Ingredients
5 eggs
200 grams (about 7 ounces) butter
100 grams of sweet almonds and a few bitter almonds, blanched and dried in the sun, crushed very fine with 2 tablespoons of sugar taken from the recipe
sugar and flour, equal in weight to the eggs with their shells
Equipment needed
a baking pan or smooth mold greased with butter and dusted with icing sugar mixed with flour.
Directions
This is made the same way as "Quattro Quarti all'Inglese" except you use lemon zest instead of candied fruit and 100 grams of sweet almonds and a few bitter almonds for the raisins.
If you also add baking soda, it will turn out lighter.
After blanching the almonds, dry them in the sun or on the fire. Crush very fine with 2 tablespoons of the sugar from the recipe, and mix with the flour. If you don't do this the almonds will stick together.
The dough in this recipe must be worked very well, both before and after the you add the butter.
My cook has found that it helps to keep the mixing bowl immersed in warm water while you're working the dough; this also holds true for other similar kinds of dough. If made carefully, this will be considered a delicious sweet.
Directions for "Quattro Quarti all'Inglese"
First mix the eggs with the sugar, add the flour and keep working the mixture with a wooden spoon for about half an hour.
Let the dough sit for an hour or two, and then add the butter (melted over a double boiler), baking soda, raisins, and candied fruit.
Pour into a baking pan or smooth mold greased with butter and dusted with icing sugar mixed with flour.
Bake in the oven....
Notes
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.... Photo: Mary Melfi. |
