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Madame's Nightshirt
Mrs. Peperium
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(Before the papal conclave that ended with the election of Pope Francis 1, I undertook praying for all the Cardinals but one in particular, Cardinal Bagnasco. Cardinal Bagnasco is the Archbishop of Genoa, Italy. As I prayed for him my mind would wander at times to thinking of the great Easter dish from there, torta pasqualina. I've wanted to make this dish for the past 23 Easters but have never found the time. This Easter I've made time though I'm still undecided as whether to do the twenty-four layers of pastry or the more practical twelve.)
..Giovanna lives in a lovely seventeenth-century house at the tip of Capo Santa Chiara in Genova's Boccadasse district, a promotory jutting into the sea that until the last century was just a fishing village inhabited largely by underwater divers who worked in Genova's ship-building industry. Although it is just a few minutes' drive from the bustling pot of the city, the largest in Italy, from her terraced garden on steep cliffs overlooking the sea she enjoys a unobstructed view of the Ligurian coast as far as Portofino where she also has a summer villa. Giovanna is a woman of great style and creative energy, who designs and manufactures elegant household items in Perspex. She sells to the best shops in Italy and her beautiful decorations decorate the finest homes from Milano to Roma.
"Giovanna has invited me to spend the Easter holidays. Religious feasts seem to have particular importance in Liguria, perhaps because of its connection with the sea. At any rate, Giovnna has an unusual and congenial custom for Easter Sunday. At noon the parish priest comes to celebrate Mass in her home for family and friends/ This is the occasion for a festive luncheon afterward which she serves on her splendid terrace with its spectacular view.
"By long established tradition, the first course is one of the epicurian masterpieces of Genoese gastronomy, the torta pasqualina, Easter pie. All Giovanna's guests look forward to this dish with great expectations because Maria still makes it according to the original recipe with twenty-four layers of transparently thin pastry.
"The torta pasqualina is basically a vegetable tart that has been refined to perfection over the centuries. It is made with the small variety of artichokes with the long narrow, violet-colored leaves. They are at their best this season and Maria only uses the most tender leaves and hearts. After these have been seasoned with garlic, borage and marjoram, and cooked with olive oil, they are then blended with a rich sauce of fresh ricotta, Parmesan and egg. She spoons this mixture between the twenty-four layers of pastry, twelve on bottom and twelve on top. Before adding the top sheets, she makes 12 little wells in the filling and pours a whole raw egg into each one. As the pie bakes these become hard and when it is sliced their golden yolks add a richness of color as well as taste to the dish. Under Maria's experienced hand the dough has puffed up int twenty-four (countable) flaky, golden layers. I hope I have not gone against any religious symbolism by reducing in my recipe the number of layers of dough and egg to six. After all, this is a Paschal pie and there were twelve guests at the original Paschal supper. Even at six it is a most worthy dish for a festive occasion and if you are in Liguria you can buy a quite decent rendition in this region's excellent food shops..."
-- Lorenza De Medici, The Renaissance of Italian Cooking.
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Gee wliiklers, that's such a great post!
Posted by: Mimosa | April 19, 2013 at 12:02 PM