Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [279]
5. While the cake is still warm, loosen its sides from the pan with a knife, and invert the pan over a plate, shaking it a little to cause the cake to drop onto the plate. Then turn the cake over again onto a serving platter. Serve when it has become completely cold.
Pisciotta—Olive Oil Cake
IN THE COUNTRY north of Verona, the grape and olive growers share the hills with the stone cutters, the latter taking the elevations too high for the vines and olive trees to thrive. Many of the farmers and stonemasons also share a table at the Trattoria Dalla Rosa, in the ancient town of San Giorgio, perched under the brow of one of the tallest hills. Alda Dalla Rosa, the matriarch, is in command of the kitchen, but her daughter Nori is the baker. This surprising and savory cake that uses only the local olive oil—possibly Italy’s finest—for shortening comes from an undatable recipe Nori salvaged from the family’s few preserved written records.
For 6 servings
2 eggs
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
The peel of 1 lemon grated without digging into the white pith beneath
Salt
⅓ cup dry Marsala wine
⅓ cup milk
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil for the batter plus more for the pan
1 tablespoon baking powder
1½ cups all-purpose flour
A 2¼-quart tube pan
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them with all the sugar until they become pale and foamy.
3. Add the grated lemon peel, salt, Marsala, milk, and the ¾ cup olive oil.
4. Mix the baking powder with the flour, add to the other ingredients, and mix thoroughly.
5. Smear the inside of the pan with a thin coating of olive oil, pour the batter into the pan, and bake in the upper third of the preheated oven for 50 minutes.
6. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, loosen it from the tube and sides of the pan with a knife blade, turn it over, unmolding it, and place it on a cooling rack until it comes to room temperature.
Ciambella—Grandmother’s Pastry Ring
MOST ITALIAN DESSERTS are purchased from the local pastry shop, but some are habitually baked at home, and each region has one or two that are its specialty. Ciambella is my native Romagna’s traditional home-baked cake, and as with other home-nurtured traditions, every household has its own version. Some use anise along with, or in place of, the lemon peel; others add white wine to the batter. Each is as “authentic” as the next. The one below is the recipe my grandmother used and like all tastes one grows up with, it is the one I like best.
At home, there seems to be no time of the day that is not appropriate for having a slice of ciambella. My mother, at ninety-seven, still has it every morning with her caffelatte, a big cup of weak espresso diluted with hot milk. The old farmers’ way is to dunk the cake at the end of the meal into a glass of sweet wine. In this, as in many other instances where Italian food and drink is concerned, the farmers’ way amply rewards emulation.
For 8 to 10 servings
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
4 cups unbleached flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2½ teaspoons cream of tartar, available in pharmacies as potassium bitartrate, and 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda OR 3½ teaspoons baking powder
Salt
The peel of 1 lemon grated without digging into the white pith beneath
¼ cup lukewarm milk
2 eggs
A heavy baking sheet
Butter and flour for smearing and dusting the baking sheet
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Put the butter in a saucepan and melt it without getting it too hot.
3. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, melted butter, cream of tartar, bicarbonate, a tiny pinch of salt, grated lemon peel, and the lukewarm milk. Add 1 whole egg and the white of the second egg. Add the yolk of the second egg less 1 teaspoonful of it, which you will set aside for “painting” the ring later. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients, then turn them out onto a work surface and knead the mixture for a few