Celebrations key on ritual foods

March 12, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Well, we’ve made it through another long hard Ohio winter. Easter is right around the corner, and we look forward to getting together once again with family and friends. Easter dinners are being planned, each with a different twist. I’ll take a little bit of everything, thank you very much.

Of course, ham has always been an Easter favorite. Many different nationalities and religions carry on the tradition.

According to Luba Horsky, administrative coordinator for Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church, both ham and kovbasa are a traditional part of a Ukrainian Easter dinner.

The most lovely part of the tradition though, is the Easter basket which is filled with ritual foods, covered with a rushnyk (embroidered cloth), and taken to church to be blessed. The basket usually contains hard boiled eggs, kovbasa, baked cheese, paska bread, babka bread, butter and horseradish-beet relish.

After being blessed, these foods are taken home to be served for Easter dinner along with appetizers, ham or roast pork, vegetable salads, sweet cheesecake, tortes and other pastries.

Stephanie Tarajcak, director of religious education at St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Struthers, said that when her mother came from Europe, she brought a basket which her family had used to carry the ritual foods to church every Easter. The basket still has its hand embroidered linens used to cover the food until it is blessed.

This basket, which is approximately 100 years old, is still used, now by Tarajcak, to carry Easter dinner to church for a blessing and then to the nursing home where her mother resides, and there they share their Easter meal.

Tarakcak, whose father died five years ago, still remembers how her father was always anxious for the blessed food to return home so that he could have a piece of ham and kolache. “He loved chocolate too,” she said. Because of this, she has started a tradition all her own. Every Easter, when she visits her father’s grave, she leave one chocolate egg on his grave.

For Roman Catholics, lamb and veal are also a tradition for many families because they were used during Passover. Butter and eggs symbolize new life. Ham is a symbol of spring and some people cook it with wine to symbolize the Eucharist. Easter bread is decorated with a candle to symbolize Christ, the light of the world.

When food is brought in for blessing, it is blessed with holy water and incense. The concluding rite is, “May Christ nourish you and strengthen you in your faith and love.”

Father Tom Constantine of St. John Greek Orthodox Church on Glenwood in Boardman, explained that lamb is a very traditional Easter food. It is often cooked on a spit and served with roast vegetables.

Following the resurrection service, the congregation shares a meal with lamb and a soup traditionally made from the innards. Although he said that it is quite tasty, many parishioners opt for a similar soup made, instead, with chicken.

Because no meat or dairy is eaten during the 40 days of fasting, the lamb, which is both a delicacy and a staple, is eaten in celebration of the end of the fast. This is also true with eggs, which are dyed red to symbolize the blood of Christ. Over 200 eggs are boiled and dyed to be passed out at the resurrection service.

The priest will announce, “Christ is risen,” and in response, the congregation says, “Truly he is risen.” It is then that the eggs are cracked, one against another.

Easter dinners represent the end of a long period of fasting. Easter eggs, although they predate Christianity, are in some religions, not to be eaten during Lent and so have become a special treat when Easter finally arrives.

Paska

3‚Ñ4 cup lukewarm water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 yeast cakes (fresh, not dry yeast)

1 cup flour

12 egg yolks (do not substitute with whole eggs)

1‚Ñ4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1‚Ñ2 cup melted butter, cooled

1 teaspoon orange or lemon rind

3 cups flour, unsifted

Mix water, sugar and yeast cakes in a small bowl until dissolved. Add flour, stir until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place until bubbly, about one hour.

In large bowl, mix together the egg yolks, sugar, salt, cooled melted butter and orange or lemon rind. Add the yeast mixture prepared above; beat well. Gradually add the 3 cups of unsifted flour. This dough will be very soft. Knead or mix well, scraping the sides of the bowl. Brush dough with some melted butter or oil. Place in a buttered or oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and set in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, approximately 2 hour.

To shape, knead lightly on a floured board, shape to fit bottom of cans. Fill well greased cans 1‚Ñ2 full. Place cans again in a warm place to rise until double. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes. For a golden gloss, brush the tops of the loaves with an egg wash – an egg yolk beaten with a teaspoon of water – do this about 10 minutes before the end of the baking time.

Handle the paska very gently when removing from the oven. Remove loaves from cans and place them on oven racks covered with dish towels to cool. Place a smooth ball of dough in pan. Roll out a strip of dough into an even rope. Cut the ends with a sharp knife and roll toward the center. Place the cross on the center of the dough. Use toothpicks to hold in place, if necessary.

Recipe courtesy of Luba Horsky.

Babka

1 fresh yeast cake

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1‚Ñ2 cup milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

1 cup butter

2 tablespoons sugar

2 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1 tablespoon vanilla

3‚Ñ4 cup milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

31‚Ñ2 cups flour

1‚Ñ3 cup raisins

Dissolve the yeast cake, sugar, and flour in lukewarm milk; mix until thoroughly blended. Cover and let stand in a warm place until mixture rises.

Confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling on top

Cream butter and sugar, then add yolks and egg, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Add yeast mixture and lukewarm milk, mixing well. Gradually add flour, kneading by hand until dough does not stick to your hand. When kneading is almost done, mix in the raisins.

Place dough in a buttered bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down and shape to fit in very well greased pans (2-lb. coffee cans work well). Place in a warm area, cover and allow to rise until double in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, then at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. When done, remove from pans very carefully as babka is very tender. Place on soft toweling to cool, turning often so that the cylinder shape will not be lost. Dust top lightly with confections’ sugar while still warm.

Recipe courtesy of Luba Horsky.

Easter Syrnyk

24 ounces dry curd cottage cheese

2 eggs

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

1 beaten egg yolk

Place cottage cheese in a fine sieve and press out the water. Put cheese and eggs in a blender or food processor and process until very smooth and free of any lumps. Stir in sugar and lemon zest.

Spread the mixture in a greased 8 to 10 inch pie plate. It’s customary to stencil a small cross in the center. Either cut a cross out of aluminum foil or insert a greased cross shaped cookie cutter into the center of the pie. Brush the egg yolk around the cross, covering the pied surface surrounding the cross with the egg wash.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool. Carefully remove the cross, taking care not to pull away any of the yellow surface.

Serves 10 to 12 as a side dish, more as an appetizer.

Recipe courtesy of Luba Horsky.

Baked Ham with Honey Mustard Sauce

7 pounds semi-boneless ham

1‚Ñ2 cup Dijon mustard

1‚Ñ2 cup honey

1 whole clove

1 cup water

Maraschino cherry halves

Score top of a canned or semi-boneless ham diagonally with a sharp knife. Brush with sauce, mixing mustard and honey. Insert whole cloves decoratively on top of ham. Bake several hours at 350 degrees or until done. Insert maraschino cherry halves and ring of endive or leaf lettuce around ham. Brush ham with sauce while baking.

Recipe contributed by Jean Csiszer to the Flavors of the Seventh Ward: Blockwatches and Citizens Coalition, published in 1997.

Veal Cutlets or Steak

2 pounds veal cutlets (rub flour into veal)

1 large onion, chopped

2 cups chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons butter

1 bottle stuffed olives and juice

Brown onion in skillet with butter. Brown veal thoroughly (season to taste with salt and pepper). Add tomatoes, one small bottle of stuffed olives, juice and all. Cover skillet and place in oven for one and 1‚Ñ2 hours at 325 degrees.

Recipe contributed by Mrs. Julius Olchon to “Recipes Old and New: Women’s Association, The Presbyterian Church, Poland, Ohio.”

Mint-Broiled Lamb Chops

1 clove garlic (minced)

1‚Ñ4 cup mint jelly

1‚Ñ2 teaspoon sea salt

8 thick rib lamb chops, 1‚Ñ2 inch thick (about 2 pounds total)

Preheat broiler. Combine all ingredients except lamb chops in small microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and cook at full power until jelly melts, about 20 seconds.

Place chops on aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and broil 2 inches from heat source for 3 minutes. Turn chops and broil for an additional 3 minutes (cooking time for medium-rare). Place chops on a warm serving platter.