 A fountain decorated for Easter, in Taromina, Sicily. Small villages in Greece and Italy celebrate Easter as a community. The sense of tradition is apparent as you enter the decorated domain: candles cover the walkways and stairs, flowers laid on every surface. The church doors are left open to the warm air, and the old world scene overpowers the senses, immobilizing you. On Good Friday, the women and children, dressed in black, parade through the streets with candles on their way to midnight mass. The men marching behind them playing some of the most sinister music you have ever heard. It is hard to take your eyes away from the beauty reflected by dramatic beliefs and traditions. As the procession spirals down the mountainside their profiles become smaller, until only the candle lights in the distance can be seen. You can hear the music you once considered sinister fading, until you long to hear it up close once more. Easter, 1997 The first day I realized I had the craziest family on the block, was Easter morning 1997. When I looked outside into the yard I remember seeing my dad and grandpa on the grass, with long spearlike metal rods, and a whole dead lamb laying out on plastic. The two of them were loudly laughing and so proud of their lamb purchased from Ditmars. They couldn't wait any longer to start roasting it, even though it was 6 am. My mom and grandma were inside. They were making cookies. Quietly and quickly moving from one dish to the next. Long tables were set up in the dining room, that must have been set the night before. The whole house was decorated with pastels and big braided breads were on the table with red eggs. When everyone finally came over, there must have been forty people. Cars overpacked the dead end we lived in, cousins filled every room in the house, and there was not one spot on the table not covered with a pot or pan of food. What had made everyone so different that day? I believe they had the fever. That wonderful fever that comes with a holiday. They were recalling past Easters, and the people before them, doing exactly as they were doing. The men preparing the lamb on the spit, and standing guard for hours as it cooked. Perfection coming from my grandmothers’ fingertips for each rolled cookie, as a tribute to every woman before her. Aunts and uncles bringing countless dishes and folding chairs. And my cousins bringing over 100 easter eggs because today, there could never be enough. There was no such thing as excess on such a celebration. But it finally all made sense. They worked for the new generation; for me, for my sister and brother, my cousins, to make this day the greatest day it could be. So I would one day understand tradition. |
Tsoureki: Behind the scenes
On Easter, traditionally this braided bread is served, with one red egg in it. My family always bought this bread from the most cherished Greek store in Astoria, Titan on Ditmars. The parking lot is packed, with old Greek men directing people in and out of the ten spots in the parking lot. But once inside it is Greek paradise with brands and imported goods directly from Greece.
Easter, 2013
This year I was in Albany, NY and could not get to Titan. But it could not be Easter, without Greek Easter bread. So I decided I had to make it. I knew this would be a daunting task, as no one alive in my family or in my memory has ever made it. So I had to do a bit of research. I made phone calls: to aunts, to neighbors, to cousins. To try and get any recipe, if there was one at all. No one seemed to have anything. So I called in my wild card, my last option, my neighbor, Aphrodite. In my childhood neighborhood she is currently the most reliable resource with the most ties to old tradition. She held me on the phone while she looked through her recipe books and boxes. We talked for a while as she searched, but it didn't look like she was going to find anything this time. Until, she noticed a piece of paper that had been tucked and folded into the book. There was no title, but after reading a few ingredients she said "You know what Sam, I think this is it!" She had uncovered a recipe for tsoureki! I was so relieved, and then scared all at once. Okay, I had the recipe, but now can I pull it off? How do I make this braided bread? How was I going to shape it and which tray would it fit on? And worst of all, where was I going to get the ingredients?
The purchase of the rockstar ingredient:
To buy the malhep, I went to every middle eastern, arabic, or specialty spice store I could find. Each time was the same, I would ask the old woman sitting at the counter for "malhep" or "malhepi" or "cherry seed", and each one would stare blankly back at me and shake her head no. This was the last store, and I had no other place to check. I put my arm on the counter, and was ready to consider the horrors of a substitute option, and I looked down, and on the counter, in little jars were spices. And one read on a blue label "malhep".
Malhep is dried cherry pits. It adds a distinct flavor, along with the orange peel and smell divine but tastes even better! You’re supposed to use a mortar and pestle to ground the malhep. But I didn't have one. So I went around to every sturdy surface I could find in my house until I had a nice powder.
Recipe
· 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk
· 1 (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
· 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
· 2/3 cup sugar
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon ground malhepi
· 1/4 teaspoon pounded mastic crystals (optional)
· 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
· 2 large eggs
· 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest (from 1 large grapefruit-sized orange)
· 1 red hard boiled egg (natural red dye recipe below)
· 1 large egg yolk (egg wash)
· 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
*pre-heat to 350•
Instructions:
1. In a small saucepan, heat 3/4 cup of the milk until warm to the touch. Transfer the warm milk to a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside for about 15 minutes to activate the yeast.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, salt, mahlepi and mastic (if you want) together into a large bowl and set it aside.
3. In a small saucepan, melt 7 tablespoons of the butter. Let the butter cool, then transfer to a medium bowl. Add the eggs and orange zest and beat together. Stir the egg mixture into the yeast/milk mixture until combined.
4. Using a spoon, stir the flour mixture into the yeast-egg mixture until combined. Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth, flouring your hands and the surface as needed, about 10 minutes.
5. Take an oiled paper towel coat the largest bowl you have and put the ball of dough into it and cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
6. The fun part! Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll out the dough into three very long stretches of dough the same size.
7. Take one and line it straight and add the other two across it like an X. Begin the braid from the middle and braid out each end. Wash with egg wash.
8. Add the egg for a long bread. If you want the circular shape, angle the ends together and interweave them, adding the egg to that end to disguise that the circle actually has an end! Then add the egg wash.
9. Use the remaining butter and grease the baking tray, and put it on.
10. In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolk and remaining 1 tablespoon milk. With a pastry brush, evenly brush the egg mixture over the risen dough, then sprinkle the almonds over top, pressing the nuts gently into the dough. Bake until the bread is browned and the internal temperature reaches 190°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 30 minutes. Let cool before serving.
The blood red Easter egg
History says the Greeks dye them Red for the blood of christ.
For the egg, I made the dye from scratch. I knew I couldn't take the chance of using red dye and not having it come out the right color after all my hard work. So weeks leading up to Easter, I had my roommate and myself save up every yellow onion skin in a plastic bag. So when the time came, I would have enough skins to make the blood red dye.
Recipe for the dye:
13-15 skins of yellow onions
Tablespoon red vinegar
3-4 cups of water.
Instructions:
Boil the water and onion and vinegar for 45 minutes. Take off and let cool. Strain the onion skins out. You can even put it in the fridge for an hour. When you’re ready for the eggs, add them in and bring them to a boil, like if you were boiling a regular egg. Then let dry, and polish with oil. Store in fridge.
Note:
Greeks don't have multi colored eggs, we only have the red. And everyone pairs off and has an egg war; whoever's egg is the strongest and lasts without cracking wins! My cousin Michelle is in charge of collecting the eggs and making a quick egg salad which everyone eats, no one worrying about the color or the dye!
