Ingredients
Shortcrust pastry dough
170 grams (about 6 ounces) flour
70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) sugar
60 grams (about 2 ounces) butter
25 grams (about 4/5 ounce) lard
1 egg
For shortcrust pastry dough topping (very thin strips)
170 grams flour
70 grams sugar
60 grams butter
25 grams lard
1 egg
Marzipan filling
120 grams sweet almonds and 3 bitter almonds, blanched
100 grams sugar
15 grams butter
15 grams candied orange, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of water
for brushing the strips of pastry dough
20 grams of melted butter
for decoration
10 grams of candied citron cut into small pieces
for dusting
vanilla-flavored icing sugar
Original Italian text
Fate una pasta frolla con:
farina, grammi 170
zucchero, grammi 70
burro, grammi 60
lardo, grammi 25
uova, n.1
mandorle dolci con tre amare, sbucciate, gr. 120
zucchero, grammi 100
burro, grammi 15
arancio candito, grammi 15
un rosso d'uovo
Directions
Make a shortcrust pastry dough, roll it out to the thickness of a coin.
Make the shortcrust pastry dough for the strips, making it much thinner than the one used to line the pan (Only half of the amount of dough will be be needed).
Line a greased copper pan about 20 centimeters with some of the shortcrust pastry dough.
Make the marzipan filling by crushing the almonds and sugar in a mortar, then adding the candied orange cut into small pieces,the butter, egg yolk and a tablespoon of water.
Place the marzipan filling on the pan lined with the shortcrust pastry dough.
Cover the marzipan filling with with a layer half a finger with of small strips of dough. The strips should be thin so that they look like decoration, and not like the bottom of the pan.
Brush the tops of the strips of dough with 20 grams of melted butter.
Bake in a moderate oven.
Cut 10 grams candied citron into small pieces and sprinkle over the tart after it's done.
When cool sprinkle with vanilla-flavored icing sugar.
It's best to serve the cake 1 or 2 days after it is made as it gets softer and more delicate with time.
Original Italian text
Distendetene una parte, alla grossezza di uno scudo, nel fondo di una teglia di rame del diametro di 20 a 21 centimetri (prima unta di burro) e sopra alla medesima versate un marzapane fatto nelle segunti proporzioni.
Pestate nel mortaio le mandorle collo zucchero, aggiungete dopo l'arancio a pezzettini, e col burro, il rosso d'uovo e una cucchiaiata d'acqua fate tutto un impasto. Col resto della pasta frolla formate un cerchio e con un dito intinto nell acqua attaccatelo giro agli orli della leglia;; distendete il marzapane tutto eguale e copritelo con un suole alte mezzo dito di taglierini sottilissimi peche questi devono essere come una fioritura, non la base del dolce, ed unget4eli con grammi 20 di burro liquefatto, servendovi di un pennello. Cuocete la torta in forno a moderato calore edopo spargetele sopra grammi 10 di cedro candito a piccioli pezzettini; spolverizzatela con zucchero a velovanigliato e servitela un giorno o due dopo cotta, perche il tempo la rammorbidisce e la rende pin gentile.
Dei taglierini fatene per un uovo, ma poco piu della meta basteranno.
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.... P.S. I tried this recipe and I found it very difficult to do. Some home cooks decorate the cake with very thin noodles that are curled, but this is tricky as the noodles can easily get burnt. Personal notes and photo: Mary Melfi. |
