Easter is just around the corner, so all the necessary preparations for this Holy, and very traditional holiday, have to be planned well in advance, to be fully achieved in a timely fashion.

Ukrainians, and many other nationalities, enjoy many very rich traditions associated with Easter celebrations.

You can click on the links below, to learn more about the Ukrainian Easter Traditions.

• Paska Recipe – Ukrainian Traditional Easter Bread Paska
  
• Bakeware suggestions

• Ukrainian Easter Egg decorating technique
• Pysanka – Tradition and Design
• Ukrainian Easter Basket
• Special Foods and Symbolism
• Red Beets Vinaigrette – Burachky

This weekend was Paska Baking time for me and my daughter, as well as my 4 year old granddaughter, who not only loves to watch, she also was a very enthusiastic helper.  We are so blessed to have her in our family.

As a result of about 10 hours of Paska Baking time, we ended up with 9 round Paska loaves, as pictured above ( the small “roll” like loaf, was a left over dough from our decorations, so we decided to bake it for the youngest member of our family, who is only 10 months old).

We doubled our original recipe (in the link above), and implemented some changes to the second batch of dough, just to test the theory passed on to us by our friends.

In the second batch, we replaced 2 cups of regular flour, with 2 cups of CAKE flour, and used only 1/4 cup of melted butter plus 1/4 cup of Canola oil.  We also kneaded the dough for about 30 minutes in the bowl, and skipped the kneading on the floured board.

My oven seems to be baking better at lower temperatures, so I bake my paska for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F, and another 30 minutes at 325 degrees F, rather than the 15 @400, and 30 @350.

Here is a cross-cut section of our paska bread.  As you can see it turned out very light, and fluffy.

The paska with the cake flour was fluffier than the regular recipe, and the one with the mixture of butter and oil crumbled less, than the one with butter only.

Per baking tips from my mom, I always brush the tops of my baked, still slightly warm paska, with melted butter, to give them a nice finish, and to soften the crust.

Since I bake my paska at least a week before Easter, so to keep it nice a fresh, I freeze it until Easter Saturday.

Once the bread is totally cooled off, I wrap it in aluminum foil, place it in a freezer bag, and freeze it.  I also store it in a zip-lock bag after blessing of the basket, to keep it from drying out by Easter Sunday.

In my previous post about the different bakeware for baking paska, I promised that if I find more information about my favorite pans, will share it with you.

I stopped at a local Goodwill store, and to my surprise, I found several similar (brand new) pans, and bought them all @ one dollar each.

Most of them still do not have any manufacturing information on them, however one set was made by KOBE mixing bowls, designed exclusively for JC Penny, made in Indonesia.

Also, some of the flower designs of these bowls, resemble Corningware dinnerware, wouldn’t you agree?

If you still need to bake your Paska, now you have additional tips on the original recipe, and the paska bakeware.

Enjoy your Paska Baking experience.  Please share your pictures and tips.

HAPPY EASTER!

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KHRYSTOS VOSKRES – VOISTYNU VOSKRES !- (in Ukrainian)

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KHRYSTUS ZMARTVYCHVSTAL – PRAVDZIVIE ZMARTVYCHVSTAL! (in Polish)

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KRISTUS ER OPSTANDEN! -  JA HAN ER SANDELIG OPSTANDEN! (in Danish- shared by one of my readers)

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CHRIST IS RISEN – INDEED HE IS RISEN!

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I love the traditions associated with Ukrainian Easter, and especially the Blessing of the Easter Basket, which contains all the food items used at Easter Brunch.

The Easter Basket of special foods (described below) is arranged on Holy Saturday, and taken to church, where a special blessing ceremony with prayers and sprinkling with Holy Water, is performed by the parish priest.  Some churches perform their basket blessing on Easter Sunday, after the Morning Liturgy.

Besides the special foods, the Easter Basket is also decorated with greenery and flowers, as well as colored eggs, and beautiful Pysanky.

Each basket is covered with a hand embroidered cloth cover, with Easter motif of pussy willows and Easter Eggs.

This blessed food may not be consumed until after the morning Resurrection Liturgy on Easter Sunday.

The food in the basket is the only food being consumed at the Easter Brunch, which breaks The Great Lent fasting.

After Easter Brunch, the Easter celebration continues for the rest of the day, with family and friends visiting, and enjoying many other foods and desserts.

Today I will describe all the different foods used to fill the basket, and their Christian symbolism.

Paska - Special Easter Bread (sweet yeast bread, rich in eggs, butter, etc), takes the center stage in the basket.

Symbolic of Christ, who is the True Bread to Christians. Paska bread is always round in shape, and decorated with a dough braid around the perimeter, and a ornamental cross in the middle.  The Cross reminds Christians that Christ died on the Cross for their salvation.

Baked Ham – very popular meat for the Slavs as the main dish, because of its richness.  It is symbolic of the great joy, and abundance of Easter.  Some prefer Lamb or Veal.

Kobasa - a spicy, garlicky, smoked pork sausage.  Indicative of God’s favor and generosity.

Red Beet Vinaigrette (with Horseradish), or plain Horseradish, is symbolic of the Passion of Christ still in the minds of Christians, but sweetened with some sugar, because of the Resurrection.  The bitter-sweet red colored mixture is a reminder of the sufferings of Christ.

Salt is also included in the basket, necessary for flavor, and as a reminder to Christians of their duty to others.

Butter - A favorite dairy product, is usually nicely displayed and decorated with a cross made out of cloves, or allspice grains.  Some prefer to mold it into a shape of a Lamb.  Butter is symbolic of  the goodness of Christ, that we should have toward all things.

Cheese - Creamed cheese, or “Hrudka”, a sweetened cheese ball, decorated with same herbs as butter, indicative of the moderation that Christians should have in all things.

Eggs - are another very important food item in the Easter Basket.  All eggs are hard boiled, and kept in their shell. There should be at least one or two hard boiled eggs per person, for the Easter Brunch.  One of the hard boiled eggs is peeled, as it will be cut to as many pieces as there are attendees to the Easter Brunch, and shared with everyone, accompanied by salt and horseradish.

Wishing you a Happy and Blessed Easter!!

As you already know from my previous post, Ukrainians follow an Easter tradition of blessing an Easter Basket full of special foods, which is covered with a special embroidered scarf.

These scarfs are hand embroidered by family members, and used only for the purpose of covering the Easter Baskets.

Embroidery is very popular in Ukrainian culture, and used in many aspects of very day life, such as home decor, male and female attire, ceramics, arts and crafts, etc.

The Easter Basket Covers, not only include a beautiful cross stitched geometric design, but also an announcement of a special Easter greeting, and other symbols associated with the celebration of Spring and Easter.

The writing you see above, pronounced, “Khrystos Voskres”, means, “Christ is Risen”, the true meaning of Easter for all Christians, and a greeting everyone uses beginning with Easter Sunday and continuing for several weeks.

Notice the pussy willows and the Easter Eggs embroidered on the cloth; also  symbols associated with Easter celebrations.

The real twigs of pussy willows, or palms, are blessed during the liturgy on Palm Sunday (the last Sunday before Easter Sunday), as a symbolism of Jesus Christ arriving in Jerusalem.

They are distributed to all the attendees, after the liturgy, as everyone is being anointed on a forehead, with a holy oil.

The recipients of these twigs of pussy willows, or palms, pat each other on the shoulder, and exchange a traditional greeting, announcing that Easter is coming in one week (Ne ya byu , a shootka bye, za tyzden Velykden).

These embroidered scarfs are removed from the baskets before the blessing of the food, and displayed in front of the basket, as you see in the picture at the top of this post.

Ukrainian women pride themselves on their embroidery abilities, the variety of embroidery designs and techniques, thus very proudly display their work to be admired by others.

Red Beets are not a very popular vegetable, but they have moved up a couple of notches during the past year.

There are many ways to use red beets, but for the Eastern European cooks, the ever famous Red Beet Borscht is one of the more popular dishes prepared from red beets.  Red beets salads are very often used as a side dish with the main course meal, in many Polish and Ukrainian restaurants.

Red Beets Vinaigrette (Burachky – in Ukrainian, or Cwikla – in Polish) is also a very popular way of preparing red beets, and one of the “must have” foods for the Easter Basket Blessing for Easter Brunch.  Horseradish with red beets is also part of the Seder meal at Passover.

For those of you who do not care much for this vegetable, the Red Beets Vinaigrette might be the way to win you over.

Here is  my recipe for Red Beets Vinaigrette, I prepare for my Easter Basket.

Ingredients:

• 3 Red Beets, medium size (size of an apple)
• 3 Tbs White Vinegar
• ¼ tsp Sugar
• 3 tsp Prepared Horseradish (or you can grate some fresh horseradish root)
• Pinch of Salt

Directions:

1. Rinse the beets, trim off  and discard, the stems, leaves, and the thin roots.
2. Place beets in a medium size pot, fill with cold water (enough water to extend a couple of inches above beets).
3. Bring to boil, and cook until beets are soft when tested with a fork or toothpick (about 20 minutes).
4. Drain off the water, and let beets cool off.
5. Peel the beets (the skin will very easily slide off).
6. Grate on a fine grater.
7. Mix in the remaining ingredients.
8. Cover and refrigerate overnight (suitable for storage for a week or so).

Tip:  If you like a more piquant taste, you may add more horseradish, and more vinegar.

Eastern Europeans love their Easter Ham, along with the Kobasa (smoked pork sausage), eggs, Paska, and all the other goodies, they arrange in their Easter Basket for blessing,  and then feast on it, during Easter Sunday brunch.

I call it Easter Sunday brunch, because by the time all the Easter Sunday morning church services are over (at least 3 hours), and by the time  everyone greets each other with the special Easter Greeting, “Khrystos Voskres – Voistynu Voskres” ( Christ Is Risen, Indeed He Is Risen – in Ukrainian), or “Chrystus Zmartwychwstal – Prawdziwie Zmartwychwstal” – in Polish, you do not get home until about 10-11 AM, if you are lucky to live fairly close to your church.

Also, the fast has not been broken yet, so no one had breakfast yet, until you get home from church, and dig into that Easter Basket (that is why all the food tastes so great on Easter).

Today I will share with you my experience with selecting and preparing my ham for Easter.

My family and I love smoked meats, so of course I shop for smoked ham, rather than honey ham, or glazed ham.

I look for the “butt” section of a ham, rather than the “shank” section, since the butt section has more ham meat, and less bone (remember ham is priced per pound…bone or meat…).

Also, I try to look for ham that does not have too much fat on it, but you do need some, at least on one side, to flavor the ham during baking.  I do not trim the fat before baking, but do it afterward.

All the hams you find in the store, are basically precooked already, and all you have to do is to spice them up to your own taste, glaze them if that is your choice, and bake them long enough to warm them up all the way through.

According to the package directions, if you allow about 20 minutes of baking time per pound, your ham will be totally baked all the way through.

Since most hams are too salty for my taste, I precook it before baking, by placing the ham in a large pot of water, adding a couple of bay leaves,  few garlic cloves, NO SALT, bringing it to boil, and cooking for about 20 minutes.

This process not only draws out some of the salt from the ham, it also provides me with ready stock for my sauerkraut soup, which I always prepare for Easter Sunday early dinner (it tastes great, after eating all “dry” meats and breads for brunch), and of course some more of the same for dinner, plus few additional dishes.

After the ham has been boiled for 20 minutes, I stud it strategically with chunks of fresh garlic, sprinkle some black pepper over it, drip some canola oil over the top,  place it in an open roasting pan, add a cup of water, and bake it per the above instructions per pound, usually at 350  degrees F.

The aroma of the baking ham is very trying, since I usually bake it on Good Friday, a very strict fast day of the 40 day Great Lent,when not even dairy products are permitted,  so you know how enticing this must be to smell something this good, and not being able to taste it.

Once the ham is baked, I cover it with aluminum foil, to keep it from drying out, while it is cooling, to be ready to cut a portion for the Easter Basket arrangement.

I add the juices from the baked ham to the broth I saved from precooking the ham before baking, which adds a lot of flavor to the stock for the sauerkraut soup.

Now you know my method for selecting and preparing my Easter Ham.

Please share your comments, and experiences, with your ham preparations, since I am always willing and ready to learn something new.

Happy Easter!

Easter is such a beautiful holiday, but here in the US, it does not even get close to the vast recognition that Christmas is showered with.

I know that for many people the best thing about Easter is ham dinner, and Easter Egg Hunt games.  These are wonderful and fun, but for me that is just not enough.  Easter is not only a secular holiday but also a very spiritual one, at least for Christians.

My family and I feel very lucky to be familiar with, and able to practice the Ukrainian Easter traditions.  Besides the 40 days of the Great Lent, and the different church services from Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday, there is the traditional Easter Basket Blessing,which takes place at the church on Holy Saturday, or right after the Sunrise Easter Sunday Liturgy, in other parishes.

Actually, not only the Ukrainians bless their Easter Baskets, but also the Roman Catholics in Poland follow this tradition as well, which is almost identical to the Ukrainian one.

Unfortunately, here in the US,  I am not familiar with any of the Roman Catholic churches continuing this beautiful tradition, not even the Polish parishes.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I am supporting my opinion by the conversations I had with my friends and acquaintances who are Roman Catholic, and of Polish decent.

I am very curious to know if the Polish Catholics in other foreign countries continue with this tradition, because I know for a fact that this is a must for Ukrainians all around the world.

By now you are probably getting very anxious to find out about this tradition, and of course I can’t wait to tell you.

Since the Great Lent lasts for 40 days, culminating with the morning of Easter Sunday, everyone is anxiously awaiting to partake of the foods in the Easter Basket at Easter Sunday breakfast/brunch.

The Traditional Ukrainian Easter Basket contains the following foods:

• Paska (Easter Bread)
• Ham
• Pork (some people also add lamb and veal)
• Kovbasa
• Red Beets Vinaigrette
• Horseradish
• Boiled Eggs (including Pysanky for decoration)
• Cheese
• Butter
• Salt
• Wine (optional)

There is a symbolic meaning associated with each of these foods, but that will have to be a future post.

All of these foods are prepared a day before, and assembled in the basket the day of the blessing.  The completed basket is decorated with flowers and greens (optional, but almost everyone does it), covered with a foil or saran wrap, to protect the embroidered scarf from getting food stained.

The beautifully arranged baskets are taken to the local Ukrainian church for a Blessing.  The parish priest is all dressed in his special holiday robes, carries a cross, holy water and a prayer book, chants all the special prayers associated with all the foods to be blessed, and generously sprinkles the Holly Water all over the food filled baskets and his parishioners.

It is a beautiful site, to see the numerous baskets sitting atop of rows of tables, with a burning candle in each, and beautiful embroidery adoring each basket, not mentioning the wonderful aroma of the food.

Ahhh… if you could only imagine the aroma of fresh bread, smoked meats, horseradish…it is an amazing thing to experience.

The though part is, that you are not all0wed to eat any of this food until after the Easter Sunday Liturgy, and in addition to that, you are fasting the whole day on Holy Saturday.  Now you know why this food tastes so great on Easter Sunday.

HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL!!

CHRIST HAS RISEN – INDEED HE HAS RISEN! (English)

KHRYSTOS VOSKRES – VOISTYNU VOSKRES!! (Ukraninian)

KHRYSTUS ZMARTVYCHVSTAL – PRAVDZIVIE ZMARTVYCHVSTAL! (Polish)

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, because of its rich traditions.  One of these is the blessing of a basket of special foods which becomes the Easter Sunday brunch, being the first meat meal, after a strict fast on Good Friday and Saturday.  One of the special foods in that basket is a round shaped Easter Bread, called Paska in Ukrainian, or Babka in Polish.  The top of this bread is elaborately decorated with fancy dough ornaments, having a cross as the central motif. Here is my family Paska recipe, which makes two large loaves, or several small ones.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1 package dry granular yeast
• 3 cups scalded whole milk, lukewarm
• 5 cups of flour
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup melted butter
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbs. orange zest
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 6 cups of sifted all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm water and sprinkle the yeast over it.
2. Let it stand for 10 minutes.
3. Combine the softened yeast with the lukewarm milk and 5 cups of flour.
4. Beat well until smooth.
5. Cover and let the batter rise in a warm place until light and bubbly (I place it on a heating pad, and cover it with plastic wrap, then with towels, to keep it warm).
6. Add the beaten eggs, sugar, melted butter, salt, and orange and lemon zest.
7. Mix thoroughly.
8. Stir in enough flour to make dough that is neither too soft nor too stiff.
9. Knead until the dough no longer sticks to the hand.
10. Turn the dough on a floured board, or other work surface, and knead until smooth and satiny.
11. Place in a bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place until double in bulk.
12. Punch down and let it rise again.
13. Prepare your loaf pans by thoroughly greasing them with shortening.
14. Divide the dough into 3 parts, if you have large enough pans to make only two loaves, and leave the third part for ornamental decorations.
15. If you wish to make several small breads, then fill your greased pans 1/3 full with the dough, still leaving some dough for decorations.
16. To make ornaments, one of them being the cross, you roll out some dough into a rope like shape and form it into an ornamental cross to place in the middle of the top of the bread.



You can also make other ornamental decorations for your Paska, such as a braids, rosettes, twisted swirls, cones, etc.



17. Now that your loaves are decorated, dip a pastry brush in whole milk, and gently brush the bread tops, and ornaments, to give them a nice golden color once baked.  For a darker shade, you may use a wash made out of one egg beaten with 2 Tbs. of water.
18. Set the loaves in a warm place, once more, until almost double in bulk.
19. Do not let the loaves rise longer than necessary, because the ornaments will lose their shape.
20. Preheat you oven to 400 degrees, and bake the bread for 10 minutes.
21. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes longer, or until done.
22. For smaller loaves your baking time should be shorter, so you need to use your judgment.
23. To prevent over browning of the tops, you may cover them with loose pieces of aluminum foil, once the Paska is lightly browned.
24. Remove the loves from the pans, and cool completely.
25. You may wrap cooled loaves in aluminum foil, and plastic bag, and freeze until ready to use, to keep them fresh.
26. To thaw, keep covered, to prevent from drying out.

Tip: If you like raisins in your bread, you may add 1-2 cups of golden raisins to your dough, and you need to make sure to push them deeper into the dough before baking, or they will burn if sticking out of the bread.