150 grams (about 5 1/4 ounces) sweet almonds, blanched, ground and mixed with 1 tablespoon of sugar
150 grams (about 5 1/4 ounces) sugar
50 grams (about 1 2/3 ounces) potato flour
3 eggs, separated
juice of 1 1/2 oranges
finely grated zest of 1 orange

White icing
1 egg white
130 grams icing sugar
juice 1/4 of a lemon
1 tablespoon of rosolio

First the egg yolks with the sugar, add the flour and then the almonds which have been blanched and ground fine and mixed with a tablespoon of sugar.

Squeeze the juice from the oranges and scrape the outer peel from only one of them and add.

Lastly, fold in the egg whites, beaten stiff.

Pour into a paper box a finger and half deep greased with butter, and bake in the oven at a moderate temperature.

After it's done done, cover with a white icing.



To make a white glaze, use egg whites, icing sugar, lemon juice and rosolio. If you want a pink glaze use alkermes rather than rosolio.

One egg white, 130 grams of sugar, a quarter of a lemon, 1 tablespoon of rosolio. Beat all the ingredients together well and when the mixture is nice and firm, though it still runs a little, spread it over the dessert. It will dry on its own, and there is no need to bake it.



Original Italian text

Lavorate dapprima i rossi d'uova collo zucchero, aggiungete la farina, poi le mandorle sbucciate e pestate fini con una cucciaaiata del detto zucchero, e dopo il sugo pasato degli aranci e la buccia superficiale raschiata di un solo arancio.

Per ultimo unite al composto le chiare montate, versatelo in una scatola di carta unta di burro, alla grossezza di un dito e mezzo copritela di una crosta bianca.

The recipe in this entry was taken from "La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene manuale Pratico per le Famiglie" compilato da Pellegrino Artusi. The book was first published in 1891. Since then many Italian editions have been published. Olga Ragusa's selection of recipes from Pellegrino Artusi's famous cookbook, titled "The Italian Cook Book," can be found in its entirety at www.archive.org (It's free). The University of Toronto recently published a new English edition of Pellegrino Artusi's "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well"; many of the recipes in this edition can be found at www.books.google.ca.... P.S. Nowadays North Americans generally think of "focaccia" as "white" pizzas or pizzas that don't include tomato-based toppings. Obviously the Italian word, "focaccia," was used to describe a variety of dishes, as the cookbook writer, Pellegrino Artusi, has a number of recipes that are titled as "focaccia" and they have nothing to do with yeast-based dough pizzas. Photo and comments: Mary Melfi.

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