Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [269]
4 to 6 servings as candy, about 2½ cups if crushed
6 ounces, about 1½ cups, shelled almonds with their skins on
1 heaping cup granulated sugar
A large sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil, spread flat on a counter and smeared with 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
A peeled potato
1. Drop the almonds into a pot of boiling water. Drain after 2 minutes, enclose them in a rough cloth dampened with cold water, and rub briskly for a minute or two. Open up the cloth, remove those almonds that have been skinned along with all the loose peels, and if there are still some nuts with their skins on, repeat the operation until they have all been peeled clean. Discard all the peels and chop the almonds very fine, using a knife, not the food processor, into pieces about half the size of a grain of rice.
2. Put the sugar and ¼ cup water into a small, preferably light-weight, saucepan. Melt the sugar over medium-high heat without stirring it, but tilting the pan occasionally. When the melted sugar becomes colored a rich tawny gold, add the chopped almonds and stir constantly until the almond and caramelized sugar mixture becomes a golden brown. Pour it immediately over the oiled aluminum foil. Cut the potato in two and use the flat side to spread the hot praline out very thin, to a thickness of about ⅛ inch.
3. If you want to use it as candy: Cut it into 2-inch diamond shapes before it cools. When completely cold, lift the pieces off the foil and put them in a screw-top jar, or into packets of foil, wrapped tightly, and store in a dry, cool cupboard.
If you want to use it for toppings: When it is completely cold, break it up into pieces, and grind them fine in the food processor. Store in an airtight jar, but do not refrigerate.
Bolognese Rice Cake
In Bologna, rice cake used to be made only at Easter, an occasion for lively rivalry among those families that claimed to have the most delicious and authentic recipe. The one given here came to me from those well-known Bolognese bakers, the Simili sisters, who unhesitatingly assured me theirs was the most delicious and authentic version. I leave the question of authenticity to those more willing than I to discuss it, but it is a fact that I have never had a better-tasting example of rice cake.
For 6 to 8 servings
1 quart milk
¼ teaspoon salt
2 or 3 strips lemon peel, the skin only, with none of the white pith beneath it
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
⅓ cup rice, preferably imported Italian Arborio rice
4 eggs plus 1 yolk
½ cup almonds, blanched, skinned, and chopped, as described
⅓ cup chopped candied citron
A 6-cup square or rectangular cake pan
Butter for smearing the pan
Fine, dry, unflavored bread crumbs
2 tablespoons rum
1. Put the milk, salt, lemon peel, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a moderate boil.
2. As soon as the milk begins to boil, add the rice, stirring it quickly with a wooden spoon. Adjust heat to cook at the slowest of simmers, and cook for 2½ hours, stirring from time to time. When done, the mixture will have become a dense, pale-brown mush. Most of the fine lemon peel should have dissolved, but if you find any pieces of it, take them out. Set the rice mush aside to cool.
3. Preheat oven to 350°.
4. Beat the 4 eggs and the yolk in a large bowl until all the yolks and whites are evenly blended. Add the rice mush, beating it into the eggs a spoonful at a time. Add the chopped almonds and the candied citron, mixing them in uniformly.
5. Generously smear the bottom and sides of the cake pan with butter. Sprinkle the pan with bread crumbs, then turn the pan over and give a sharp rap against the counter to shake off loose crumbs. Pour the mixture from the bowl into the pan, leveling it off. Place the pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven, and bake for 1 hour.
6. As soon as you take the pan out of the oven, while the cake is still hot, pierce it in several places with a fork, and pour the rum over it. When the cake is lukewarm, turn the pan over onto a serving platter and shake or tap it against the counter to work the cake loose.