Easter festival

[Olga]

Easter bread baked under red stars. Video Russia Today


Russians are preparing to celebrate Easter - the main holiday in the Orthodox religious calendar. It is also observed by non-believers, many of which are now busy painting eggs and baking kuliches – traditional Easter bread. Russia’s top kitchen is also preparing traditional food for the event.

The Kremlin kitchen is a recipe for historic reconciliation. Outside, red stars are competing for attention with Orthodox crosses. Inside, cooks that used to feed Soviet bosses are now baking Easter bread for the new Russian bureaucrats.

Easter is the most important day in the Orthodox calendar but what makes it really special is that in Russia it is celebrated by people of various religions and even by those who don’t believe in God at all. According to polls, only three per cent of Russians observe the Great Lent but more than 80 per cent celebrate the end of fasting and the coming of Easter.

Kulich, or sweat Easter bread, has hundreds of recipes but the Kremlin bakers believe nobody does it better than they. It takes two days to turn flour, eggs and dried fruits into a piece of culinary art.

Kremlin’s chief baker, Nadezhda Gorshkova, is convinced that even in Soviet times they used to bake Easter bread in the Kremlin.

“Why shouldn’t they? There are so many beautiful churches and cathedrals here. Of course they baked kuliches only at the special request and they tried not to publicise it but I’m sure they baked them just as we do today,” she says.

Those who work in the Kremlin no longer have to hide their faith. In fact, orders for Easter bread increase every year.

This week the red-star bakers have to produce 14,000 kuliches - that in addition to more than 50,000 eggs to be coloured. This is another Orthodox tradition that is overseen by the Kremlin head chef.

While millions of Russians are preparing to attend church for Sunday mid-night prayer, Easter is no longer a purely religious holiday. Under the red stars or under the gilded crosses, it came to mark the feast of spring and the resurrection of hope.

[wiz]

Olga

The answer to your question is No but we do something else instead,

http://www.youtube.c..._WGUCfm9ouo&NR=1

Easter Midnight Soup - (Magiritsa)

Tonight at middnight, after the church when we come home we eat a special soup called Magiritsa. I wish my mother was still alive......so she could cook this excellent soup. Now if I want to eat this soup, I have to go to London to a restaurant but unfortunately for now I am alone.......young son gone to Cyprus, Old one is in San Diego, Mother dead and Hanna in Ufa!

Back to topic....

Magiritsa is the soup that Greeks break their 40 days fasting with after the midnight liturgy on Easter Saturday.

Easter festival

Magiritsa Easter Midnight Soup


INGREDIENTS

a lamb's liver, heart, lights and intestines
juice of 3 lemons
salt
6 spring onions, trimmed, rinsed and finely sliced
25 gr. butter
2 cos lettuces, trimmed, shredded and rinsed carefully (use only their young leaves and hearts)
about a teacupful of fresh dill or fennel, rinsed and finely chopped, or parsley
1.2 lt hot water salt and black pepper 60 gr. rice

AvgolemonoSauce
2 eggs
Juice of 2 lemons
 
METHOD

Rinse all the meat. Turn the intestines inside out with the help of a thin stick and rinse them thoroughly. Rub them with salt and lemon juice and rinse them again. Cube them into small portions. In a large saucepan, sautee the onions in the butter, until they start to change colour. Add the chopped intestines, liver, lights and heart, fry together for a few minutes, stirring. Add the shredded lettuces and all the fresh herbs and sautee for a few more minutes. Add the hot water, and seasoning, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Then add the rice and cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it stand for 10 minutes, before proceeding with the avgolemono sauce. Add the Avgolemono Sauce to the soup, stirring. Return to a very gentle heat for 2 minutes, stirring at the same time. It should be by now a quite a thick soup.

We eat of course Red painted eggs and Easter Koulourakia.

Easter festival

Koulourakia (Greek Easter Cookies)

Easter festival

Easter festival

Easter festival

Yield: 54 Servings

Ingredients

  2 1/4 c  flour
  1 1/4 ts baking powder
    1/4 ts salt
    1/2 c  butter, softened
      1 c  powdered sugar
      2 tb brandy (or milk)
      1 ts vanilla
      1    egg yolk beaten with 1 tbl
           -milk for; glaze
      3 tb sesame seed

Instructions

DESCRIPTION: These golden twists are usually baked on Holy Thursday.

Preheat oven to 375. Beat together butter and sugar
until light and fluffy. Add egg, brandy and vanilla,
mixing well. Add flour, baking soda and salt, mixing
well after each addition. Working with rounded
teaspoons of dough, use palms to roll each piece back
and forth on a lightly floured surface until it forms
a 6-inch rope. Bring ends together to form a hairpin
shape, then gently twist 2-3 times. Lightly pinch ends
together. Arrange 1" apart on greased baking sheets,
brush with egg glaze, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake 10-13 minutes or until golden. Cool on racks.
Store airtight at room temp for 2 weeks. Freeze for
longer storage

[wiz]

Greek Orthodox Easter

27 April 2008

Greek Easter Traditions & Recipes

The streets of Greece and Greek Orthodox communities throughout the world ring with happy voices sharing Chroniá Pollá! - Easter Wishes...

Easter time, from the carnivals that come before the Lenten fast through Holy Week and the celebrations of Easter, is a special season in Greece.

Since the date of the Greek Orthodox Easter is based on a modified Julian calendar and the Western world uses the Gregorian calendar, the festivities do not usually occur at the same time as other Christian Easter celebrations.

In 2008 Easter is celebrated by many Christians on April 27, with many traditions that make the holiday of Easter in Greece different than Easter celebrations in other lands.

Greek foods and traditions mark the season as uniquely Hellenic. The history of Greece traces back far past the beginnings of Christianity, but from the very earliest days of the Christian faith the Islands of Greece and the Greek people have embraced these beliefs and made them part of the Greek heritage. Of all the Christian feast days, Easter is the greatest time for foods, feasting and celebration to people in the Greek Orthodox faith.

GREEK EASTER
Click link above for more info

Easter festival

Easter festival

Easter festival

Kaló Pás'ha...Happy Easter!

CHRISTOS ANESTI ... Christos Vosscress.. Christ is risen

Easter festival