La Pastiera Napoletana - Neapolitan Easter Tart

Pastiera is a traditional tart from Naples, with a crisp pastry case and a rich, creamy, sweet filling made from ricotta, cooked wheat, eggs, spices and candied peel. Its origins go back along way; in pagan Naples, this tart was made to celebrate the coming of Spring but now firmly belongs to the Easter festivities. The name comes from the word 'pasta' which is what was originally used in the filling instead of the cooked wheat.

The wheat now comes in a tin, ready cooked and prepared just for making this wonderful tart. If you live near an Italian deli, you should be able to buy it easily. If not, you can find it online, called 'Grano Cotto' and it usually says 'per pastiera'.

This isn't something you can make and bake in a hurry; there's a long list of ingredients and it's quite time-consuming to prepare. However, it's not difficult and your reward is a wonderful, rich tart that feels suitably celebratory. It easily serves 8-10 people, perfect for dessert on Easter day.

As the theme is Step into Spring, I'm sending this to the Love Cake challenge, run by JibberJabberUK.

RECIPE

• For the pastry

250g plain flour
125g butter
80g icing sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

• For the filling

350g ricotta
300g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
100g candied peel
1 tesapoon cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
30g butter
200ml milk
250g cooked wheat 
1 vanilla pod
25ml orange flower water

For the pastry, chop the butter and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Take it out and put it into a food processor together with all the other pastry ingredients except the egg and egg yolk. With the double blade attachment, whizz until the mixture is the size of small peas. Then add the egg and egg yolk and pulse until it just starts coming together. Dump out onto a board and form the mixture into a ball, flatten it down a little, wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 mins. 

While the pastry is chilling, you can make a start on the filling. In a saucepan, heat the milk, cooked wheat, lemon zest and butter together until it starts to simmer. Keep it simmering gently until it is thick and creamy. Remove from the heat and leave the mixture to cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Lightly flour a work surface and roll the pastry out thinly and use it to line a 25cm round, loose-bottomed tin, leaving some to create a lattice effect on the top of the tart. Put it back in the fridge for at least 10 minutes while you continue with the filling. 

In a food processor, whizz together the eggs, ricotta, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla seeds (scraped out of the pod) and orange flower water until you have a smooth liquid without any lumps.

Add the two mixtures together and finally fold in the candied peel. Pour the mixture carefully into the prepared pastry case and cover the top with a pastry lattice. The filling should come almost up to the top. Brush the lattice lightly with egg wash.

Bake in the oven at 200°C for 60 minutes until the tart is puffed and golden. 

Leave to cool in the tin.

Keep in a cake tin in a cool place for about two days before eating.

Raspberry Bakewell Tart

Strawberries are undoubtedly the most popular fruit of summer. Juicy and luscious, with their shameless scarlet colour and heady fragrance, they are the Marilyn Monroe of the berry world. At their best, they are indeed a delight but their ubiquitous presence in every supermarket, greengrocer and corner shop from April to October can often bring disappointment, with tastes ranging from somewhat bland to downright insipid. Raspberries however rarely betray us. Their texture is consistently good, never watery or slushy, their delicate flavour sweet yes but tempered with a sour note, subtle, more complex on the palate, Grace Kelly perhaps or Katharine Hepburn.

Raspberries are used to great effect in this recipe. A classic Bakewell tart is shortcrust pastry, filled with raspberry jam and an almondy sponge. This version, based loosely on a Nigella recipe in How To Eat, intensifies the flavours by using almonds both in the frangipane filling and the pastry and providing a double hit of fruit by adding some fresh raspberries on top of the jam. The result is wonderful - light, crisp pastry; rich, buttery frangipane; sweet, tangy raspberry. Pudding perfection.

I'm linking this up to four blogging challenges. The first is the One Ingredient Challenge run by Nazima (this month's host) from Franglais Kitchen and Laura from How to Cook Good Food. Their theme for June is Raspberries and as I love them, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's ideas.



The second is Ren Behan's Simple and In Season Challenge, another blog event that encourages us all to use local, fresh, seasonal produce.



The third is Calender Cakes, run by Rachel (this month's host) from Dolly Bakes and Laura from Laura Loves Cakes. The theme for June is Pump Up the Jam. 

Finally, as this month's letter is 'R' in the brilliant Alphabakes challenge by Ros (this month's host) from TheMoreThanOccasionalBaker and Caroline  at Caroline Makes, I'm sending this as my entry. 



RECIPE

for the pastry
120g plain or 00 flour
40g icing sugar
20g ground almonds
85g butter
1 egg yolk

for the filling
150g fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons raspberry jam
3 eggs
125g butter, melted
125g caster sugar
125g ground almonds
a few drops almond extract
40g flaked almonds

For the pastry, chop the butter and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Take it out and put it into a food processor together with all the other pastry ingredients except the egg yolk. With the double blade attachment, whizz until the mixture is the size of small peas. Then add the egg yolk and pulse until it just starts coming together. Dump out onto a board and form the mixture into a ball, flatten it down a little, wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 mins. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Lightly flour a work surface and roll the pastry out thinly and use it to line a 21cm round, loose-bottomed tin. Put it back in the fridge for at least 10 minutes while you make the filling. 

For the filling, beat the sugar, almond extract and eggs together. Then pour the melted butter in to the mixture, still stirring. Finally, mix in the ground almonds, beating well to eliminate any lumps. 

Remove the pastry case from the fridge and prick the bottom with a fork. Spread a thin layer of jam over the base and then cover evenly with the raspberries. Pour the frangipane over and sprinkle the flaked almonds on top.

Bake for about 40 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin, then carefully remove the outer ring and leave to cool further on a wire rack. You can serve the tart while still warm although it's good cold too.

Torta della Nonna - Tuscan Custard Tart

'Grandmother's Cake' is a classic, Tuscan/Ligurian dessert although there are as many different variations of it as there are grandmothers. As it's Father's Day in the UK this Sunday, if we disregard the Italian appellation, this would make a perfect ending for any Father's Day meal.

The tart combines a delicate, thin pastry crust with a thick, wobbly, vanilla-scented pastry cream inside. Pine nuts are sprinkled over the top to give a welcome crunch. My take on it is fairly traditional (bearing in mind of course that I am neither Tuscan nor a nonna) but I add almonds to the pine nuts on top, having tasted one like that in Siena recently. 

As this is completely made from scratch I'm sending it to Javelin Warrior's wonderful weekly challenge, Made with Love Mondays.

RECIPE

For the pastry

200g 00 flour

100g cold unsalted butter

75g caster sugar

1 egg

grated zest of half a lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

a pinch of salt

For the custard

350ml milk

grated zest of half a lemon

2 eggs

100g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

25g plain flour

For the topping

25g pine nuts and/or roughly chopped almonds

For the pastry, chop the butter and put it in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. Take it out and put it into a food processor together with all the other pastry ingredients. With the blade attachment, pulse until it just starts coming together then dump out onto a board and bring the mixture together with your hands until just combined. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins. 

For the filling, heat the milk and lemon zest until nearly boiling. While that's happening, put all the other ingredients in a heat proof bowl and whisk together to combine (I use an electric hand whisk or mixer). Whisking continuously, add the hot milk gradually then scrape the entire mixture back into the saucepan. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, whisking constantly until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely (not in the fridge though as it tends to make the custard lumpy).

 Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out two thirds of the pastry and use it to line a 21cm round, loose-bottomed tin. Whisk the filling again, making sure it's smooth and spoon into the pastry case, levelling it out with the back of the spoon  Fold over the excess pastry onto the top of the custard. Roll out the remaining pastry and cut into a round to cover the filling. Lay on top of the custard, pressing lightly onto the folded-over pastry to seal. Sprinkle over the pine nuts and almonds if using.

Bake for 50 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin, then carefully remove the outer ring and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Dust liberally with icing sugar before serving.