Easter was always a big holiday in my family growing up. My grandmother would begin a week before making the traditional bread and pies for the holiday. When she got older and really didn’t want to do it anymore my father who was known to the grandkids as Poppy, happily took over. Dad loved cooking and baking, he and my mom were both great bakers, mom was more of a precise by the book baker, and Dad well he was the great improviser which drove my precision baker mother crazy! Then there is me, baking? not so much. I have never really enjoyed it and I would much rather cook something than bake something.
This year though I decided that I would try one of Dad’s traditional Easter pies because I do remember how good they were. My favorite was the ricotta pie, probably because it’s more like a cheesecake which I love. I even made the crust from scratch and trust me, if you know me you would be applauding me right now! This is Dad’s original recipe written in his horrible handwriting which he lovingly passed down to me. I followed Dad’s recipe precisely with the exception of substituting butter instead of margarine and I also added a 1/4 tsp of King Arthurs Fiori di Sicilia in the filling (thank you Sibby Barrett), this stuff is the bomb, I’m tempted to start dabbing it behind my ears it’s so fragrant! I could not believe how simple this was to make and how really delicious it turned out. The crust is more like a shortbread dough and was so simple and easy to work with and the filling is just delicious. Rich creamy and packed with flavor, this filling would be perfect for cannoli too. If Poppy were here today he would have a big smile on his happy jowly face and say “great job kid”. He loved that I was a chef, he loved all things food-related. Long ago he even had his own roadside stand which he was very proud of. Here’s to you Pops, we miss you every day.
