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Posted by deweydecimal on December 26, 2004, 4:41 pm, in reply to "Italian ring, Biten Biliad" Too late for this year but maybe for next year in memory of a special great-aunt to keep up the tradition. The cake sounds German. Do you know where your great aunt was from? Deweydecimal Very special pie of the Emilia area between Brescello and Parma, typical of both the Parma and the Piacenza provinces - a pleasure to eat but also to make, since its filling alone requires a 15-day-long preparation! Ingredients For the filling: toasted bread (250 g.), pine seeds (140 g.), sultana raisins (100 g.), hazelnut kernels (200 g.), peeled almonds (120 g.), candied citron-peel (50 g.), jam (300 g.), honey (1000 g.), powdered cinnamon (6 g.), powdered cloves (4 g.), nutmeg (4 g.). For the pastry: finest white flour (500 g.), butter (250 g.), honey (250 g.), an egg, baking powder (15 g.), icing sugar, as much white wine as necessary. Preparation of the filling: grind the toasted bread very thinly. Pour the honey into a pan and let it boil over a medium flame for five minutes. Add all the ingredients, stir, then take the pan off the cooker and let the mixture settle for 15 days, minding to stir it everyday. The dough: dissolve the baking powder in a little quantity of lukewarm wine. Make a flour heap and pour in the middle of it the softened butter, the honey, the egg yolk, the baking powder with the wine, then knead quickly. If necessary add some white wine. Let the dough settle for 15 m., then divide it into two parts and roll them out rather thickly with a rolling pin. Preparation of the pie: butter and flour the pan, then lay the first sheet of dough. Pour the filling on it and cover it with the second sheet of dough. Put the pan in the pre-heated oven (180°C) for half-an-hour, until the pie gets brown-coloured. Then take it out of the oven and dust with icing sugar. ___________________________________________________________ Serves 6 A classic Renaissance dessert, usually served at Christmas time. It is a specialty of two Emilian towns, Brescello and Busseto, the latter being the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi. Chop the walnuts finely. Spread the breadcrumbs out on a shallow baking sheet. Place in a moderate oven to brown lightly. Chop the fruit pieces in the jam into very small pieces. Place the jam, walnuts, and breadcrumbs in a mixing bowl. Pour the honey into a small saucepan with the water and bring slowly to a boil. Stir into the mixing bowl with the nut and breadcrumb mixture. Add the golden raisins, pine nuts, and cinnamon. Mix well. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave to stand in a cool place (not in the refrigerator) for 2-3 days. To make the pastry, sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar; salt, and lemon zest (with no pith) and mix well. Turn out onto a pastry board and heap up into a mound. Make a well in the center, then add the butter, using your fingertips to rub it into the flour. The mixture should resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and yolks and combine, working the pastry dough briefly. Shape it into a ball and cover with plastic wrap (cling film). Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Divide the dough in two portions, one slightly larger than the other. Roll them out into two disks, trimming one to 9-1/2-in/24 cm, the other to 11 in/28 cm in diameter. (Use the lower edges of suitable size saucepan lids, dipped in flour, for neatness.) Place a sheet of silicone baking paper on a baking sheet and transfer the smaller disk carefully onto it. Give the filling a final stir and spoon it onto the pastry dough, spreading it out, but leaving a 1/2 in/1 cm border all round the edge. Cover with the large disk, pressing the border and edges to seal well (trim off any overlapping dough from the larger disk). Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees F/190 degrees C/Gas 5 for 25 minutes. Leave to cool before sprinkling with sifted confectioners' sugar. Flavors of Italy: Emilia Romagna --Previous Message--
172.131.224.212
Ok. I think this is what your grandmother made from the description you gave (somewhat sketchy). I am including two recipes. One is Italian - so you can get the idea of flavorings and one is more americanized. I have also seen this called Italian Christmas Pie.
Spongata (kind of sweet pie)
Christmas Pie
Spongata
Preparation: 2 hours plus 2-3 days' resting for the filling
Cooking: 25 minutes
Recipe grading: complicated
For the filling:
Scant 1 cup/4 oz/125 g walnuts
Scant 1 cup/3-1/2 oz/100 g fine, dry breadcrumbs
1 cup/11 oz/300 g chunky jam
1-3/4 cups/1 lb/500 g clear runny honey
1/2 cup/4 fl oz/125 ml water
1/2 cup/3 oz/90 g seedless golden raisins/sultanas,
soaked in water; well drained
1/2 cup/3 oz/90 g pine nuts
Dash of ground cinnamon
For the pastry:
2-1/2 cups/l0 oz/300 g all-purpose/ plain flour
Scant 1/2 cup/3-1/2 oz/100 g superfine/caster sugar
Dash of salt
Finely grated zest/peel of 1 lemon
2/3 cup/5 oz/150 g butter; cut into small pieces
1 whole egg and 2 egg yolks
Confectioners'/ icing sugar
By Rosalba Gioffrè
Time Life Books, 1999
: A great aunt on my husbands side made this and gave it
: to us for years until she died. It was a ring of
: pastry dough, almost like pie crust, that had wine in
: the dough. It was filled with raisins and nuts rolled
: up then formed into a ring and baked until brown. The
: descriptive name is spelled phoenetically since I have
: no idea of the correct spelling.
:
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