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Casatiello
Casatiello/Neapolitan rustic Easter pie, with yeast, salami and cheese
Originated from: Naples, Campania, Italy
Occasion: Easter
Contributed by: Recipe, taken from "Libro di Cucina" Italian Wikibooks; text, Italian Wikipedia

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Ingredients

For recipe see Italy Revisited/ "Pies and Tarts"



Directions




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.

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