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Have you already thought about what to prepare for Easter lunch? Do you have any family recipes that you prepare on this occasion? For Easter lunch at our house, the first course is the ever-present Anolini in meat stock, but we are always on the lookout for a new meat main course that everyone will agree on. So here’s an extra idea that you can cook with me as we watch the video recipe: White meat loaf.

This white meat loaf is very simple and can also be prepared the night before, then cooked at the last minute. The presence of hard-boiled eggs (symbol of new life) makes it nutritionally rich and beautiful to serve on the table with its lively colours.

If you are still looking for ideas for the Easter lunch menu, this meat main course could be a nice solution: naturally gluten-free and without carbohydrates. Happy Easter!

White meat loaf

negligible carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 600g ground turkey and chicken meat
  • 250g fresh or frozen spinach
  • 90g Speck slices*
  • 50g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
  • 4 eggs
  • Pecorino cheese, grated
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Cook the fresh or frozen spinach in a non-stick pan with a little oil; season with salt and leave to cool.
  2. Hard-boil 3 eggs by placing them in boiling water. Let boil for 8 minutes. Once cooked and cooled, shell them.
  3. Place the ground meat in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, grated Parmesan cheese and 1 egg. Mix to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
  4. Roll out a sheet of baking paper, grease it with a little oil and lay the minced meat on it; with the help of a sheet of cling film and a rolling pin, form a rectangle of about 35x25cm.
  5. Form a layer of bacon on top, cover with spinach, season with grated Pecorino cheese, then place the 3 hard-boiled eggs in the centre of the rectangle. Roll it up into a cylinder and seal it tightly at the ends. Wrap the cylinder in the baking paper.
  6. Heat the convection oven to 200°C and bake the meatloaf for 25 minutes, then remove it and brown it quickly in a non-stick frying pan with a little oil. Cut into slices and serve.

Polpettone di carni bianche

White Meatloaf ready to taste

Version with gluten of White meat loaf

This recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients, so no adaptations are necessary.

Mini Easter pies with artichokes are my single-serving version of the Easter pie the Easter classic and symbol of rebirth par excellence.

Prepared with the ever-present brisé pastry, in the filling, in addition to Swiss chard, I used artichokes and quail eggs for an irresistible taste.

If the weather and temperatures permit, with Mini Easter pies with artichokes we can also organise an Easter or Easter Monday lunch outdoors, even in the form of a picnic, as the mini pies are very easy to carry and enjoy, whether sitting or standing.

Are you ready to knead? Let us begin and… a Happy Easter to you all!

Mini Easter pies with artichokes  

19.26g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for the brisé pastry

  • 300g gluten free bread flour mix, brand Biaglut**
  • 150g butter
  • 80g water
  • salt

Ingredients for the filling

  • 300g cow’s milk ricotta
  • 200g cleaned artichokes
  • 200g cleaned Swiss chard
  • 100g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
  • 12 quail eggs
  • 1 egg
  • 10g parsley
  • 1 clove garlic
  • salt, pepper

Ingredients for the béchamel sauce

  • 100g milk
  • 10g brown rice flour*
  • 10g extra virgin olive oil
  • salt

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparing Mini Easter pies with artichokes

  1. Mix all the ingredients for the brisé pastry in a planetary mixer or bowl until smooth and even. Cover the brisé pastry with cling film and place it in the refrigerator for the time needed to prepare the filling.
  2. Sweat the Swiss chard in a non-stick pan with a little oil and using only the remaining water from washing. Allow the water to evaporate well before chopping it.
  3. Clean the artichokes by removing the tough leaves and tips, then cut them in half to remove the choke and cut them into wedges. Cook the artichokes in a non-stick pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a clove of garlic (to be removed at the end of cooking), seasoning with a pinch of salt.
le mammole

Mammolas

  1. Prepare the béchamel sauce. Put the milk on the stove and bring it to the boil. In the meantime, mix the oil with the rice flour and when the milk has come to the boil, start adding it slowly into the rice flour mixture, stirring so that no lumps form. Add the milk and put everything back on the heat until the béchamel starts to thicken. Season with salt and leave to cool.
  2. Put the ricotta in a bowl, add the chopped Swiss chard and artichokes. Also chop the parsley, add it to the mixture and season with grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Finally add the béchamel sauce and mix well.
  3. Roll out a thin disc of dough on a cutting board and cut 12 discs of the necessary diameter to cover tartlet moulds. I used the non-stick 12 muffin mould by Le Creuset and a 12cm diameter pastry cutter. Fill all the mould.
  4. Fill the brisé shells with the artichoke mixture almost to the top and create a hole in the centre of the filling. Break a quail egg in the hole, then cover the egg with more filling.
La preparazione delle pasqualine

Preparation of Mini Easter pies

  1. Cut 12 disks of brisé pastry the size needed to cover and seal each pie using a fork. Finally, beat the egg and brush the surface of all the pies and use a toothpick to pierce the surface of each pie in the centre: the small hole will act as a ‘chimney’ and reduce the risk of cracking during baking.
  2. Bake the Easter pie in a static oven preheated to 180°C for about 25 minutes until the surface is golden brown. Take the pies out of the oven and serve lukewarm or cold.

Pasqualine ai carciofi

Mini Easter pies with artichokes ready to be enjoyed

Version with gluten of Mini Easter pies with artichokes

Replace the gluten free flour in the brisé with an equal amount of wheat flour; no other adaptation is needed.