Today I want to share with you the recipe for one of the most classic Italian Easter sweets: pastiera napoletana. As the name suggests, it is a typical cake from the city of Naples and it is a very ancient dish, as it appears to have originated before the Christian era, when it was eaten to celebrate the arrival of spring (this very likely explains the use of wheat kernels in the filling). This is also one of my all time favourite cakes. I love all sweets with ricotta, but this has a special place in my stomach heart. What makes it so special to me is the orange blossom water used in the filling. Ever smelt the scent of zagare (orange blossoms)? It is one of the most inebriating scents ever and eating a piece of pastiera takes you straight to a beautiful garden full of zagare. It is the perfect symbol of spring and that is why it is eaten for Easter. To fully enjoy it, it is best prepared on the Thursday and then served on Easter Sunday. This gives the cake enough time to set. So, I leave you to this week’s Regional Italian dish: pastiera napoletana from Campania! Enjoy!

Ingredients: (for a 20 cm – 8 inches round spring form pan)

Pastry

125 gms – 4.4 oz. butter

250 gms – 2 cups flour

1 egg + 1 yolk

100 gms – 3.5 oz. sugar

1 sachet Vanillina or ½ tsp vanilla extract

Filling

15 gms – 1 tbsp orange blossom water

100 gms – 3.5 oz. candied orange peels, chopped

15 gms – 1 tbsp butter

½ tsp cinnamon

125 gms – 4.4 oz. pre-cooked durum wheat kernels (you can substitute this with cooked barley)

100 ml – 3.5 oz. milk

Zest of ½ lemon

300 gms – 10.5 oz. ricotta

300 gms – 10.5 oz. sugar

2 eggs (keep 1 tsp to brush on strips)

1 sachet Vanillina or ½ tsp vanilla extract

Start by making the pastry. Put all the ingredients in a mixer and blend until combined. Then knead the mixture for a minute on a lightly floured surface until you get a smooth dough. Wrap it in cling wrap and put it in the fridge to rest for at least 40 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the filling.

Put the pre-cooked durum wheat kernels a sauce pan. Add the milk, butter and lemon zest. Let it simmer on a low fire until it thickens and becomes custard like. Remember to stir it often or it may burn. When ready, put it in a big bowl and let it cool down.

In the meantime, put the ricotta, eggs (remember to keep aside 1 tsp of egg to brush the cake with), sugar, orange blossom water, Vanillina and cinnamon in a mixer and blend well.

Mix the durum wheat kernel cream with the ricotta mixture and add the chopped orange peels.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and cut out a small piece that you will use to make the griddle on the top. Roll the remaining pastry into a 3 mm – 0.1 inches thick round sheet and put it into a greased 20 cm – 8 inches spring form pan. Make sure to leave a border of about 6 cm – 2.5 inches to contain the filling (1). Then pour the filling mixture into the pan (2). Roll the remaining dough (3), cut some strips 1.5 cm – 0.6 inches wide and put them on the top of the cake to make a diamond pattern (4). Brush them with the little egg you kept aside (5-6).

Bake in a preheated oven at 190ºC – 375ºF for about 1 hour. Let it cool down completely before unmoulding. Let it rest at least 24 hours before serving it.

Some people like to dust it with some icing sugar, but I like it “plain”. Enjoy!

Before I leave you, I would like to THANK Fiona from Nuts about food who awarded MsM with the Liebster Award!

I found Fiona’s blog by chance about a year ago and since then I have been hooked. We have quite a few things in common (to name just one… she lives in my home town) and I consider her a good friend, one that I hope to meet in person the fist time I get the chance to fly back to Milan on holiday!!! If you haven’t visited her site yet, please do! She has some fantastic recipes and I am sure you will be back for more! 🙂 GRAZIE Fiona! <3

If you receive the Liebster award, follow these five steps:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Link back to their blog.

3. Copy and paste the Liebster award to your profile

4. Pick 5 blogs that you feel deserve to be in the spotlight (they must have 200 followers or under)

5. Blog about it and leave a comment for your nominations to let them know that you have chosen their blog.

I don’t know how many followers they have… but I love these blogs! I pass this award to:

Karin from Yum and More

Enjoy browsing!!! <3

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