Cassata: a baroque affair

My love for Sicily seems to continue... I suppose it is all because of the unusual combination of flavours, the luscious textures of the vegetables, and the richness of the desserts that catches the eye even before luring the mouth.

Sicily was a real port - invaded by Normans, Arabs, Spaniards, and then Piedmomenteses (yes we need to admit that nobody or very few in Sicily wanted to be unified to the rest of what was decided to be called "Italy");  and such mixture of people and cultures is clearly reflected in its food.

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 I have mentioned already its savoury dishes like stuffed squids, panella, and caponata. Today I want to share with you one of the most amazing cakes it has. It seems daunting at first but with a little bit of patience, and a few short cuts if you want to cheat..., you can impress all your guests very easily. The "Ohhhh...." will be assured when you present this baroque cake on your table.

There is no agreement on the origins of the name Cassata. Some say that it derives from the arabic word "qashatha", bowl, for the utensil where it was served and which gave the half dome shape; others claim that it simply means cheese concoction for its mixture of ricotta cheese. I am not so sure about the latter as it seems to be very little concoction in cassata - only one type of cheese is used and the ingredients, despite being relatively more than in the average Italian dishes, are not that odd. I would go with the Arabic story. Much more exotic.

For those of you who have made the Tuscan zuccotto before, turning to a cassata should not be difficult. The main difference is the addition of a couple of ingredients to the cheese mixture, a final marzipan layer, and a sugary glaze.

In theory there are 4 steps you should follow - in practice you could simply have 2 and a half. I explain. The recipe requires you to make "Pain d'Espaigne", Marzipan, filling, and glazing. However, if you are short of time you can buy the pain (and if you cannot find it or it's too expensive replace it with Madeira cake) as well as the marzipan. As the marzipan has to be green, what you can do, rather than making it yourself and add the colouring and pistachio paste to it, is to buy a block of marzipan, add a few drops of colouring and roll it flat a few times so that the colour is absorbed and distributed evenly. Don't put too much colouring though or it'll come from Mars!

I give you the full recipe in case you have plenty of time in your hands.

Pain d'Espaigne
4 eggs
150g sugar
200g flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 lemon
Marsala

Filling
500g ricotta (ideally of sheep but as it is very difficult to find in England cow ricotta will have to suffice)
1 pinch of vanilla sugar
50g candied orange peels
50g chopped dark chocolate
1 tbsp orange flower water

Marzipan 
250g blenched almonds or ground almonds
300g icing sugar
3 drops of bitter almond essence
green colouring
5 tbsp water

Sugar glaze
250g icing sugar
2 egg whites
1 tbsp lemon juice

Prepare the pain by mixing the egg yolks with the sugar, and flour. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and lemon juice until stiff and fold them in the yolk mixture. Cook in a cake tin at 180C for 40 minutes. Let it  cool before taking it out of the tin.

Make the marzipan mixing the almonds (if you are using whole almonds you need to blitz them first) adding the sugar, almond essence, and water to which  you have diluted some of the colouring. Work the mixture until it is uniformly green, wrap it then in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Make the filling by mixing all the ingredients.

Cut the pain (or Madeira cake) into long slices to cover the bottom and sides of a rounded glass bowl or a tin. Pour the ricotta mixture and cover with another layer of pain or Madeira cake as a lid. I would suggest that once you've done this you put it in the fridge to set. Once it is set you can turn it around and then mould the marzipan which you will have rolled to a 1cm sheet on top to cover it completely. Trim it to make it smooth and get rid of excesses.

Make the glaze beating the egg whites with the sugar and lemon juice until it becomes a reasonably thick and very white mixture. Spread it with a palette on top of the marzipan.

It is actually done! Leave it in the fridge for a few hours and then decorate it in the way you prefer. We had some marzipan left and decided to create some green flowers as well as some mini fruits like apples. It can be a bit kitsch but that's its beauty!

You can also make some other little fruits with the marzipan - especially if you leave some of it without the green colouring and add other colours like red and yellow - also called "Frutta di Martorana" the place where they originate.

And it tastes divine! Thank you Sicily for enriching Italy with all these wonderful flavours, I must come back!

The secrets of Caponata

Considering the wide success that I have received every time I have made this dish for my "secret suppers" and cooking groups, I thought it was fair to share its recipe and disclose the secrets.

Caponata is a traditional Sicilian dish made with aubergines. The key is in the main ingredients (probably like for any Italian recipe), the sweet taste of aubergines as well as juiciness of tomatoes. Apparently its name comes from a fish, caupone, which was used in certain taverns. I was told it derives from the Palermo area of Capo where the famous market is held every day and where daily life in Palermo got its buzz - and also where mafia had its headquarters. Possibly both versions are true and can be combined.

 

We loved scooping it out the little box that our friendly seller gave us while we were wondering among the vibrant stalls of the Capo market.

Torta Pasqualina for my secret guests

It is always interesting to see that what we might consider a banal or unexciting dish turns out to be a real revelation for others.

Last Thursday I was drawing up the menu for Friday Saucepan&Suitcase secret supper and I lingered for quite some time over the recipe of this savoury tart - I was not sure whether my guests would have found it that appealing, after all it is simply a pastry case filled with ricotta and spinach and stuck in it a few hard boiled eggs that appear now and then.

But I am glad I went ahead with this idea. Easter was not such a long time ago and it is after all one of the most popular dishes we make in Italy for this kind of celebrations, particularly if the weather is good enough to let us have a picnic.

Torta Pasqualina, "Easter pie", is originally from Liguria, the horn shape region next to France, but can now be found anywhere in Italy. Almost every table features one of these simple pies which carry strong symbolic ingredients, like eggs, together with local springtime produce, like spinach and beets. It is perfect the day after and that is why it suits un "pranzo al sacco", lunch in a bag, i.e. picnic.

German poppies

I would warmly recommend a weekend in Berlin if you have a bit of time in your hands. The city burst with life and changes. The last time I went it was a huge building site with a neat demarcation between West and East. Today cafes, art galleries, and bars are dotted everywhere. I walked and walked (and walked) all day long zig-zagging the main historical buildings and museums and stopping at the most attractive bakeries for a deserved rest.

 

East is probably the most charming area with its corners of forgotten history and sleepy buildings. The Ampelmann (literally "traffic light man") gives you the ok to cross the busy roads and grab your Berliner wurst or  the traditional but southern Pretzerl that appear at every corner lurking passers-by.

Le frittelle di San Giuseppe for Father’s Day

March has always been one of my favourite months. Winter is almost over, days are slowly growing longer, and there is no pressure of any kind for presents (be it Christmas or Valentine's Day).

But there's also another reason to love March: the frittelle di San Giuseppe. On 19th March, the first day of Spring equinox, every family in Italy celebrates the day of Saint Joseph or Fathers' Day, la festa del  Papa'. In many towns, particularly in the countryside, bonfires are lit to sign the end of the cold and the dark and, in the north of Italy, leftover rice kept in larders during the Winter are used to make little cakes to celebrate the day and break Lent.

Top 10 (or so) Gourmet Corners of Siena

Lately I have found more and more people who have stopped in Siena having even skipped Florence, which is quite surprising being in the classic triangle of "Venice - Florence - Rome". I am delighted to hear that many find Siena prettier than our neighbour guelfa.

Without sounding over-biased, there are certainly smaller hoards of tourists (or at least they manage to blend more with the bricks and the locals)  and the atmosphere is pretty unique. So I thought to compile a list of the best gourmet places which might help all those of you who would like to go back or are planning a trip soon to Siena.

Just in case you doubt my local nose and taste-buds living 600km away from it, I have done my thorough research and checked with a few affecionados who know everything about Siena, where to get the best ham and cheese, where to eat the crunchiest pizza or where to sip the best Vin Santo with a couple of cantucci.

Relaxing with some Norfolk cake

As soon as I see some sun and I feel like resting and unwinding the image of Norfolk with its golden deserted beaches springs up to my mind. What I love of that place is the peace and quiet you can always find. You could walk for hours without meeting a soul and even when you do a mild nod and gentle smile are enough.

Inevitably our number 1 destination is always Wells-next-the Sea. There is still an old fashion atmosphere in that village with its traditional butchers, bakers, and shell shops along the main (and only) road. And the line of children fishing mini crabs with their tiny strips of bacon.

My ABC of Travel

Mette of Italian Notes has kindly asked me to participate in the "My ABC Travel" Series. Being so non-technical it took me three rounds of emails to understand what I was supposed to do. But here it is!

The interiors of Rome

Rome is famous for many things and I don't need to list them. But one thing some people might not be familiar with is its offals, also called "quinto quarto", the fifth part left from the four parts of the animal thus everything else other than the front and the back. These include tripe, lungs, hearts, liver, tail, brain and tongue.

 

(I would like to reassure vegetarians who by now have been taken by convulsions that other type of dishes are also available in Rome like artichokes and courgette flowers - see one of my previous posts. So don't feel disgusted and give up with the idea of eating in Rome!) .

Christmas in the land of the fairies

"And another Christmas is over" as my grand-mother would have said. I always feel quite sad about it. Our tree looks so nice that I might be considering the idea of keeping it till Easter (in my sister's style). But I guess it would simply be wrong - and very weird.

On the contrary of most English people who take their decorations down today, we celebrate the 6th January being Epiphany, the day the Three Kings, who got slightly lost or were very slow, arrived to the manger and gave their gifts to Jesus. In some parts of Italy in fact this is the real day when presents are exchanged - whilst Christmas is only dedicated to food and drinking.