Torta Pasqualina

I know I have been silent for the last couple of weeks, not that I haven't been cooking and knitting up a storm but that thing called "work" has meant that I haven't had much time to update you on my cakery. Now to fill you in. When I was in Milan recently (I will shut up about Milan soon, I promise) we had a traditional Easter savoury tart called Torta Pasqualina. Yummy pastry filled with spinach and cheese. So when I had friends around for dinner a couple of weeks ago with a vegetarian being amongst the guests I decided to give it a go. After much Internet research I settled on a recipe that I felt would be doable and tasty (there were many different variations out there). What was common to all was the pastry or rather the layers of pastry. It turns out that it's not just one layer of pastry but several, it varied from recipe to recipe but it's at least five layers (top and bottom,with oil brushed between each one). The one I chose (see link above) stipulated seven layers but being a novice I wimped out and did five. I made the pastry with olive oil, flour and water and kneaded it for 10 minutes then divided it into 10 balls and left it to sit. I then proceeded to sit in the sun reading and generally feeling pretty good about how organised I was. It then got to 6pm (guests arriving 7.30pm, pie takes an hour to cook) and I was in a panic. So I started rolling, you have to roll each ball of pastry very thin (very thin) and big enough to cover the dish and hang over. At first I panicked but then got into a rhythm and although it took longer than expected I managed to get it in the oven in time, phew. The filling was easy really, spinach mixed with Parmesan, garlic, parsley and marjoram and put on the bottom of the pie. Then covered with ricotta and finally eggs broken into reservoirs, more Parmesan and then your five layers on top. I tell you it was worth the panic, it was a treat. I would re-think the pastry next time as it was a bit dry but that didn't stop people going back for seconds. Next time....Chocolate Fondant, finally!

Egg-making Photo Story

Eggtastic

Hello all and apologies for the gap in posts. As you know I was in Milan for Easter but then was sick at the end of last week and could hardly lift my head off the pillow let alone come up with some bon mots concerning cakes and cardies! But all better now and ready to tell all about Easter egg making, fab food and rain. I have to take my hat off to my sister-in-law in who's house we were staying. She was feeding 6 adults and 4 children for the whole weekend and we never went hungry for good home cooking let me tell you. But a special mention has to be made of the Chocolate Fondant that she made on the Saturday evening, it was a triumph. If it had been on Masterchef Greg would have been in Dessert Heaven (I did butter and coat the moulds in cocoa so I feel I added a little to it, not much but you know....). I have a lot to live up to and we shall see this weekend, it's Chocolate Fondant weekend, at last. We went out for Easter Sunday lunch to a farmhouse in the foothills of the area near where we were staying. It was a beautiful old Italian farmhouse where they grow and raise everything that they serve. There isn't a menu, they just keep bringing food, more food and more food. There were four antipasti, two primi's (pasta and risotto) two secondi's, all sooo tasty. Then they brought a bottle of sweet wine (yum, I brought one back) and some biscuits and we tucked in thinking that was it, there couldn't be any more, could there? Oh yes there could! Just as I was tucking into my third (I know....I thought that was it!) biscuit they brought out bowls with a traditional Easter cake (Colombo, a sort of brioche baked in the shape of a dove with great big sugar crystals on top) with a chocolate orange sauce. I don't know where we found the room but all the bowls were emptied. And all this for very little, great value and lovely people and what else can you do when it's raining gatti e cani.
So on Saturday afternoon (it was raining) we decided it was time to make the Easter eggs. I had a mould for each of my nieces (two) and nephews (two), chocolate and brushes to paint on the chocolate. Everyone was very excited so with the chocolate melted we started. My nieces remained excited throughout and did a great job, they couldn't wait for each layer to set so they could do the next. My nephews managed to do the first layer and maybe the second but then the call of the toy car was too much and their fathers finished off their eggs instead (their mothers were sensibly lying down or reading). We finished them and I then sent them off so I could fill them with secret gifts and stick them together and parcel them ready for the Easter egg hunt the next morning. And the egg hunt was lots of fun and many eggs were found and opened, Italian (and French) Easter eggs are very different from our English eggs, these were basically giant Kinder eggs. It was great to watch the wide-eyed manic opening of the eggs, by any means necessary, there were no prisoners taken!
So all in all a great weekend and again thanks to my sister-in-law, a brave lady indeed.