Delightful Dishes for Easter Dinner
With Easter weekend just days away and so much to plan, let us take the worry of picking scrumptious recipes off your plate by sharing a few of Cynthia Beretta’s very own holiday favorites.
Nonna’s Easter Egg Bread
Side step store bought bread this year and let the aroma of Cynthia’s Nonna’s fresh baked egg bread invigorate your home. It’s a Beretta family staple at Easter time and everyone gets one in the family! Treat your guests and use the leftovers (if there are any) in a French toast dish the next morning!
Preheat oven at 350 F
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons of Dry Yeast
14 OZ Warm Water
3 Teaspoons Sugar
Place sugar in a small mixing bowl, top with warm water and then sprinkle yeast on top. Let it sit for about 5 minutes then add to the following mixture.
6 Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 ¼ Cup Milk
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Lemon, juice and rind from the lemon
1 Orange, juice and rind from the orange
3 OZ of Millefiori Liguor or 1 small bottle of Bertolini “Gocce D’Oro
Approximately 4 Cups all purpose flour
In a large mixing bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, milk, oil, lemon and orange juices, rinds from lemon and orange and liquor with the yeast, sugar and warm water mixture. Mix until well blended. Add flour ½ cup at a time until mixture starts to come together and resembles dough. Once this happens, place dough on flour covered surface. Knead until you have a soft consistency (as my Nonna used to say “until it feels like your earlobe!” not joking!) Continue kneading until you have a smooth dough, you may need
to add more flour. Place dough into a large lightly oiled bowl –cover with a tea towel and let sit in a warm place for 2 hours. Cut pieces of dough and shape into whatever size you wish the loaves to be (I usually make long tube like pieces and braid them). Once you have shaped the loaves, place them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and let sit for another 1 ½ hours. Brush with beaten egg and bake on the center rack in pre-heated 350F oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Cynthia’s mother has continued this tradition and makes one loaf per grandchild! She started with Cynthia’s three and has now grown to nine! She personalizes them and the kids love it
Cynthia’s Easter Ham
Although we have a ton of love for veggies, we all know the meat is the star of the show when it comes to festive dinners. Try our family ham recipe and create a star dish your family will talk about for the rest of the year!
Ingredients:
1 – 15lb Whole, Smoked, Bone-in Ham
¾ Cup packed brown sugar
¾ Cup liquid honey
2 Teaspoons dry mustard
¼ Teaspoon crushed cloves
½ Cup Pineapple Juice
Whole Cloves
8-10 Fresh Pineapple slices
Preheat oven at 325F
Pour ½ inch of water into bottom of shallow roasting pan, place ham inside roasting pan. Slash the fat on the top of the ham in a diamond pattern. Stud the fat at the intersections on the diamond with whole cloves. Place ham on a rack in the middle of the oven in the roasting pan. Allow for 15 minutes per pound for cooking time.
To glaze the ham, remove it from the oven about 30 minutes before it is to be done. Cover it with the brown sugar, honey, dry mustard, crushed cloves and pineapple juice mixture. Decorate with the pineapple slices (more cloves may be needed to secure slices!). Increase heat to 425F and return ham to the oven for remaining ½ hour of cooking time.
Remove from oven when internal temp reaches 140F on meat thermometer. Once done, remove ham from oven and cover for 10 minutes. Uncover and remove pineapple slices and reserve for topping on sliced ham. Slice ham and arrange slices on serving platter and decorate with glazed pineapple. Enjoy!
Nonna’s Easter Sponge Cake
As Cynthia likes to say around the farm, “Food without fat is like life without love”. What’s a festive dinner without a little good fat, organic sugar and a few other ingredients to top off the perfect meal? Well, it just wouldn’t happen in our home and it shouldn’t in yours either ;) Indulge this season with Cynthia’s heavenly sponge cake…
Ingredients:
8 Eggs
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Flour
5 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp vanilla
Grated peel of one lemon.
Preheat oven at 350F
Butter and flour a spring form pan. Set aside.
This is a series of additions and continuous beating, try not to cheat on the minutes listed!!
Beat eggs for 10 minutes. Add oil and continue beating for 5 minutes. Add sugar, continue beating for 5 minutes. Add flour, baking powder, vanilla and continue beating for 5 more minutes. Mix the lemon peel into mixture at the end of all the beating, mix by hand. Pour cake mixture into prepared spring form pan. Place in centre of preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour.
Lemon Glaze
1 Cup Confectioners Sugar
1-2 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Mix together both ingredients. Glaze should be thick yet pourable. Pour over sponge cake once cake has cooled. Sprinkles are always a nice touch too!!
Easter Morning Breakfast Casserole
This dish would be a great savory addition to your French toast made from your leftover egg bread! Add a fresh green salad with a light vinaigrette and you have a brunch any foodie would drool over…
Ingredients:
1 Loaf fresh Brioche Egg Bread – Cubed
10 eggs, slightly beaten
4 Cups Milk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ Cup chopped green onions
1 tsp sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 lb Beretta Honey-Garlic sausage, casings removed and cooked into crumbles
2 Cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
½ Cup mushrooms, sliced
½ Cup red pepper, chopped
Butter a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish and arrange bread cubes evenly in casserole dish. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese and beat the together the eggs, milk, mustard, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the bread and cheese mixture in the casserole dish. Sprinkle the crumbled sausage, green onions, mushrooms and chopped peppers all over the bread and wet milk and eggs mixture. Try to spread evenly so everyone gets their fair share on the meat, this is a big deal in my family! Cover and chill overnight. Preheat oven to 350 and bake uncovered for 1 hour or until set. This smells wonderful, while the little ones do their Easter egg hunt!
I always serve this with freshly sliced tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil, fresh basil leaves and sea salt and freshly ground pepper. And fresh fruit is a must as a side!
