pastiera

non c’è due senza tre / good things come in threes

| Simona

or: three’s a charm

Not long ago, I wrote a post about pastiera, then another, where I presented a variation with chocolate of the same dessert. I then made pastiera a third time, hence the title of this post.

Marta of An Italian in the US brought me from Italy three of the ingredients for pastiera: a can of grano cotto (cooked wheat), some candied citron, and a vial of orange blossom water. I used half of each ingredient to make each pastiera, so after number two I had to be creative. To begin with, I found and purchased some candied orange peel. Then, I made my grano cotto.

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I found that our local grocery store carries soft, hard white, and hard red wheat berries. I bought some soft wheat (portrayed on the left). I then followed the instructions on this site to prepare it: I soaked half a cup of soft wheat for three days, changing the water in the morning and in the evening. Then, I cooked it in 1.5 cups water for 90 minutes. After draining the excess water, the grano cotto can be used or stored for a few days. I used it right away.

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My grano cotto had more texture than the canned one and contributed that texture to the final product. I followed the same recipe as the one described for the first pastiera, but I added a bit less sugar: 1 tablespoon less to the pasta frolla and 2 tablespoons less to the filling. Instead of fior d’arancio (orange blossom), I used half a vial of millefiori (literally, thousand flowers), another flavoring for pastiera that Marta had brought me from Italy. The three changes in the ingredients made for a final product that was different from the first one, but equally (may I say enthusiastically?) appreciated.

It amazes me that only a short while ago, I was intimidated by this dessert and now I feel like I can make it ad infinitum. For this transformation I will be forever thankful to Marta. There is no Italian saying non c’è tre senza quattro (good things come in fours, or four’s a charm), but it ended up being like that for me: after the success of pastiera number three, I made a fourth specimen, using another batch of my home-made grano cotto, candied orange peel again, and the remaining millefiori. At this point, to get to number five I need to find more flavoring. Non temete (fear not), I will figure something out.

Special announcement: this week, I have the honor of hosting Weekend Herb Blogging, the famous blog event created in October 2005 by blogger extraordinaire Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen. Needless to say, I am looking forward to receiving submissions. Note that new rules for the event will be introduced starting July 20, so I recommend you read Kalyn’s announcement here.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post: 

grano cotto

or launch the  grano cotto  audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

pastiera col cioccolato / chocolate pastiera

| Simona

I have recently written about my first attempt at pastiera. In that post, I mentioned using only half of the gift ingredients, to make a more manageable pastiera and also to allow me a second chance. Given that the worst-case scenario did not materialize, I decided to use the remaining grano cotto (cooked wheat kernels), acqua di fiori d’arancio (orange flower water) and cedro candito (candied citron) to make a pastiera that included chocolate in its filling. I believe that (almost) anything tastes better with some good quality bittersweet chocolate (cioccolato amaro).

For the chocolate variation, I made the pasta frolla (or pastafrolla, sweet shortcrust pastry) with 1/3 cup sugar instead of 1/2 cup and added 1/3 cup sugar to the egg yolks, again instead of 1/2 cup. I then shaved 2.5 oz extra-dark chocolate (70%) and added it to the ricotta mix. Everything else was as in the previous recipe. This time, I baked the pastiera the day before I served it.

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My quality assurance department and I liked both versions: they are different and each has its own strengths. What is my next step, you may wonder? I bought some soft wheat to make grano cotto (which can be used in other dishes) at home, and I will continue the gift chain that got me the secret ingredients by sending a surprise package, in due time, to… [to be continued]

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post: 

pastiera col cioccolato

or launch the  pastiera col cioccolato  audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

pastiera

| Simona

I am aware that Easter (Pasqua) is the traditional time for pastiera. Last March, I had a vague desire to try and make it, but then decided to put it off until next year. However, Marta, An Italian in the US, forced my hand, so to speak, by bringing me as gift some "secret ingredients" from Italy. I have read that nowadays pastiera is available throughout the year, so I guess it is fine if I talk about it now.

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Marta gave me a can of ready-to-use grano cotto (cooked wheat kernels), a vial of acqua di fiori d'arancio (orange flower water) and some cedro candito (candied citron). What I was left with was the task of finding fresh ricotta, making the crust and assembling the whole thing. The can of grano cotto had a recipe printed on it similar to this one, available also in English here. Several momentous decisions informed my next steps. First of all, although I bought 1.5 lbs of fresh cow-milk ricotta, I decided to halve the recipe to make a more manageable pastiera, use the 9" pie pan1 I already had, and give me a second chance, if anything went wrong the first time.

The other decisions pertain the changes to the recipe. For the pasta frolla, (or pastafrolla, sweet shortcrust pastry) I used one of Artusi's recipes, which is a classic. It was beautifully presented recently by Baking History in this post. The change I made to the original recipe in this occasion is the use of 1 cup of regular flour and half a cup of whole-wheat pastry flour, then more regular flour to knead the dough (a quarter cup or so). I always use extra-large or large eggs. The changes I made to the recipe for pastiera quoted before pertain a bit more than just halving it.

Update: If you don't have canned grano cotto, please see the recipe in a later post, where I explain how to prepare your own.

The list of ingredients is as follows:

  • half a can of grano cotto (about 200 g)
  • a scant quarter cup of milk (I used non-fat)
  • no butter
  • grated zest of half a lemon
  • 3/4 lb fresh ricotta (not from a tub)
  • 1/2 cup of granulated white sugar
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 50 g of candied citron
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 vial of orange flower water

In a small pan, I warmed up grano cotto, milk and grated lemon zest and cooked for 10 minutes, stirring often. In a small mixing bowl I beat the egg whites until soft peaks formed. In a bigger mixing bowl, I beat egg yolks and sugar, then added ricotta and beat a bit longer. I switched to a spatula and folded in grano cotto2, candied citron, vanilla and orange flower water. Finally, I folded in the egg whites.

After lining the pie pan with the sweet shortcrust pastry, I poured the filling and decorated its surface with a lattice of pastry strips. I had a good amount of leftover (partly because I don't like the crust too thick, partly because I used a pie pan), so I made something with it. Hold on, not here, the story will be is told in another post. I baked the pastiera for one hour in the oven preheated to 350 F, until the surface was golden (I recommend checking your pastiera after 40 minutes, and adjust the baking time as needed). I then turned off the oven and let the pastiera rest for about half an hour in it before taking it out. I let the pastiera cool and then sprinkled the surface with a tablespoon of zucchero vanigliato (vanilla-flavored powdered sugar), which I make by leaving vanilla beans leftover from making ice cream into the powdered sugar jar.

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I could not wait, so we had a slice the evening of the day I baked it. However, a longer resting period allows the flavors to blend, so make it at least the day before you would like to serve it, a recommendation I followed in the case of my second pastiera, whose story, i.e., recipe, will be told in a soon-to-be published post.

Many thanks to Marta for the wonderful surprise, which has nudged me to make a dessert whose first bite, many years ago, I still remember as a gustatory dream.

I am now supposed to send a secret ingredient and a recipe for it to other bloggers. I will do so and will update the post when it happens.

1 After making pastiera col cioccolato, I bought a 9" round cake pan and henceforth used it.
2 In reading again the recipe, I realized I have left out the grano cotto from the list of ingredients added to the beaten egg yolks and ricotta mixture. Apologies to the early readers.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post: 

pastiera

or launch the  pastiera  audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]