L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 44 L'Italo-Americano LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 piece for any Christmas table. While panettone and pandoro are widely manufactured indu- strially, Buccellato is still made by hand, or found in specialist pastry shops or bakeries in Sicily.  It isn't commonly found throughout Italy, and not all Italians know what buc- cellato is. Traditionally it was an important gift marking family mi- lestones.  It was a pastry associated with bringing good fortune and prosperity.  Ingredients can be ex- pensive, so it really was a gift that was made and given from the heart and something that would have been greatly appreciated by whoe- ver received it.  There is also a buc- cellato that is made in Lucca, but this is more like a fruit bread fla- vored with aniseed.  Sicily's buccellato reminds me of my English mother's Christmas baking; Christmas pudding, Chri- stmas cake and fruit mince pies are really quite similar to buccellato. Let's face it, dried fruits, nuts and alcohol together are always a marriage made in heaven. Some people make buccellatini, and these are made using the same ingredients, but are like cookies. They resemble a "Fig Newton" and are sometimes decorated with icing and hundreds & thousands.  I ma- naged to make about a dozen buc- cellatini when I realized I had some leftover pastry and filling from the buccellato. I suggest making the pastry and preparing the filling the day before, allowing both to rest overnight in the refrigerator.  The following day, you can roll out the pastry, fill and shape your buccellato and pop it in the oven. INGREDIENTS PASTRY • 500g plain flour • 150g white sugar • 100g butter • 100g lard • 3 eggs • pinch salt • 1 tablespoon honey Sift the flour and add to a food processor.  Add all other ingre- dients and mix until a dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured work bench, knead gently and roll into a sausage-like shape.  Cover in plastic kitchen wrap and refri- gerate for at least one hour. FILLING • 500g dried figs, chopped • 300g jar fig jam • 100g almonds • 100g hazelnuts • 50g walnuts • 50g pistachio nuts • 50ml Zibibbo wine or Mar- sala • 300g mixed candied peel • 100g dark chocolate, grated • 50g suet (or vegetable fat i.e. Crisco) • Zest of 1 lemon • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • ½ teaspoon ground cloves • 1 beaten egg (to brush on pa- Struffoli are a typical holiday dessert in Campania and other parts of the South © Toni Brancatisano stry) • Orange Marmalade, glacé cherries, ground pistachio  and candied orange peel to decorate DIRECTIONS 1. Chop the figs and candied peel into small pieces. 2. Place nuts in a food proces- sor and pulse until finely chop- ped. 3. Add figs, nuts, fig jam, Zi- bibbo, candied peel, lemon zest, suet, cinnamon and ground cloves to a large saucepan. Heat on low heat, and mix all ingredients well for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow filling to cool com- pletely.  4. Mix grated chocolate th- rough filling. 5. Preheat oven to 180°C.  6. Roll pastry out onto a lightly floured board and cut into a rec- tangle shape, circa 35cm x 20cm. Place the filling into the centre of the rectangle, shaping into a sau- sage shape.  Using a pastry brush, paint one long edge of the pastry with the beaten egg.  Gently roll pastry around filling and  gently roll back and forth to unite pastry around filling, forming a long log shape. 7. Brush the beaten egg on one end and join the ends by gently shaping the log to form a wreath. Transfer buccellato onto an oven tray lined with baking pa- per. 8. Using pastry tweezers or crimpers, pinch the pastry all over the wreath. (I didn't have the crim- pers so I used basic small kitchen tongs). Brush the entire Buccel- lato with beaten egg and bake for 30 – 40 minutes until it is golden brown. 9. Heat marmalade in a sauce- pan over low heat and once warm, use a pastry brush to coat entire surface of Buccellato. 10. Decorate as desired. Continua da pagina 42 Buccellato is aromatic and rich and filled with the typical flavors of Christ- mas © Toni Brancatisano

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