It's not Easter without Pastiera

Hello everyone. How did you spend your Easter break? Did you have fun? Did you eat something in particular? For these holidays I cooked delicious typical Easter dishes, included the" mythological" Pastiera Napoletana, the most typical Easter's sweet  in Naples and Campania. So, since I am from Campania and I love this cake with all my heart...and since I decided with my almost-husband to stay here for holidays, instead to go in Italy, I prepared the Pastiera to sweeten our days .

The Pastiera is not really  a cake, but is a tart and it is made from a very special and old recipe, that includes cooked wheat and a moisture taken from the orange tree blossom, that gives to this tart a unique flavour and taste.

The preparation does not require any particular cooking skills or ability, but does require patience and a little time spent in the kitchen...that in the end is really worth it.

Let's see ingredients and method

INGREDIENTS FOR 12 PEOPLE:

1kg pre packed sweet short crust pastry (if you want to make yourself I will explain in a next post how to make an homemade pastry. I just thought for this recipe to simplify your life).

500gr ricotta cheese

500gr sugar

5 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks

400gr of boiled wheat

30gr butter or lard

100gr of milk

vanilla flavour

orange tree blossom flavour

1 lemon

METHOD:

Let's start boiling the wheat following instructions on packet. After that mix the rest of the ingredients. Pour the wheat, the milk, the butter and 1 lemon grated peel in a casserole pan. Let it cook for 10 minutes and often stir the ingredients till they become cream. When the cream is ready let it chill. In a large bowl whip the ricotta cheese, the sugar, 5 eggs, 2 egg yolks, a spoon of vanilla flavour, a spoon of orange tree blossom flavour and mix everything. Then add the mixture with wheat cooled in the bowl and stir until everything is homogenous. Usually I mix everything with a hand mixer, to make smoother.Spread the pastry (either the pre-packed or the homemade) with a pin until is thicker. Put the short pastry in a 30cm wide pan greased and floured and cut the exceeding edges off, spread them with a pin and cut the short pastry in strips.Then pour the mixture prepared in the pan with the pastry and put the pastry strips on it.

My super homemade Pastiera

Pre-heat the oven a 200° and then pass to 180° when you start to cook your Pastiera. Cook until become golden and turn-off the oven. Let the Pastiera inside at least for 1 hour to dry completely.

Serve the Pastiera with icing sugar on the top.

Close your eyes...smell, eat and enjoy!

There is a legend about the Pastiera, telling that Partenope, the mermaid lived in the gulf of Naples, emerged every spring form the water to greet all the happy people who lived there and to intonating love call. One day her voice was so fascinating that all the people started to ran towards the se, moved by the sweetness of the song. So they decided to thank the mermaid giving her the most precious gift they had. Seven of the most beautiful maidens brought to Partenope the gifts: flour, wheat, ricotta cheese, eggs, water with orange flower fragrance, spices  and sugar. The mermaid was so happy of these gifts that decided to bring them to the gods and goddess who lived in the sea. The gods and goddess decided to mix them altogether. The result was the first Pastiera which exceeded the sweetness of the Mermaids 'call.

Another legend tells that Queen Mariateresa d’Austria, wife of Ferdinando II of Borbone, had a nickname "the queen who never smiled". One day her husband, who was outgoing and loved eating, convinced her to try a new recipe. As soon as she tried her first piece of Pastiera she couldn't resist smiling, and at this point her husband shouted: "I’ll have to wait next Easter to see my wife smiling again!"

The modern Pastiera was probably invented in a secret Convent very close to Naples city by a nun.  The nun wanted that the cake had to symbolize the Resurrection and, for this reason, she decided to use the flavour of orange blossom tree with ricotta, wheat, eggs and sugar.

Nowadays every person has a special recipe of Pastiera, but every good Neapolitan woman knows that the Pastiera must be cooked with some days in advance, no later than Maundy Thursday or Maundy Friday, in order to allow the fragrance to mix properly...to have a s a result that unique taste.