Paskha
Mom with her infamous Paskha at the Chapel of the Cross Choir Sherry that we hosted at our house every year. It took Mom days to make and my sister and I looked forward to this dessert like crazy!
If this date is true then mom would have been a senior in High School. She looks about 40! Why so serious? Love the hats and I always thought that “Curious” was a great dog name.
We’re getting close to Easter and I vowed to post Mom’s Paskha recipe early so that you would have enough time to get all of the weird ingredients and get yourself situated. This dessert is something that Mom used to make every year for the big “Easter Choir Sherry” that we had at our house. A Choir Sherry was an after-church party for choir members and their families. As a kid, I usually just ran riot with the other choristers’ children, played Pong (if the host house had it), and ate too much dip. I realize now that the adults were letting it all hang out and getting lit, hence the name “Sherry”!
Paskha is a celebratory Easter dish made in Eastern Orthodox countries. A quick google tells me that it is made of food that is forbidden during Lenten fasting (I never knew that but it makes sense). It’s white in color, to symbolize Christ, and shaped in a mould. It is also sweet and rich as hell! So, basically, I LOVED it as a kid. Paskha uses a ton of egg yolks. You should save the whites, they freeze. We ate a lot of meringues when I was growing up, which reminds me of one of Mom’s favorite jokes:
(Say it out loud with a Southern drawl.)
“Why is my hand like a pie?”
“I don’t know - why?”
“Because it’s got meringue on it!”
Mom was really good with holiday things like Christmas Stockings and Easter Baskets. We always got some good treats, a few useful or fun things, and some fruit for good measure (which I would immediately put back into the fruit bowl in the kitchen). The Easter Bunny would leave my basket on the window seat next to my bed so I could see it when I woke up. Remember those shocking hot pink pistachios? There would be some of those loose in the basket’s green plastic grass, along with some of those disgusting Cadbury Creme Eggs (which I always begged for), Peeps, jelly beans, and chocolate. I think those pink nuts have since been banned, probably due to a poisonous food coloring issue, because I haven’t seen them in ages. My sister and I had very different candy consumption techniques. I would try to eat everything I could that morning, before church, so I that I felt awful for as much of the day as possible. Elisabeth would put her candy in her closet and ration it out FOR MONTHS, allowing ample opportunity for me, and some other parasites, to steal it. I’m serious! One time she waited so long to eat it that it became infested with bugs. What kind of craziness was this? I didn’t have that problem with my candy.
Once, when Gummy Bears were hot on the scene, we dropped a zillion not-so-subtle hints that we were dying for them in our Christmas stockings. Well, Santa Mom obliged but she knew who she was dealing with, so she hid all of that year’s stocking candy in a drawer at my Nonnie’s house. Guess what else was in the drawer? A bunch of moth balls! Yup. Those gummies soaked that flavor RIGHT up. I was so desperate for that kiddie sugar fix that I actually ate a couple, but found that even I had my limits and didn’t *really* want to “die for them”.
Holidays, including Easter, were always special in our family. My Nonnie and her mom, Dee Dee (her real name was Sarah, I’m named after her) were amazing seamstresses. They would make me and my sister matching Easter and Christmas dresses every year. My mom continued that tradition, buying her granddaughters gorgeous matching Christmas dresses right up until her death.
With COVID, and all that it entails, I’m not sure what, if any, Easter plans we’ll have. But, I guess this is the year I may actually have the time to strain cheese all day long!
These two photos were on Mom’s fridge. Her granddaughters in matching Christmas dresses. Me & my sister in matching school uniforms.
Us in our matching Easter dresses with Grandma & Grandpa Reed. Kingsport, TN. Sometime in the mid 1970s.
PASKHA
serves 24 or more
5 pounds pot cheese
18 egg yolks
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 ½ pounds [3 cups] butter
½ pound mixed candied fruits [I always just use citron]
½ to 1 cup blanched, shredded almonds
Line a colander with cheesecloth and set it in a pan. Turn the cheese into it, cover with a cloth, and place a plate and heavy weight on top. Let stand in the refrigerator to drain eight hours.
Force the cheese through a food mill, coarse sieve, or potato masher.
Beat the egg yolks until very light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat until well blended. Add the heavy cream and blend.
Melt the butter over low heat and cool to lukewarm. add gradually to the yolk mixture and mix well. add the candied fruits, nuts, and cheese. Mix with a wooden spoon or the hands.
Line a paskha mold or flowerpot with doubled cheesecloth, dapen the cloth and add the cheese mixture. stand the mold in a pan and refrigerate several hours. Turn out on a platter and decorate with colored candies and fresh flowers.
Sarah’s note: As a kid I thought the candied fruit was weird, but I could probably get behind it now. Mom would often decorate hers with edible flowers, like candied violets, on top.
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