How many of us spend this quarantine in the kitchen experimenting with new dishes? Coldiretti announced that flour and yeast sales are booming. A sign that most Italians have completely moved into the kitchen. So, we give you a tasty recipe suitable for Easter approaching: the pastiera!
History and ingredients
The Neapolitan tradition has it that it begins to be prepared on Holy Thursday and then consumed on Saturday and Easter Sunday. But, first of all, where does the Pastiera come from? Legend has it that the wives of some fishermen left baskets full of ricotta, candied fruit, wheat and eggs on the beach. A sort of offering to the sea to let their husbands return to their homes safe and sound. The next day, however, they noticed that the waves of water, which beat on the shore during the night, had mixed the ingredients, leaving the pastiera on the sand, a pleasant surprise.
For the shortcrust pastry:
- 2 eggs
- 100 g of sugar
- 120 g of butter
- 350 g of flour approx
For the stuffing:
- 250 g of cooked wheat
- 200 ml of milk
- 250 g of sugar
- 3 eggs (the yolks separated from the whites)
- 250 g of ricotta
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 piece of lemon peel
- 10-20 ml of wildflower aroma
- candied
Method
Let's start by preparing the shortcrust pastry. In a bowl, combine the butter into small pieces with the eggs and sugar. We knead and, little by little, add the flour. Pour the dough onto a pastry board and knead it until it no longer sticks to your hands. Our shortcrust pastry is ready to be wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, let's prepare the filling. First the cooking of the wheat. Pour the latter, together with the milk and lemon peel, into a saucepan. We mix the mixture and bring to the fire until the wheat has absorbed all the milk. It will take about 10-15 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the lemon peel.
At this point we prepare the rest of the filling. In a bowl, pour the ricotta, sugar, egg yolks and whipped egg whites. Incorporate the freshly cooked wheat (to make the mixture creamier we can blend a part of it). Let's add the wildflower aroma and the candied fruit. Flour a 26 cm diameter round pan, roll out 2/3 of the shortcrust pastry and place it in the pan. We pour our filling and with the rest of the dough we get some strips to garnish the tart. We bake in a preheated static oven at 170 ° for 50 minutes, then at 160 ° C for 15 minutes. A nice sprinkle of icing sugar (if you like) and our pastiera is ready!
A variant of the pastiera
For an even tastier version we can add the custard cream to the filling. Just use ½ l of milk, 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 4 of flour and the zest of a lemon. Pour the milk, together with the lemon peel, into a saucepan and let it heat up. In a fairly large pot, combine the eggs with the sugar and flour until the mixture is smooth and without lumps. At this point, add the boiling milk. We bring to the fire, and always stirring, we wait for the cream to thicken reaching the boil. We just have to get to work and savor it!
# Italian in the heart
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