L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020 LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES Continued from page 26 around, then over, to get a fairly even round disk. Then I begin to actually roll it out flat. The round should be big enough, of course, to line the inside of your pie plate. Roll the round of dough up with your rolling pin, the roll it out on top of a pie plate, which you will have greased well with a knob of lard or butter. (See Notes below about pie plate sizes). Using your fingers, make sure that the crust adheres t o t h e s i d e s . C u t o f f a n y excess dough that is hanging over the sides. (NB: A classic pastiera does not have any trimming around the edges). FILL THE PIE PLATE A N D L A Y O U T T H E LATTICE TOPPING: Pour the filling into the pie plate, taking care not to fill the pastry shell to the very top, since the filling will swell during baking. Roll out the remaining 1/3 of the dough, then cut into strips. Lay the strips o v e r t h e f i l l i n g i n a d i a - mond-shaped (not square) l a t t i c e p a t t e r n . P r e s s t h e strips gently into the shell a n d c u t o f f a n y e x c e s s dough. BAKE: P l a c e t h e p a s t i e r a i n a m o d e r a t e h o t o v e n (190C/375F) for about an h o u r , u n t i l t h e f i l l i n g i s cooked through and the top has browned nicely. Check on it from time to time. If the pastiera is browning too q u i c k l y a n d l o o k s l i k e i t might burn, you can cover it loosely with foil. If, on the o t h e r h a n d , a n h o u r h a s passed and it's not a brown as you'd like, turn up the heat to 200C/400F and let it bake for another 15 minutes or so. (You can also run it u n d e r a b r o i l e r , b u t t a k e care as the high-fat content in the pastry means it will burn easily if left unattend- ed). COOL AND SERVE: L e t t h e p a s t i e r a c o o l completely. If you have the time, let it rest overnight. Serve, straight from the pie plate, dusted with confec- tioner's sugar. Notes As mentioned, one of the i n g r e d i e n t s t h a t m a k e a pastiera a pastiera—and not simply an Italian cheese- cake—is the grano cotto or pre-cooked wheat berry. In Italy these days, grano cotto i s s o l d c o m m e r c i a l l y , i n large jars. You may be able to find it in finer Italian spe- cialty shops. You can also buy it online. The quality is generally excellent and it saves a great deal of time. Otherwise, you can pur- chase dried wheat berries and cook them yourself, the o l d f a s h i o n e d w a y . B u t beware of the kind you're b u y i n g . T h e o n l y w h e a t berries I can find in my local supermarket are "hard red winter wheat berries," which won't do for this recipe, as they don't acquire the cor- rect creamy, porridge-like texture. And they really are red, which won't do at all. (I tried it so you don't have to…). Many traditional recipes s a i d y o u n e e d e d t o s o a k wheat berries for three days before cooking them—which meant you needed to begin making your pastiera a full six days before you wanted to eat it. Some even talks about old time Neapolitans soaking them for two weeks. But these days wheat berries don't need all that soaking. An overnight soak will do fine, and some sources say you needn't soak them at all. Boil them until tender, usu- a l l y a b o u t a n h o u r a n d a half, before using them as you would grano cotto in the above recipe. I f y o u c a n ' t f i n d d r i e d wheat berries, I've gotten perfectly acceptable results w i t h p e a r l e d b a r l e y . A n d t h e y s a y t h a t f a r r o a l s o w o r k s w e l l , a l t h o u g h I haven't tried it myself. O t h e r " e x o t i c " i n g r e - dients The other "exotic" ingre- d i e n t y o u w i l l n e e d f o r y o u r p a s t i e r a i s o r a n g e blossom water. I would ven- t u r e t h a t i f y o u h a v e a M i d d l e E a s t e r n o r N o r t h African market in your area, t h e y w o u l d c a r r y i t . Otherwise, it, too, can be p u r c h a s e d o n l i n e . S o m e recipes call for substitutes such as grated orange peel or orange extract. Neither quite does the trick, if you a s k m e . O r a n g e b l o s s o m water provides a heady per- fume that has no real substi- tute. Truly, you can't make a proper pastiera without it, a l t h o u g h y o u ' d c e r t a i n l y have a very tasty pie. I rec- ommend you use it with dis- cretion, as its strong aroma easily becomes overpower- ing. The candied orange and citron peel can also be hard to come by, although super- m a r k e t s w i l l s o m e t i m e s c a r r y t h e m a r o u n d Christmas time, for making fruitcake. You can also find them online. Or make them y o u r s e l f , i f y o u h a v e t h e patience. You can also sim- ply leave them out if you like. Serving your pastiera T h e r e i s a t y p i c a l p i e p l a t e u s e d i n N a p l e s f o r making pastiera. It is very much like your typical US pie plate, but it is lipless and slightly wider than the stan- dard 9″. If you're using a US pie plate, you're likely to wind up with a little extra filling following the mea- surements above, depending on how deep your plate is. B u t n o w o r r i e s , i t ' s t h e cook's prerogative to enjoy a bit of the raw filling when no one's looking. It's quite tasty in its own right! Typically, a pastiera is served "family style" directly from the pie plate. If you want a more elegant presen- t a t i o n , h o w e v e r , y o u c a n b a k e y o u r p a s t i e r a i n a springform baking pan and unmold it before serving. Variations There are all sorts of sub- tle and not so subtle varia- t i o n s a m o n g r e c i p e s f o r p a s t i e r a . T h e b a s i c i n g r e d i e n t s a n d m e t h o d remain the same, but the m e a s u r e m e n t s c a n v a r y t r e m e n d o u s l y . T o d a y ' s recipe is my personal ver- sion, developed over time to suit my tastes. I've radically r e d u c e d t h e a m o u n t o f s u g a r y o u ' l l f i n d i n m o s t recipes. Classic recipes call for as much as double the sugar called for here, in both the filing and the crust. I find that cloyingly sweet. B u t i f y o u h a v e a s w e e t t o o t h , y o u c o u l d u p t h e sugar, perhaps by 50% to start with. I ' v e a l s o i n c r e a s e d t h e amount of wheat berries— some recipes calls for only h a l f t h i s a m o u n t — a n d reduced the number of eggs. I've had trouble in the past with soft, almost liquid fill- ings too flimsy to hold up the lattice topping. These m e a s u r e m e n t s e l i m i n a t e that problem. And I like the r a t h e r c h e w y , s l i g h t l y crumbly texture you get this way. If you want a less rustic texture, you can purée some o r e v e n a l l o f t h e w h e a t berries. If you want a more solid filling, you can add another egg or two. Some recipes have you separate t h e e g g s a n d w h i p t h e w h i t e s , w h i c h a r e f o l d e d into the filling mixture just before baking. Other recipes call for a combination of two whole eggs and two yolks rather than 3 whole eggs. Finally, one common varia- tion has you add a goodly amount of crema pasticcera to the filling. The egg and fat content of the crust also varies quite a bit from recipe to recipe. I liked the result I got from t h e m e a s u r e m e n t s g i v e n here. The high fat content gives it a nice flaky quality. Post Scriptum L e f t o v e r p a s t i e r a i s enjoyed for days and even weeks after it's baked, often with morning coffee, which is exactly what I'm doing as I write these lines. And with the arrival of commercially m a d e g r a n o c o t t o , p a s t i e r a h a s b e c o m e a year-round treat, even if it retains its close associations with the Easter season. So g o a h e a d a n d e n j o y t h i s Neapolitan treat any time you feel like it. Sweet, fragrant and delicate: pastiera main ingredient is grano cotto, which gives it a particular texture (Copyright: Dreamstime)

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