A Glorious Day…

…culminating a wonderful weekend. Easter is my favorite day to celebrate. We had an overload of good things and this post will be full of photos!

On Friday I prepared our traditional sweet cheese spread to enjoy on our Easter bread. With the heavy rock in place to force the excess liquid out of the cheese mold it rests in the refrigerator for our Sunday celebration.

On our way to our Good Friday service on Friday evening we spotted this group of people who were following men bearing a cross. It was such an unexpected thing to see and we were inspired by this act of identifying with Christ.

On Saturday a crew arrived at the house to help with the Kulich, Russian Easter Bread. Katie arrived a little later to help, too, mostly with the Shrink Wrapped Easter eggs.

The dough was ready to go in the cans rise for the final time.

Into the oven they go.

Time to set the table while the bread cools.

I bought crosses made out of nails for each person to take home with them.

On Sunday after a great church service I added the last touches to the table while the lamb shoulder was slow cooking in the oven.

I’ll share our appetizer recipe later in April on the MGCC blog.

Besides the shrink wrap eggs we tried the rice dyeing method, too.

Lamb shoulder with a caper fresh mint sauce, caramelized potatoes with onions and rosemary, cucumber tomato salad.

For dessert, Russian Easter Bread (Kulich/Paska) with Seernaya Paska (Sweet cheese spread) and strawberries.

Our mom would be proud of our efforts this year. She loves a smooth top and no airy holes when you slice it.

After our filling lunch and dessert we decided to take a walk.

After our walk we enjoyed sitting on the deck in the sunshine!

We truly had a full to overflowing good time!

Now what I haven’t shared yet is that on Saturday my computer crashed. Oh my…that’s scary! Thankfully there was a repair system that we were able to access and everything is now backed up and restored. It took several hours to accomplish this but everything is up and running again.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Nadia’s (Mom’s) Kulich / Paska

What many of you call Paska we called Kulich growing up. This is my mom’s Russian Easter Bread Recipe that I quartered because the amount she would make is quite daunting for me. We have cut it in half in years past. Now what you need to know about my mom and recipes is that she ends up tweaking them from year to year so this recipe is for her Kulich from 2001. I have a 2009 and 2012 recipe, too. This one was easier to quarter. Here’s the link to the original. My dear mom passed away from this earth in September of 2013 so I cherish her tweaked recipes.

Ingredients:

2 pkgs rapid rise yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup lukewarm milk
1 teaspoon sugar

4 egg yolks
1 egg
1-1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup half and half
1/2 ounce apricot brandy
1-1/2 teaspoons powdered vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
Zest of half a lemon
About 2-1/2 lbs of flour, sifted (about 7 cups)
Vegetable oil to coat the rising dough

6 to 7 one pound or two pound cans for baking. You can use loaf pans or large muffin tins if you don’t have the cans to bake them in.

Add yeast to the lukewarm water and milk and sugar in a stainless steel bowl. Make sure the liquids are lukewarm. Let this mixture dissolve and sit.

Beat the egg yolks and egg together.
Cream the butter and sugar in the large bowl of a stand-up mixer.
Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture slowly mixing to combine and then beat to incorporate well.
Mix the half and half with the whipping cream and heat until lukewarm, not hot, and slowly incorporate into the creamed mixture.
Mix in the vanilla and brandy.
Add the yeast mixture and the salt and beat with a mixer.
Continue beating and add the lemon zest.
Continue beating and add the sifted flour about a cup at a time.
Once you cannot beat the dough any longer using the mixer, put the dough on a floured surface and start incorporating the remaining flour by kneading the dough.
The dough should be kneaded very well, approximately 10 minutes.
You should knead the dough until you can cut it with a knife and it is smooth without any holes.
Place the dough in a stainless steel bowl. Take some oil and pour a little on the dough and spread it all over the dough. Make sure to turn the dough so it is coated evenly.
Cover with plastic wrap right on the dough and a dish towel on top of that.
Place in a warm place away from drafts to rise. (My sister usually puts it into the oven that has been warmed slightly.

It is now time to prepare the coffee cans (1 lb. and 2 lb. cans are the best) Cut circles the size of the bottom of the cans out of wax paper. You will need four circles per can. Make sure the cans are well greased. Put the 4 circles in the bottom of the cans.

Use a empty and clean coffee can like the ones above. If there is a label make sure to take it off. If the can has a lip at the top you’ll need to use a can opener to cut the lip off the can. I hope these pictures will make the process easier to understand.

Cut sheets of wax paper long enough to line the sides of the can and tall enough to be 2″ above the rim of the can. Use Crisco to seal the ends of the paper.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and turn it over.
Let it rise a second time until it doubles in size. Punch it down again.
Now the dough is ready to put into the prepared cans.
You will take a portion of dough about 1/3 the size of the can. Knead it and form it into a smooth ball that you can easily drop into the can.

Let the dough rise again inside the can until it is at least double in size.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown on top.(approximately 30 minutes or more depending on your oven.)

Let them cool slightly in the cans. Remove them from the cans and then cool completely standing up. Some people cool them on their sides turning them often to keep their shape. We found this time that they cool just fine and keep their shape standing up so we didn’t bother with that step!

To go with this bread my mom always makes a wonderful sweet cheese topping that is formed in a mold in different shapes. For my mom’s Sernaya Paska (cheese spread) recipe click here.

I’ll be trying this Kulich/Paska recipe quartered at the end of this week. I’ll let you know how it goes and how many coffee can shaped loaves it makes. We got seven loaves out of this recipe although we shorted some of the cans.

Are you preparing for Easter?

X is for…

So here we are at good ole X in the alphabet. This is a letter for ABC Wednesday that takes a little creativity. Thank you to the ABC team for managing this meme and to Denise Nesbitt the founder.

Did you know that X stands for Christ and Cross and other stuff, too?

At Easter I make a Russian sweet cheese spread called Seernaya Paska that we spread on Russian Easter Bread that is called Paska by a lot of people and Kulich by my Russian relatives. In the Russian alphabet X is the first letter in Christ. We decorate the sweet cheese spread with an X and a B. X for Christ and B for arose/risen. Christ is Risen.

If you are a regular on my blog you know I like to wander around very old cemeteries. There are always a great variety of crosses to photograph. Here are a couple.

Windmills have a natural X visible from the formation of their rotor blades.

This windmill is located at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada.

This Windmill is located at Roozengaarde Tulip Garden in Mount Vernon Washington State.

That’s it for my offerings on the letter X. I’ll be curious to come around and see what you found for this challenging letter.

Summer has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. I’m still watching all the World Cup Soccer I can fit in. Our bathroom renovation is progressing. Never a dull moment at this old house. Someone mentioned and I’m in agreement that we don’t seem to have ordinary weeks or days anymore. I’ll have to cling to the verse in the Bible that says…

“This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Paska, Easter Bread, Kulich

Paska brought the Mennonite Girls Can Cook together and it continues to play a big role in our cooking story. This past Tuesday we taught a cooking class at Lepp Farm Market in Abbotsford, British Columbia (Canada) on Paska and a traditional Mennonite Easter meal. My daughter Katie had a ticket for the class and she was able to be our photographer as she watched.

So much was going on this evening at Lepp’s and I’ve created some collages of the different parts of the class.

Paska, it’s what’s for Easter!

Paska is a slightly sweet Easter yeast bread that is traditional in the Ukraine and Russia. My Russian relatives call this bread Kulich. My mother and relatives always made dozens of loaves in the cylindrical shape using coffee cans or large juice cans.

Lots of work goes on behind the scenes right up until Lovella introduces us to the guests and gets the evening going. Judy and Kathy helped coordinate this class and had all the timing and shopping lists ready ahead of time along with recipes to hand out to our guests.

Lovella showed us her process in getting the dough ready to rise for her Paska.

Julie talked about the products that make gluten free baking easier these days. She prepared her gluten free Paska and brought it to the class to share. She also demonstrated a delicious mustard sauce for the Easter Ham we would be serving.

Kathy demonstrated her Cheesy Scalloped Potato recipe and also showed the ingredients she uses for a gourmet scalloped potato recipe.

Judy demonstrated her delicious coleslaw dressing and mixed up a large batch of fresh coleslaw for the class. My daughter Katie is not fond of store bought coleslaw. She really enjoyed Judy’s homemade variety!

Bev demonstrated how to make Pluma Moos or Plumi Moos. This is a traditional fruit dish served in Mennonite homes at Easter and other holidays, too. It can be served cold or warm. People use different varieties of fruit for the dish.

Bev also demonstrated how to carve a ham with the bone in. She really did a great job.

While we started plating the food for our guests Lovella started working on her dough that had been rising during these demos.

She showed us a variety of pans that you can use and how to pinch off small portions for sweet little petite paska buns made in muffin tins. She also showed a loaf variety and a twisted loaf.

I had brought a completed Seernaya Paska (Сырная пасха), sweet cheese spread from home since it has to sit in the refrigerator having all the liquid pressed out for at least 24 hours. I plated it and showed one of the flower pots I use to mold the cheese and the heavy stone wrapped in plastic wrap to weight the cheese and force the liquid out. We used fresh viola blossoms to decorate it. I made an error in the pronunciation of this dish in our first cookbook. It is called seernaya paska not seerney paska . I’ve always had a hard time with Russian grammar. Growing up we always had this spread to serve with our Easter bread.

Lovella finished off the demonstrations showing us how she makes the Paska Icing.

While our guests ate their main course of ham with mustard sauce, cheesy scalloped potatoes, and coleslaw. We started plating the paska, sweet cheese spread and a dollop of frosting to serve. We also served up a small bowl of pluma moos.

These classes are always so much fun to participate in. The wonderful thing is knowing that the profit generated from our classes goes to Matthew’s House in Abbotsford. Lepp Farm Market partners with us in donating the profits from our classes to this worthy non-profit that is a respite home for children with complex health care needs. You can see and read about Matthew’s house here.

Because the class was all about Easter I have to explain what the X and B on my Russian Sweet Cheese Spread is all about. On Easter the greeting that we always express to one another is

Christos Voskress! Voistinu Voskress!

Христос Воскрес!

Воистину воскрес!

Christ is Risen!

Truly He is Risen!

So the X (the first letter of Christ in Russian) stands for Christ and the B (the first letter of risen in Russian) stands for Risen, Christ is Risen. This is what Easter is all about.

I stole this next photo off of Kathy’s blog. Hope it’s ok, Kathy. If you click here you can see Kathy’s post about our time. Here’s Katie getting ready to take photos of the class.

Katie and I wrapped things up and hit the road back to the U.S.A. at about 9:30 P.M. We were happy to make it home at 11:40. I’ll admit that I was a zombie on Wednesday and I might or might not have spent the whole day in my robe.

All the recipes for these dishes are in our cookbooks or on our blog.

Dopey and Sleepy…

…that’s how I feel after having a wonderful time in Canada last night. When all of my senses come back on line I’ll share all about our time. Until then…

I love these sweet little flowers.

Sneak Peak on what was happening in Canada.

Serious business…

Easter Day 2012

Dear and I were out the door early Easter morning and attended the 7:00 a.m. service. It was a great way to start this glorious Easter day. The Easter cross was on center stage!

After church I set the places for our Easter meal.

We had Shashlik (marinated lamb barbecued on skewers), glazed ham, roasted vegetables and salad. I sent ham home with our guests, too.

Our centerpiece was our Russian Easter Bread. Some people call it Paska. We call it Kulich.

The signs written in Russian say, Christ is Risen, Truly He is Risen or He is Risen Indeed.

This is Searnaya Paska which is served with our Easter Bread. Searnaya Paska is a sweetened cheese spread that is made with a type of dry cheese, egg yolks, butter, cream, and sugar. Don’t even bother trying to figure out the calories or how it will raise your cholesterol levels. The mixture is pressed overnight in a mold to get the excess liquid out. Besides the sweet cheese we serve this with strawberries. A most wonderful combination. Think strawberry shortcake.

To document the fact that we got amazing sunshine on Easter 2012 I had Lana and Laura pose with some Easter symbols outside.

Look at them! They are squinting. That made us happy today!

We all spent some time out in the Easter sunshine soaking up some vitamin D.

We are full and satisfied with all the glory of the day we enjoyed. Hope you had a wonderful Easter Day!

Cooking Class at Lepp Farm Market

Last Thursday evening 5 of us from Mennonite Girls Can Cook participated in a cooking class at Lepp Farm Market in Abbotsford, B.C. Unfortunately my camera was on a wrong setting and my photos are dark.

Judy, Lovella and Marg checked over the lists and then we headed out into the store to shop for our ingredients.

Bev and Lovella got ingredients ready for Lovella’s Paska.

Guests who had paid for the class started arriving. Some came an hour before the class was to begin. Bev was at the stove preparing her Green Bean Soup. This was something I was going to enjoy for the first time.

Judy and Marg started preparing their Zwieback. A traditional Mennonite bun.

At the end of the evening it was my turn to present my Paska spread, Seerney Paska. Although I am not a natural at being in front of a crowd everyone was very gracious. This was the first time many of the gals had ever tasted this sweet cheese spread.

Lovella kept us organized and on task and we all worked well together. I think I enjoy being a Sous Chef, behind the scenes, instead of front and center.

At the end of the evening we sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor and if I have to say so myself, it was all very good.

Here’s a link for Lovella’s Paska. Here’s a link to Ellen’s Sweet Cheese Spread for Paska, Seerney Paska.

I’ll be linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Paska