Flavours Italian Easter menu: Pastiera Napoletana recipe

Traditional desserts are some of the most usual reasons to fall in love with Italian cuisine, as they combine what Italian food is all about – tasty flavours with simple ingredients.

Well, it has been almost a year since last Easter when I was spending an amazing week of Pilates holidays in Tuscany and where I first tasted this delicious dessert that I will share with you today. 

PASTIERA NAPOLETANA

Ingredients for the filling

• 350 gr ricotta cheese (both from cow and sheep, if possible) 
• 350 gr sugar 
• 2 entire eggs 
• 2 egg yolks 
• 50gr candied citrons 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 grated lemon zest 
• 50 gr candied oranges 
• 200 ml milk 
• 1 vanilla bean 
• 250 gr cooked wheat  
• 30 gr butter 
• 25 ml orange tree blossom water

Ingredients for the short crust pastry 

• 250 gr flour 
• 125 gr butter 
• 100 gr sugar 
• 1 vanilla bean 
• 1 entire egg 
• 1 egg yolk

To brush
1 egg 

Directions

Start with preparing the short crust pastry: in a mixer, put in the flour, the cold butter and the sugar. Once you’ve got the mixture, put it on the pastry board and make a well in the middle, adding the vanilla bean seeds, the egg and the egg yolk; work the dough quickly, make a block, wrap it in cellophane and put in the fridge for about 1 hour. 

Meanwhile, prepare the wheat cream: pour the milk in a pot, add the cooked wheat, the lemon zest and the butter, stir to boiling point to obtain a thick cream. Let it cool in a bowl. In your mixer, mix the eggs with the sugar, the ricotta cheese, the orange tree blossoms, the vanilla bean seeds and the cinnamon - the cream should be pretty liquid. Add the wheat cream, blend and put the candied oranges and citrons. T

Take the pastry block from the fridge, put a little part aside, and roll out the rest – 1/2 cm thick. Spread some butter in a spring form baking pan and cover the bottom with the short crust pastry (cut the edges in excess). Pour the wheat cream inside until it reaches the borders, knead the part put aside with the leftover dough, roll it out and cut in stripes 1,5-2cm thick. Put them on the cake in a grill shape and brush with the beaten egg.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 200º for 50-60 minutes. Let it cool in the same baking pan. Sprinkle some confectioner’s sugar and serve!

So, what do you think about this scrumptious dessert? Why not add it on your Easter menu and bring some Italian flavours for your family and guests this year? They may even ask you for the recipe to make it as a usual cake – at least this is what happened to me when I came back refreshed and with lots of Italian inspiration from my amazing Pilates holidays last Easter but this is something we can discuss in another post..