An Easter table: How four food lovers are celebrating this weekend

The Easter long weekend is a fuss-free celebration of friends, family and plenty of food.

Julia Busuttil Nishimura serves Torta Pasqualina. Source: Armelle Habib

Easter is an important time on the Christian calendar, one that symbolises sacrifice, reflection and renewal. It's a time for joyous feasting after a period of fasting and penitence. Easter reminds us that life may be tough, but there is always hope for a peaceful future and much reflection.

Regardless of a person's religious leanings, that's a message that many need right now. It has not been an easy time for the past few years now and many are still slogging through a time of uncertainty and fear. Easter comes at just the right time to down tools and remembers what is good in life and with those we can.

In terms of celebration, Easter encompasses traditions and people tend to lock in on a formula that works well and stick with it for generations.

Anthony and Laura Yotis

"Easter is super traditional for us. It's pretty much the same every year and that's what we love about it," says Anthony and Laura Yotis, the husband and wife team who own and run The Fishmonger's Son, a much-loved seafood deli in Carlton North.

Laura and Anthony suggest loading up on rock oysters this Easter. "It's one of the easiest ways to support NSW growers to get back on their feet," says Anthony. Source: Supplied

Naturally, Good Friday is a simple seafood eating day for the Yotis family and a time to prepare for the upcoming Easter feast.

"It's a quiet family day to ease into the long weekend," says Laura. "Traditionally we have bacalao. I used to dread this as a child, but it's amazing how your palate changes as an adult. Now my dad always makes a fresh salad with parsley, garlic and lemon and I make bacalao croquetas."

We love Easter," says Laura. "There's nowhere to be but in the moment, enjoying each other and our family traditions.

Laura calls Easter Sunday "a big family and friends eating festival". The family relish being with those they love the most, continuing family traditions they have continued in their own simple, heartfelt way. Being Italian, those traditions naturally centre around food, and plenty of it.

"It's a big meal and one must pace oneself!" advises Anthony. 

It always starts at the long table with homemade pasta (this year crab ravioli with a simple fresh herb butter and lemon zest is on the menu), followed by dish after dish of everyone's favourites made with seasonal produce from the garden and, of course, lots of seafood.

Crab ravioli prepared simply with lemon, garlic and olive oil makes a special dish for the Easter table. Source: Supplied

"It's a long lunch that always starts with a toast to thank the cooks, and our loved ones that are no longer with us," says Laura. "There's always a few tears, and lots of laughter."

The family's Easter dessert "since forever" is panettone pudding and this year Anthony has treated everyone to a Dolce and Gabbana version. They'll wrap the feast up with espresso for the adults and an Easter egg hunt for the kids.

"We love Easter," says Laura. "There's nowhere to be but at the moment, enjoying each other and our family traditions."

Sneh Roy

For Sneh Roy, creator of celebrated food hub Cook Republic and author of Tasty Express, Easter traditions used to centre entirely around camping.

"When the kids were little, Easter meant family camping," reflects Roy. "A group of eight adults and 10 children spending an amazing weekend in tents by the river under the golden canopy of plane trees.

"We all brought homemade Easter treats – cakes, breads, biscuits and cooked one-pot family meals on an open fire at the campgrounds. There was always lots of hot chocolate and of course, Easter eggs strewn everywhere for the kids to hunt."

Once COVID kicked in, camping was put on hold. It probably came at the right time because Roy's boys were getting older and most likely less enthused about camping with their parents.

"We switched gears and started a new family tradition. The same every year. Hot Cross Bunny Crumpets for breakfast and a simple but special Easter meal of zuppa di pesce (Italian seafood soup) and homemade sourdough bread served al fresco."

Roy's Hot Cross Bunny Crumpets come from Crumpets by Merna, who have been making them since 2019. "Who doesn't love both hot cross buns and crumpets," founder Merna Taouk says. "We decided to bring both products together to create the perfect celebration breakfast. We also do trees at Christmas and hearts for Valentine's day... it's a lot of fun."

Sneh always serves her zuppa di pesce with hunks of crusty homemade sourdough bread. Source: Sneh Roy

Sneh's zuppa di pesce is also an excellent celebration dish, taking just 30 minutes to pull together but with a layered flavour that suggests hours of slaving. Roy's family all join in the preparations to make the soup, making the cooking just as much part of the feasting as the eating.

"When [it's] cooked, we... take it out in the garden and spend a couple of hours enjoying delicious food and lovely company," says Roy.

Julia Busuttil Nishimura

The importance of togetherness underlines Easter celebrations at Julia Busuttil Nishimura's, too. 

"Easter in my family is really a time to come together, share good food and wine and I suppose to feel that sense of closeness," says the author of favoured cookbooks Ostro and A Year of Simple Family Food. "It’s a really important holiday in my family so it’s something that has a lot of value assigned to it."

Easter is one of, if not, the most important time in the Maltese calendar. It is a very religious holiday and there are plenty of traditions and feasts.

Busuttil Nishimura's heritage is Maltese, so Easter is very much a big deal. "Easter is one of, if not, the most important time in the Maltese calendar. It is a very religious holiday and there are plenty of traditions and feasts."

Growing up, Busuttil Nishimura remembers Easter as being quite a sombre time of year. She remembers being banned from watching television or listening to music on Good Fridays. "Or do anything we thought was remotely fun," she reflects. "My parents were quite religious and strict about certain traditions like this."

She's less strict with her own children, and doesn't adhere to the 'only fish on Fridays throughout Lent rule', but she is careful to preserve other precious Easter traditions. She'll make a fish meal on Good Friday as it still feels "odd" to eat meat then. 

"Often it will be something like my grandmother’s aljotta (fish soup) or stuffed and baked snapper. Easter also means figolli which are large almond filled pastries, usually in the shape of an Easter symbol like a lamb or rabbit.

"They were always really fun to make and decorate. It’s something I like to make with my own children now. I also like to make qaghaq tal-appostli which is a ring-shaped bread topped with sesame seeds. It’s lovely with cheese and butter and traditionally eaten on Good Friday too."

Torta Pasqualina a delicious Italian spinach and egg pie traditionally served cold on Easter Sunday. Source: Armelle Habib

This Easter, Busuttil Nishimura will also be making an Italian ricotta tart, spiced with cinnamon and studded with candied fruits and chocolate. She'll also do a torta Pasqualina, which she describes as "just glorious and so fun to make." Also on the menu is Puglianese-style mussels with rice, and marinated and grilled lamb cutlets.

"I love Easter because I don’t feel the pressure like I do on Christmas Day," she explains. "It’s all about simple, easy and delicious food shared with friends and family. The kids have chocolate too, so everyone is happy."

Jacinta Carmichael-Parissi

Easter is all about the chocolate plus Italian traditions at the home of Jacinta Carmichael-Parissi, co-owner of the not-for-profit community enterprise Lyttleton Stores Cooperative in the Blue Mountains.

In particular, the family makes beautiful biscuit waffles called pizzelle. "As a farewell to my great grandmother, her village of Raiano gifted her a pizzelle waffle iron," says Carmichael-Parissi. "It has symbols around the edges and her initials in the centre of each biscuit. We flavour them with lemon zest."

Jacinta learned pasta making from her Italian family. A tradition of working together to make the prima piata for family gatherings has made for lots of practice over the years. Source: Luisa Brimble

Coming together to cook is an important part of the Easter period for Jacinta's family and friends. Making food together shares the load and helps keep the Easter lunch carefree. This year, they are making a favourite gnocchi dish, served with a mushroom sauce made from saffron cap mushrooms they will forage for beforehand.

Growing, gathering and preparing the food together is what Jacinta Carmichael-Parissi and Lyttleton Stores Cooperative are all about. Her Papa describes her as ‘the sails’ of the ship of dreamers, which is one ship we all want to be on this Easter.