Pastiera Napoletana

This is a dessert typical of Naples that in Italy is used to be prepared during the Easter period!

INGREDIENTS:(12 people)

PASTA FROLLA (short crost pastry)
400 g of Flour
170 g of Sugar
90 g of Butter at room temperature
1 Egg
1 Yolk

FILLING
580 g of Wheat Grain
350 ml of Milk
A Pinch of salt
3 Tablespoons of orange flower water
1 Grated lemon peel
700 g of Ricotta cheese made from ewe's milk
500 g of Sugar
70 g of Candied lemon
1 g of Vanilla essence
6 Eggs

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME:1 hour and 40 minutes

WINE:Passito Campano Aleatico

PREPARATION OF THE PASTA FROLLA (short crost pastry)
In a bowl put the flour, the sugar, 1 egg, 1 yolk, 90 g of butter.

Then mix all together until you obtain a solid dough.

PREPARATION OF THE FILLING
In a pan put the wheat grain, 250 ml of milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon of orange flower water and the lemon peel.

Mix all the ingredients and let them simmer for about 10 minutes. Then let them cool. In a bowl mix the ricotta cheese with 100 ml of milk

and in another bowl mix 6 eggs with 500 g of sugar and 2 tablespoons of orange flower water.

Put the ricotta mixture and the egg mixture in a large bowl. Then add the candied lemon, the vanilla essence and the wheat grain.

Stir all the ingredients until you obtain a creamy mixture. Preheat the oven to 180° C. Divide the dough in two parts: one large part is for the base and the other (50 g) for decoration. Dampen a sheet of baking paper and put it on the bottom of a 24 cm diameter deep cake tin. Roll out the first part of the dough 0,5 mm thick and then cover the bottom and the sides of the cake tin.

Pour the mixture into the surface of the dough. Roll out the second part of the dough on a table and cut it into thin strips. Then put them on the surface of the cake.

Bake for 60 minutes at 180° C. Turn off the oven and leave the cake in the oven for another 30 minutes. Then remove the cake and let it cool. This the result:

BUON APPETITO!