Home Italy Revisited Bookshelf Plays About Mary Melfi Contact Us
in
X Italian Breads and Pizzas
tortano
Tortano (Napoletana savory Easter tart, with yeast dough, filled with salami, pancetta and cheese; with hard boiled eggs)
Originated from: Naples, Campania, Italy
Occasion: Easter
Contributed by: Recipe and historical notes taken from "Libro di Cucina" Italian Wikibooks

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients

For the dough
1 kilo (about 2 pounds) of flour, Type 00
500 ml (about 17 ounces) of water
25 g (about 4/5 of an ounce) of yeast
200 g (about 7 ounces) of lard
salt and pepper to taste

For the filling
100 g (about 3 1/2 ounces) Napoli salami, diced
100 g (about 3 1/2 ounces) pancetta -- fresh pork belly slices, diced
100 g (about 3 1/2 ounces) of cooked ham , cut into cubes
100 g of (about 3 1/2 ounces) greaves diced
100 g (about 3 1/2 ounces) provolone cheese (preferably spicy) diced
100 g (about 3 1/2 ounces) Emmentaler, diced
100 g (about 3 1/2 ounces) of Parmesan or grana padano cheese, diced
100 g (about 3 1/2 ounces) pecorino cheese, grated
4 eggs, hard boiled, diced

Ingredienti (Original Italian text)
Per l'impasto
1 kg di farina di tipo 00
500 ml di acqua
25 g di lievito di birra
200 g di strutto
sale e pepe q.b.

Per la farcitura
100 g di salame tipo napoli tagliato a cubetti
100 g di pancetta tagliata a cubetti
100 g di prosciutto cotto tagliato a cubetti
100 g di ciccioli tagliati a cubetti
100 g di provolone (preferibilmente piccante) tagliato a cubetti
100 g di emmentaler tagliato a cubetti
100 g di parmigiano o grana padano tagliato a cubetti
100 g di pecorino grattugiato
4 uova



Directions

Dissolve the yeast in a little lukewarm water.

Place the flour and add the water with the yeast, then mix little by little with the rest of the water.

Continuing to mix, stir in salt, pepper and lard, making sure to leave aside a small amount that will be used to grease the mold.

Knead the dough vigorously for at least ten minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball, place it on a flat surface in warm place and let rise for at least two hours, until it has doubled in volume.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about a thickness of a centimeter.

Arrange the diced cheeses, hard-boiled eggs and salami evenly on the dough and sprinkle with grated Pecorino cheese.

Roll up the dough tightly but gently until you have a smooth roll.

Grease with lard a pan that has a center and lay the roll combining their ends.

Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another two hours.

Bake for about an hour at 160 degrees Celsius (about 325 F. degrees) in preheated oven.



Tips

Salami and cheese filling can be changed according to personal taste.

Instead of having the eggs diced you can also place them with strips on top of the dough, in which case you would have proper a casatiello instead of a tortano.

The casatiello/tartano you eat generally at room temperature, but it can also be served freshly baked or heated.



Preparazione (Original Italian text)

Far sciogliere il lievito in poca acqua appena tiepida.

Disporre la farina a fontana e aggiungervi l'acqua con il lievito, poi impastare aggiungedovi a poco a poco il resto dell'acqua.

Continuando a impastare, incorporare sale, pepe e strutto, avendo cura di lasciarne da parte una piccola quantit? che servir a ungere lo stampo.

Lavorare l'impasto con molta forza per almeno una decina di minuti.

Dare all'impasto la forma di una palla, disporlo su una superficie piana in ambiente tiepido e lasciarlo lievitare per almeno due ore, finch non ha raddoppiato il volume.

Su una superficie piana leggermente infarinata, stendere l'impasto con un mattarello dandogli forma quadrata e spessore di circa un centimetro. Lasciare da parte un po' di pasta.

Disporre i formaggi e i salumi tagliati a cubetti uniformemente sull'impasto e spolverarli con il pecorino grattugiato.

Arrotolare stretto ma con delicatezza fino ad avere un rotolo uniforme.

Ungere con lo strutto un ruoto per ciambelle e disporvi il rotolo unendone le estremit.

Coprire con un canovaccio pulito e lasciar lievitare per altre due ore.

Infine poggiare le uova (ben lavate) sull'impasto lievitato, premerle delicatamente per farle penetrare di circa la met e fissarle con due striscioline ricavate dall'impasto che era stato messo da parte.

Cuocere per circa un'ora a 160 C in forno preriscaldato.



Consigli

Salumi e formaggi della farcitura possono essere cambiati a seconda dei gusti personali.

Invece di disporre le uova intere sul casatiello, possibile bollirle sode, tagliarle a cubetti e incorporarle nella farcitura insieme ai salumi e ai formaggi. In questo caso il risultato propriamente detto sare un tortano.

Il casatiello si mangia generalmente a temperatura ambiente, ma pui essere servito anche appena sfornato o riscaldato.




Notes

The recipe called "tortano" and the recipe called "castiello" are often one and the same, though not necessarily; the names are used interchangeablely to indicate a rich country cheese and salami tart. However, the "castiello" is generally decorated with hard-boiled eggs, whereas the "tortano" has the hard-boiled eggs inside the dough, as part of its stuffing..... The following text comes from Wikibooks (Machine google translation): "The tortano is a typical part of rustic Neapolitan cuisine. It is very similar to casatiello from which it differs in the lack of whole eggs in the dough. Currently both names, casatiello and tortano are often used interchangeably to indicate a country rich cheese and salami stuffing in respect to the original recipes. Casatiello is typical of Easter. The following text comes from Italian Wikipedia (Machine google translation): Casatiello. Place of origin: Italy. Region: Campania. Area of ​​production Province of Naples. Details Category dish Recognition PAT Sector Fresh pasta and bakery products, biscuits, cakes, pastry and confectionery.... The casatiello or tortano (a term that means the same preparation, but without the eggs arranged in a row, at least according to the theory of historical Rosamaria Curcio) is a typical rustic Neapolitan cuisine prepared during the Easter. It is prepared from a dough bread, tanned with cheese, lard, Cicoli and other meats and rilievitata, then cooked, preferably in a wood oven. Tortano While it is consumed throughout the year, the casatiello is specific to the period of Easter (it symbolizes the crown of thorns crucifix). At Easter many bakeries sell bread dough naturally leavened then consumers will take care of tanning as usual and bake in the oven at home. There are also different versions of desserts. A sweet version of casatiello is made ​​with eggs, sugar, lard and icing, and decorated on the surface with confetti colored (in Neapolitan language diavulilli): this variant is widespread in Italy and is the only known in the coastal area of Vesuvius in Pompeii and in agro Nocera-Sarno. Other versions cakes are popular in Monte di Procida and Nola. In casatiello eggs are placed whole, raw and in the shell, and are cooked together to rustic. The eggs are partially protruding and visible on casatiello, often covered by a thin cross of dough: "In its first simplicity popular is not more than one loaf of circular shape, like a large donut in which stick of the eggs, even just one, depending on the size of the bread and these eggs with the whole shell, are stops in their place by two strips of dough on the cross. Pasta is the usual bread dough, but imbued with lard. Baked, the eggs become firm." (Francesco de Bourcard, Customs of Naples , Vol II, p. 274) For more, see the entry tortano. Pasta, to which is added lard and pepper plus a filling of meats and cheeses of the place, is processed in the form of a large donut, placed in a mold, leavened long (should be made ​​with sour dough and flour medium strength and allowed to stand for at least 12 hours) and baked in the oven. Until the first half of the last century it was customary to bring to cook casatiello from bakers or bakeries rather than cook at home. There are several variants of this rustic, especially as regards the different types of fillings. Casatiello is prepared as a packed lunch during trips outside the typical day of Easter. The eggs and the stuffing make this a rustic lunch almost complete.... The spread of casatiello, as well as the pastiera, another dish typically Neapolitan Easter dates back at least to the '600. Witness the following quote from the story The Cat Cinderella by Giambattista Basile (1566-1632) which describes the festivities data by the king to find the girl who had lost the slipper: "And it came juorno destenato, oh my good, that mazzecatorio and Bazzara that if veneers! Where were many pastiere and casatielle Where did sottestate and porpette? Where did maccarune and graviuole. So much so that nce could magnare n'asserceto format. (Giambattista Basile , Cinderella).... Original Italian text. from Libro di cucina/Ricette/Casatiello Wikibooks, manuali e libri di testo liberi. Un casatiello cotto a legna Il casatiello un rustico tipico della cucina napoletana. I conosciuto anche con il nome di tortano (ma con questo nome viene generalmente indicata una sua variante) e fa parte della tradizione gastronomica delle festiviti pasquali. Anche se spesso viene preparato in altri periodi, e lentamente si sta perfino inserendo nel menu natalizio, rimane una prelibatezza saldamente legata alla celebrazione della Pasqua. Diversamente da altri prodotti della tradizione napoletana non commerciabili ma dalla preparazione essenzialmente casalinga, la ricetta i piu o meno standardizzata e non presenta grosse variazioni da famiglia a famiglia...." Photo: Mary Melfi.

Back to main list