An Eastern Easter Feast

When my family converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1996, we inherited a colossal calendar conflict. Because the Orthodox Christian church (best known in the Western world as "Greek Orthodoxy," though it stretches from India to Egypt), uses the Julian calendar to calculate the date of Easter each year, the holiday often falls on a different Sunday. 

This means that we sometimes celebrate Easter (we call it "Pascha," after the Jewish Pesach), a week after our Protestant and Catholic friends, and sometimes many weeks later. But in 2011, for the second year in a row, Easter and Pascha are on the same day. 

Besides learning a lot more about the Julian and Gregorian calendars, we also inherited a lot of wonderful culinary traditions. During Lent we abstain from all animal products, which would be very difficult to do without Middle Eastern foods like hummus, falafel and roasted cauliflower. But when the fast is over, we celebrate with foods from those traditions, too, and over the years I’ve collected some fascinating recipes.

The Slavic tradition calls for a Pascha basket full of all the foods we haven’t tasted in nearly two months: sausage, cheese, eggs and ham.  Each item has a specific spiritual significance. One of the most decadent offerings is pashka, a soft, sweet cheese spread that tastes a lot like gourmet cheesecake.  There are about as many varieties as there are Russians, as you might imagine, but this one is my favorite because of its simplicity and ease of preparation:

Russian Pashka Cheese

Using a stand mixer, beat the following ingredients together in order, one at a time:

• 4 oz. butter, softened
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 lbs. ricotta cheese
• 4 hard-boiled egg yolks, crumbled finely
• 1 C powdered sugar
• 1 t each vanilla, orange and almond extract
• ¼ t salt
• 1 T grated orange zest
• ¾ C ground almonds

The traditional way to serve pashka is to line a mold (cup or bowl) with cheesecloth, spoon in the pashka, allow it to chill thoroughly, and then invert the mold onto a plate.  However, this version is thick enough that you can simply chill it in a decorative bowl.  Regardless, you must decorate it: I use dried fruits and nuts to make designs, usually crosses or geometric patterns, on the top.  They don’t ever last long (once you taste it, you’ll see why!) but they are pretty, especially to give as gifts.

Middle Eastern countries don’t have the same tradition of baskets, but they do make a wonderful rich, eggy bread that goes perfectly with pashka.  The Greeks call it "tsoureki," the Armenians "choereg."  I’d wanted to bake choereg for years, ever since I read the gripping first chapter of Peter Balakian’s memoir, but it wasn’t until a trip to Penzey’s Spices last year that I found the missing ingredient: mahleb, the dried pits of sour cherries.  Grinding them is easy; clean out your coffee grinder, grind up (and discard) a handful of white rice, and then grind the mahleb – it will be perfectly pulverized with no residual coffee flavor.  If you like the taste of anise, add some anise and / or fennel seeds to the mahleb before grinding; they compliment it well and contribute a nice depth of flavor.

Armenian Choereg (adapted from The Reckless Chef)

Sprinkle 1 package dry yeast over 2 tablespoons of water.  Add a pinch of sugar and let stand a few minutes until foamy (this is called "proofing;" it ensures the yeast is active.  If it’s not, try again with different yeast.)

Melt 12 ounces butter in 2 cups of milk until the mixture is lukewarm.

Beat together 5 eggs, ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ground spices to taste (maybe 2 tablespoons combined.)  Add the milk / butter mixture and the proofed yeast.

Sift 8 cups flour into a bowl.  Make a well in the middle, pour in the liquid ingredients, and knead until combined.  If it’s too sticky, add up to a cup more flour, a little at a time.  When the dough is smooth and workable, but doesn’t stick to your hands any longer, stop kneading, cover and let it rise in a warm place for about 3 hours.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, divide into 6 pieces and let them rest, covered, for half an hour.  Then decide how many loaves you want: if you prefer large loaves, as shown in the photo, divide each of the 6 pieces into three smaller pieces and braid them.  For miniature versions, each of the 6 pieces can be further divided into 6 pieces for a total of 36 single-serving loaves.  (You can also twist ropes or leave the pieces in round balls, but the braids make it easy to eat them one bite at a time.) Either way, you’ll have a lot of bread to share with your friends!

Once the choereg is shaped, arrange the pieces on baking sheets and allow to rise 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375; brush each loaf with egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake 15-30 minutes, depending on the size of the loaves, until lightly browned.