Sunday is one of abundance set against restraint. The regional volumes of Slow Food Editore record the feast as a sequence of preparations made in the days before, with the Sunday meal gathering the family around the dishes that mark the end of abstinence. The character of the day is therefore found less in any single recipe than in the return of meat, eggs and cheese to the table. Lamb and kid stand at the centre of the meal across the Apennine and southern regions, the young animal of the season, cooked by roasting or in a stew, according to local custom. In pastoral country such as Molise, where sheep and goats shape the cooking, the meat of the flock is the natural choice for the feast, and it is prepared with the herbs and the fat the region commands. The details of seasoning and cut differ from valley to valley, and the cook who follows a regional volume should follow its particular usage rather than a general rule. Eggs hold a second place of importance. They appear in the Sunday dishes, in the hard-boiled eggs eaten at the meal or carried to be blessed, and in the savoury and sweet breads and cakes baked for the feast. The enriched doughs of Pasqua, often shaped by hand and in some places set with whole eggs in the crust, differ widely in name and form between regions, and the regional sources record each under its local name. Savoury pies and cakes of cheese and eggs, and sweet preparations of the same ingredients, belong to the same family of dishes. The order of the meal follows the usual Italian progression, with cured meats and eggs among the antipasti, a first course of pasta or broth, the lamb or kid as the main dish with seasonal vegetables, and a sweet to close. Which pasta or broth is served, and whether the first course is dry or in liquid, varies by household and region, and no single order can be asserted for the whole country. What remains constant is the gathering of the family, the length of the table, and the sense that this meal is of a different order from the ordinary Sunday. The day extends beyond the Sunday itself. Easter Monday, Pasquetta, is kept in Italy as a holiday, traditionally given to the open air and to the remains of the feast, so that the cooking of Pasqua is planned to supply both days. The cook who undertakes the feast should therefore treat it as a two-day provision, preparing the breads, pies and cooked meats so that they keep and are good eaten cold.

The flavour of the Pasqua table is that of spring set against the plainness of Lent: young lamb or kid, fresh eggs, new cheese and the first greens of the season. Rich and mild tastes are balanced by bitter or herbal vegetables, and the sweet breads and cakes close the meal with the flavours of egg, butter or oil and local aromatics, which differ from region to region.