Neapolitan Easter Pie (Pastiera Napoletana)

La storia di questo piatto

Pastiera Napoletana is the Easter cake of Campania, and its scent of orange blossom and cinnamon announces the holiday long before it arrives. Wheat berries, buffalo-milk ricotta and candied citron are the old, humble gestures of Neapolitan kitchens, kept alive from one spring to the next.

Ingredienti

• 200 g Wheat berries (whole grains)
• 500 ml Whole milk
• 40 g Butter
• 5 g Untreated lemon zest
• 500 g Buffalo milk ricotta
• 4 piece Eggs (whole, for the filling)
• 280 g Granulated sugar
• 3 piece Egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons Orange blossom water
• 2 g Ground cinnamon
• 100 g Candied citrus peel (citron, orange)
• 650 g Shortcrust pastry (ready-made or prepared separately)

Preparazione

1. The evening before, place the ricotta in a fine-mesh sieve in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours to drain off the whey. At the same time, rinse the wheat and soak it in cold water for 12 hours, changing the water once.
2. The next day, drain the wheat and simmer it in unsalted water over low heat for about 1 hour, until the grains split open. Drain well.
3. Return the wheat to a small saucepan with the milk, 10 g of butter and the lemon zest. Cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring often, until you have a thick cream with the milk almost fully absorbed. Remove the zest and let cool until just lukewarm (about 400-450 g of cooked wheat).
4. Pass the drained ricotta through a sieve until smooth and free of lumps.
5. Work the sieved ricotta with the sugar (and, if you like, a teaspoon of grated orange zest), then add the 4 whole eggs and 2 yolks, one at a time, incorporating each before the next (set aside 1 yolk for brushing). Stir in the orange blossom water and the cinnamon.
6. Add the lukewarm wheat and the finely chopped candied peel to the ricotta cream. Fold from the bottom upward, without deflating the mixture, until evenly combined.
7. Butter a 26 cm high-sided pan (at least 5 cm deep) with the remaining 30 g of butter. Roll out about two-thirds of the shortcrust to 3-4 mm thickness and line the base and sides, leaving a border of about 1 cm. Pour in the filling and level it. Keep the pastry in the refrigerator if it softens too much.
8. Roll out the remaining shortcrust and cut strips about 2 cm wide (about 12-14 strips, 6-7 in each direction). Arrange them over the filling in a lattice of diamonds, press the edges to seal, trim the excess and brush the strips with the reserved yolk.
9. Bake in a conventional oven preheated to 170-180°C, on the lower rack, for 60-70 minutes. If the surface darkens too much, cover with aluminium foil. The pastiera is ready when the filling is set in the centre and no longer wobbles. Turn off the oven and leave the pastiera to cool with the door ajar for 30 minutes, then let it cool completely in the pan and rest in the refrigerator for at least 12-24 hours before serving.