Pashka

Every year, since I was small, my grandmother would make a dish at Easter which we just called the "Easter Dish". I only recently learnt that it is in fact a traditional Russian orthodox Easter dish called "Pashka". We are not Russian orthodox but we still enjoy it every year and recently, I have taken over making it for my family.

You will need:
two large and one small bowl
a whisk
some scales
a clean muslin cloth
a clean flowerpot made of clay
a small plate
something heavy

500 g quark (if you don't have any where you are, I think ricotta or cream cheese might work as well)
1 Egg
125 g sugar
200 g unsalted soft butter
1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla
50 g ground almonds ( the white ones, which have been peeled before grinding)
1 pinch of salt

If you have a fairly large pot, double the recipe.

First, put the flowerpot in a big bowl and cover it completely with water. Set it aside.

Mix the soft butter, egg, sugar  and salt and whip it until it is nice and fluffy. Then mix in the quark, vanilla, and the almonds.

Take your pot out of the water, line the inside with your cloth and then pour in your mixture.

Place the pot in a small bowl to catch the liquid that will come out the bottom, compress down the mix and cover the top with the edges of the cloth.

 Put a small plate over the mix and weigh it down with something heavy. Make sure the plate is small enough that your mix can actually be compressed. Place the whole construction in a cool place and leave for at least 1, better 2-3 days. On Easter morning,open up the cloth, turn it onto a plate, take of the pot and then carefully pull of the cloth. The mixture should have solidified into the cone shape of the flowerpot. Serve with fresh fruit or just on its own.