Wheat Tart

Name: Wheat Tart (Pastiera di Grano)
Yield: Serves 10 or more
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 150 g (5½ oz) butter or cooking fat; 3 large egg yolks; 200 g (7 oz) whole wheat, soaked in water for 24 hours, and cooked the day before, or a 440 g (15½ oz) can cooked wheat; 600 ml (1 pint) milk (if you are using fresh wheat); 300 g (10½ oz) plain flour; finely grated zest of ½ lemon and ½ orange; 150 g (5½ oz) caster sugar; 2 tbsp orange-flower water; 4 large eggs, separated; 300 g (10½ oz) ricotta cheese; 2 tsp vanilla sugar; 150 g (5½ oz) candied peel, finely diced; 225 g (8 oz) caster sugar; icing sugar for dusting

Pastiera di Grano

Preparation info

Serves
10
or more

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

An Invitation to Italian Cooking

By Antonio Carluccio

Published 1986

About

‘In Naples, Easter isn’t Easter without this wonderful tart. It has, apparently, very ancient origins, and it symbolises wealth. Grain and ricotta cheese are the most basic of foods, and if you do not have them, it means you are very poor. Whatever Neapolitans may think of this, the tart is still a remarkable sweet. The important ingredient for it is whole-wheat grain, which is available in good health-food shops. Allow plenty of time for preparation.’

Ingredients

Method

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Part of

Fruit and Desserts

Matthew Cockerill

2 days ago from United Kingdom

I was introduced to Pastiera by an Italian friend earlier this year. I can’t believe I’d never heard of it. I’ve since spoken to other Italians who enjoy it every Easter, so I thought I would give it a try.

The first step is a trip to an Italian deli to get a jar of the Grano Cotto which is basically sold entirely for the purposes of making this dish, I think.

Rather than orange flower water I used Fiori di Sicilia, a citrus essential oil used in Italian baking which has an even more heady aroma.

The recipe was pretty straightforward and worked well. I delegated the pastry lattice to my more artistically inclined son as it was a bit fiddly!

Try end result was a big hit and I genuinely think I will aim to adopt the Italian habit and make it every Easter from now on…

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