This recipe was derived from my sister Nancy’s friend Cristen Sirignano-Irving from Connecticut. Nancy had taken on this recipe and made it a part of her Easter tradition and the recipe has since traveled to Canada and has become a part of the family brunch.

It’s the Thursday before Easter and I have promised to make the traditional cheese crostada my mother makes for Easter brunch. It occurs to me as I’m out running errands that I had better pick up the ricotta cheese because everything will be closed tomorrow. I stopped at International Cheese a few blocks from my house and see a line-up around the block, mostly Italian men sent to purchase the coveted fresh cheese required at any good Italian’s Easter table. The cheese will be made into sweet and savoury tarts, put in soups and eaten fresh and unadorned. I circled the block trying to decide if I want to take the time to wait in the line. I decide