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..

Easter in Italy - Italian culinary traditions - What do people eat in Italy over Easter?

Buona Pasqua!

What are the traditions of easter in Italy? Our guest writer Ilaria from beautiful Venice tells all!

Easter is a great time to visit Italy, with festivals and celebrations taking place all over the country. Together with Christmas, Easter is one of the two most important festivals in the Christian year.

In Italy, Easter is a strictly observed religious celebration, characterised by specific rites and rituals. Some of them are performed throughout the whole country (such as the traditional procession on Good Friday), but there’s also a variety of town festivals and street celebrations taking place during the Settimana Santa (Holy Week) which are part of the local folklore. One of the most characteristic street representations is probably the traditional “scoppio del carro” (Cart Burst or Easter Fire) in Florence, a ceremony dating back to 1099.

On Easter morning, a monumental, richly adorned oxcart arrives in Piazza del Duomo followed by a traditional procession of trumpet-players and performers dressed in traditional customs. Then, during the mass, the bishop lights an "Iron Dove" (Colombina) with flames and slides it along a wire that connects the major altar to the cart outside. The Colombina ignites the cart, which will burst out in all its magnificence, and then slides back to the altar.

However, for most people Easter means much more than a religious celebration, representing indeed a major occasion for conviviality and family gathering. Like Christmas, Easter day is closely associated with excellent food and special culinary traditions, which Italian people are very proud of. Let’s have a look at them!

On Easter Sunday, after the Holy Mass, people usually gather for the traditional Easter lunch. The menu varies from region to region, but a typical Easter lunch will usually consist of at least 4 courses;

Starters (usually hard-boiled eggs followed by a selection of local cold cuts and cheese), a first main course (chicken broth with tortellini and meat lasagne are the most popular dishes), roast lamb as a second course served with seasonal vegetables, and finally the traditional Easter cake, the colomba, followed by Easter egg. To pay homage to the spring, most Easter dishes are usually flavoured with fresh herbs, especially home-made pies such as torta pasqualina (a traditional Easter pie filled with cheese and vegetables, typical of Genoa). Torta pasqualina is usually eaten during the traditional Easter Monday picnic, as on that day it is customary to go with one’s family or friends for an outing to the hills, the country or the lakeside.

The colomba (the name derives from its characteristic dove shape) is a simple but delicious cake made of leavened pastry with candies, topped with frosting and sugar grains. Its shape is highly symbolic, as doves are typically associated with peace, but is also said to result from an ancient folk legend set in the sixth Century, according to which Olbino (King of the Lombards) received a dove shaped cake on Easter Eve as a symbol of peace, and decided to stop his siege of the city of Pavia.

Another popular Easter cake in the south of Italy is pastiera napoletana, which is typical of the area of Naples and is regarded as the real masterpiece of Neapolitan pastry making. The basis of the pastiera is traditionally obtained soaking wheat and then cooking it into milk and sugar. The resulting pastry will be then enriched with ricotta cheese, milk, eggs and citrus candies. The origin of the pastiera napoletana is associated with a fascinating story as well, according to which seven maidens would have offered the 7 ingredients of the pastiera (each of them bearing a symbolic meaning) to the mermaid Partenope: wheat and flour as significant yields of the Earth, eggs as symbol of life renewal, ricotta cheese as a gift from shepherds, citrus flavours and sugar recalling spring scent.

If you can’t spend Easter in Italy, try one of the following recipes and enjoy the traditional dishes of Italian Easter tradition at home! For more information about our Italian cooking holidays visit our website, we offer courses in Tuscany, Bologna, Sicily and Puglia - which are sure to wet your appetite!

How to make Torta Pasqualina...

This savory Torta is similar to a quiche and is perfect as a side for easter dinner or as a starter!

Torta Pasqualina

Ingrediants:

400 g White flour

2 Tablespoonfuls extra virgin olive oil

Salt Water For the filling

500 g Chard

200 g Ricotta cheese

50 g Melted butter

6 Eggs

1 Tablespoonful fresh marjoram

4 Tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese

4 Tablespoonfuls grated Pecorino cheese

1 Glass milk

1 Glass olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method:

Mix the flour with olive oil and salt, and then gradually add as much tepid water as you need to get a soft, solid mixture.

Knead the pastry until you see some little bubbles in it and then let it stand under a moist cloth – if you wish to save time, you can use frozen flaky pastry. Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin to obtain 6 layers, which need to be as thin as possible. Clean the chard and cook it on a low heat for 6 minutes.

Then squeeze water out of it, chop it thinly and put it into a big bowl. Add the crumbled ricotta cheese, 2 eggs, the grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoonfuls of Pecorino and the marjoram: if the mixture is too stiff, soften it with milk.

Line an oiled mould with a layer of pastry and oil the layer itself with a pastry brush, repeating the procedure with 2 further layers – remember not to oil the last one). Lay the filling on the top and dig 4 holes with a tablespoon, then place the raw eggs into them. Season with salt and dust with the remaining Pecorino.

Cover with a layer of pastry and then lay 2 further layers upon it, always oiling the top of each layer. Seal with the pastry left-overs forming a thick border all around the pie. Oil the top and puncture it with a toothpick, paying attention not to break the eggs. Put the pie in the pre-warmed oven at 200° C for 40 minutes.

The torta pasqualina can be served tepid or cool, and it’s ideal for Easter Monday lunch.

How to make Pastiera Napoletana...

Here we show you an ancient dish from Italy! A centuries old dish in many versions, each made according to a closely guarded family recipe. Find out how here!

Pastiera Napoletana

Ingrediants:

500 g Frozen short pastry

500 g Ricotta cheese

200 g Sugar

220 g Pre-cooked wheat

40 g Candied citron

40 g Candied orange

A pinch cinnamon

2 dl milk

30 g Butter

5 Eggs

50 g Confectioner’s sugar

1 Lemon Salt

Method:

Defrost the pastry at room temperature. Pour the wheat, the milk, the butter and the grated peel of ½ lemons into a saucepan and let them cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
Sieve the Ricotta cheese and mix it with sugar, cinnamon, and the grated peel of ½ lemons, cubed candied fruit and salt. Add 4 yolks, the wheat cream and 3 whipped whites, stirring in the meantime.
Grease a baking pan (24 cm in diameter) with butter and line it with the short pastry, after having rolled it out with a rolling pin (until it becomes approx. ½ cm thick). Cut the exceeding pastry, roll it out and form some little stripes. Pour the mixture into the baking pan, flatten it, fold the pastry borders inwards and then arrange the stripes upon it forming a grid.
Brush it with a beaten yolk and put the cake into the oven at 180° for 1 hour and a half.
Let it cool and dust the cake with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

How to make Easter Colomba...

The perfect Easter treat! If your someone special isn't all that fond of Chocolate Easter Eggs then consider an Easter Colomba Cake. They've very popular in Italy and is a cake shapped in the form of a dove to symbolise peace.The Colomba Cake is similar to patettone but without raisons and with spiced, candied orange peal.

Ingrediants:
1.2 kg Flour
450 g Butter
300 g Candied fruit
300 g Sugar
100 g Milk
50 g Brewer’s yeast
50 g Sugar grains
9 Eggs
1 Lemon
Salt to taste


Method:
Leaven 200 g of flour and warm up 2 lt. of water in a big-size saucepan.
Dilute the yeast in a bowl with 50 ml. tepid water.
Add 120 g of flour and knead it until the mixture gets stiff.
Form a ball and run it into the flour. Score a cross on the surface with a knife. Lay the mixture into the saucepan containing the tepid water and let it stand approx. 10 minutes. Turn it over more times until it rises to the surface.
Let it cook for 15 minutes more. In the meantime arrange flour into a well, and then add 8 yolks and a pinch of salt.
Add the grated lemon peel, 250 g of softened butter, 100 g of tepid milk and sugar. Finally add the pastry ball and amalgamate the ingredients, soften the mixture with milk if necessary. Knead it for 20 minutes, until it looks smooth and homogeneous.
Make a ball and run it into the flour. Then cover it with a cloth and let it leaven in a warm place at 25° C. When the mixture has risen 1/3 more than its original volume, roll it out and add 75 g of butter. Form again a ball, run it into flour and let it leaven under the cloth. When it is twice its original volume, roll it out and knead it for ca. 5 minutes, adding 75 g of butter.
Add the cubed candied fruit and knead again. Grease two oven plates with butter and shape a dove with most part of the mixture, using the remaining pastry to form some small doves. Lay the big one on one plate and the small doves on the other.
Cover with greaseproof paper and let it leaven in a warm place for 30 minutes approx. Brush the surface of the doves with beaten yolk and sprinkle with sugar grains. Let it stand for 5 minutes more and then put it in the oven at 190° C.
Wait 10 minutes and then lower the temperature. Cover the doves with buttered greaseproof paper and bake for 15-30 minutes, depending on the size of the doves.