Traditional Orthodox Easter Recipes

Natalia   2014-04-16

Easter is an important celebration in the Orthodox tradition, and it has always been celebrated in my family. Children love the brightly dyed eggs, as well as specific foods which are prepared just once a year, for Easter.

I have recently received the family recipes for a traditional Easter Pasha dish - a sweet concoction of cottage cheese, butter, sugar and raisins. These recipes were used for generations, the eldest recipe is written by my grandfather's aunt in the year 1924, the last one my grandfather wrote down himself.

Despite the age, the recipes are very easy to read. I wrote them down, recalculated the amounts of ingredients were needed, and added some remarks as to how it is supposed to be done.

This recipe is the one written by my grandfather's aunt:

Traditional pasha old-style

And this one had been written down by my grandfather. He cooked pasha each year according to it and served it to the whole extended family.

Traditional Pasha

Another traditional dish belonging the the Russian Easter is a special panettone-like sweet bread. In my family it has always been store-bought, but in my husband's family it was baked yearly in large quantities. Therefore I use my mother-in-law's recipe, and it comes out beautifully!

Traditional Easter bread