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04/23/2002 Archived Entry: "Pashka"

A listener called Food Talk recently to consult about what seemed like an odd recipe for Pashka, the sweetened fresh cheese mold made for Russian Orthodox Easter, which this year falls on May 5. She thought it was strange, as did I, that the heavy cream in the recipe was boiled. The question set me on a little research mission. It is not hard to find Pashka recipes. They are in books. They are on the internet. I have friends who make pashka and they were all eager to share their memories and recipes.

What I learned is that Pashka recipes fall roughly into two categories, those that blend the cheese with a custard cream (raw egg yolks and cream), which is often but not always cooked, and those that don’t have a custard.

Pashka is essentially a crustless cheesecake, unquestionably a first cousin to the earliest creamy-style, so-called New York cheese cake. Both Pashka and the first Jewish-American cheesecakes were made with what we would now call cottage cheese, or pot cheese, which is essentially a larger, drier curd of cottage cheese. In Europe, these cheeses were (and still are) slightly fermented and sour. There must also have been a cheese something like American-style cream cheese in the Jewish villages of czarist Russia. That’s where the American product originates.

But back to Pashka. The recipe has obviously evolved along the same lines as cheesecake. Contemporary Pashka recipes often combine cream cheese and farmer’s cheese, which is the driest form of cottage cheese. The recipe that I made and enjoyed, and which I offer here with only some changes in the directions, is from Please to the Table by Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman, which was published by Workman in 1990.

Paskha
(Easter Cheese Mold)
Serves 8

Arthur’s Two Cents: Pashka is properly packed into a special mold that shapes it into a pyramid embossed with the letters “XB,” which stands for Khristos voskres (“Christ has risen”). A clay flowerpot has become the modern stand-in for the metal mold. Somehow, the conceit that the cheese mixture needs to drain has been perpetuated in many contemporary recipes, including this one. There is nothing to drain here. Farmer’s cheese is dry. It, and the cream cheese, absorb all the cream. Old-style recipes, made with homemade soured cottage cheese, and with a custard enrichment, probably do to drain.

In addition, the recipe calls for an 8-cup flowerpot, which is one 7 by 7 inches, a size that is difficult to find. I used a 6-inch diameter flowerpot, measured across the top, and had 1 cup of extra cheese filling: It was just as delicious scooped out of a bowl. I do suggest that you chill the mixture in a flowerpot – or whatever receptacle – so that it unmolds nicely.

Pashka is so rich you would not eat it for its own sake – although we do cheesecake. It is generally eaten spread on a very lightly sweet yeast cake called kulich. Kulich is somewhat like a babka, so if you can find a babka with minimal filling, use it. Otherwise, the Pashka is delicious spread on other eggy yeast breads, such as challah and brioche. I prefer them toasted and topped with Pashka.

You need to keep the Pashka chilled – it will hold up in the refrigerator, well wrapped, for up to two weeks, although it may get a little dry. But it is better eaten at a temperature closer to room temperature.

2 pounds homemade cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature, cut into pieces
6 large hard-cooked egg yolks, crumbled
1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
3/4 cup ground almonds
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1/2 cup golden raisins
Chopped candied fruit for decoration

In a large bowl, combine the cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese, sugar, cream cheese, and egg yolks, stirring to mix.

In two batches, process the mixture in a food processor, adding an equal amount of cream to each batch, until completely smooth. Transfer back to the bowl.

Stir in the ground almonds, lemon zest, lemon extract, and vanilla extract. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and them to the cheese mixture along with the raisins. Mix thoroughly.

Line a clean, unused 8-cup flower pot with a double layer of rinsed and squeezed dry cheesecloth. Spoon the mixture into the lined pot, then fold the ends of the cheesecloth neatly over the top. Place a saucer on the cheesecloth, then a 2-pound weight, such as a can, on the saucer. Put the flower pot in a bowl large enough for the liquid to drain into. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

Empty the bowl. Unmold the Pashka onto a serving plate and carefully remove the cheesecloth Decorate with candied fruit, pressing some of the fruit into the Paskha to form the letters XB, if desired.