Southern Italy’s Easter Lamb
The “pecorella” is a traditional pastry of the Easter holiday and in most small towns dotted throughout the south, bakeries start preparing this sweet-treat about 2 weeks before Easter Sunday.
In the Adriatic port city of Brindisi, baker Severino di Lauro has been satisfying the sweet cravings of the locals for nearly 30 years. Along with his wife and daughter and a staff of 4 assistants, Severino is up at the crack of dawn every day – mixing and baking and creating a real “bakers dozen” that continues to draw in customers day in and day out.
In these 14 days or so prior to Easter, Severino’s focus is on the “pecorella” and its main ingredient is a paste made out of fresh, powdered almonds better known as “pasta reale”.
Comments di Lauro, “âÂ?¦the recipe is pretty simple. We use 3 kilo’s of crushed, powdered almonds and 3 kilo’s of sugar and mix it together to form the pasteâÂ?¦”
The “pasta reale” is thick yet tender and pliable and can easily be molded by hand into the shape of a lamb.
Severino’s assistant work in a line: one creates the body, another adds on a small head made of confectioner’s sugar, while another inserts 4 legs created out of the same paste.
Off in another corner of the kitchen, a mixture of egg whites, sugar and more powdered almonds is prepared, and this pasta will be spread out on top of the figure of the pecorella.
Says Severino, “âÂ?¦this mixture is used for the effect of the lamb’s wool. It is spread out over the pasta reale and my assistant works it over to give it a texture.
When the lamb is covered and the legs inserted, a final touch-up with chocolate will add a spot or two to make the animal complete. It’s then placed in a small tray, some grass will be added and maybe a few chocolate eggs, before the entire creation is wrapped in cellophane and put on display.
Severino and his assistants prepare between 25 and 30 peccorelle a day, en route to a total of 350 or whatever he feels the demand will be based on years gone by.
Adds his wife Roberta, “âÂ?¦the pecorella is traditionally used as a dessert. Generally, it’s the type of item that someone will bring along if they are invited over to eat with friends or family…”
The pasta reale that makes up the pecorella is quite sweet. And in this case, portions are sliced away and nibbled at over coffee after the meal.
This same base is used for a number of decorative items – – everything from imitation miniature fruits to small decorative figures used on cakes or place settings.
Every area has its specialty and the pecorella is a favorite in Puglia Regione. In Severino’s opinion the secret is in the almonds, which are grown locally.
Reflects Severino, “âÂ?¦in my opinion. Italian almonds are harder. I’ve used imported almonds from the United States and I’ve found them to contain more oil. This is neither good nor bad, but a matter of preference. The taste is different. The quality of our almonds is – at least for me – better, the earth that the trees are grown in has a different textureâÂ?¦”
In fact, the almonds produced in the Puglia region are sought after and shipped to bakeries in the north,
For that matter, the Peccorrele di Pasqua is a mainstay of the Easter Weekend as well. And Severino proudly boasts that all 350 Easter lambs have been sold.
“That’s always a good signâÂ?¦!” he chuckles. “It means I must be doing something right..!”
