pasquetta-003.jpg

Today is Easter Monday, or Pasquetta, as we say in Italian.

Unfortunately I don’t have time for a Magazine Mondays post today (MM will be back next week), instead I thought I’d wish everyone a Happy Pasquetta and let you know what we enjoyed for our Easter lunch.

Mama Cream Puff truly outdid herself on Easter Sunday.

Other than the salad, I don’t have any pictures of the finished plates because with almost 20 people in the house there wasn’t a lot of time to snap photos!

pasquetta-013.jpg

We started off with a salad of arugula dressed with a lemon vinaigrette and topped with roasted asparagus, Prosciutto di Parma and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano. We’ve had this as a starter the past few years as opposed to a more traditional antipasto, which can be very filling.

The salad was followed by the primo, or the first course, which was my mother’s homemade agnolotti di ricotta dressed with lots of Parmigiano Reggiano. This is a typical dish from where my father is from (Le Marche).

We then had homemade fettucine with a lamb ragu.

pasquetta-011.jpg

The primo was followed by the secondo (second course), which was barbequed leg of of lamb accompanied by grilled peppers with feta, lemon-roasted potatoes, broccoli rabe tossed with garlic and olive oil (rapini) and marinated olives.

After taking a break, we then had manichitti (another traditional dish from where my father is from), which are little steaks taken from the rack of lamb. They’re frenched and then the meat at the end of chop is pounded thin, breaded and fried.

The manichitti were followed by my mother’s Olive Ascolane, which are olives stuffed with meat, breaded and then fried.

This was followed by fruit and then dessert (I made dessert), which I posted about on Easter Sunday. We also had store-bought pastries courtesy one of my aunts and another aunt made little chocolate cakes, which were also delicious.

All in all, it was a lovely Easter meal!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!