San Gennaro, patron saint of Naples (Italy), normally blesses Napolitans in September. However, this year he decided to come early and make it to Maryland. San Gennaro's picture sat on my kitchen windowsill all fall, winter and early spring. As a typical Napolitan, he wasn't too happy with the cold drafts from the window and longed for the sunny days of spring and summer. He thought to himself, "Se 'ngrassa a gallina pe' fa' la pastiera!" So day after day San Gennaro sat there wishing for some good pastiera. Finally, the day came when I was washing dishes, looked at his image and had a revelation, "I must make pastiera for Easter!"
Pastiera is a typical Napolitan cake made just for Easter because it is so rich and heavy. It has 12 eggs, 2 pounds of sugar, ricotta, milk and loads of butter. I have never made it due to my fear of messing the whole thing up. And the idea of ruining 12 eggs and 2 pounds of butter didn't appeal to me. However, San Genna' sat on the window glaring at me and I knew he would help me out.
Ahead of time, I dutifully ordered the aromas I couldn't find at the grocery store. I called my mother in law, who is a master at this cake and gave me clear instructions for her secret pie-crust, and watched a few videos on YouTube to get me visually prepared. The best way for me to learn to make something is by watching someone else do it. Finally, the day came. The chef was out of the house, San Gennaro was with me and ingredient by ingredient I made the cake. It was a two day process. Here is what it looked like:
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| Forza, San Gennaro, aiutami! |
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| In go lots of eggs |
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| San Gennaro recommended sipping coffee so I could accurately taste test the cake to see what needed to be added. |
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| Mamma mia! |
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| My first pie dough came out perfect! |
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| Not bad! |
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| Baking :) |
The Chef couldn't wait to dive in.
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| And he threw himself in as I had hoped he would. His approval means I made the real thing! |
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| The finished product. |
In other Easter news, we enjoyed a relaxed weekend taking a walk to see the horses. They were all very nervous and made me scared. I had that feeling I get when Bentley mistakes my hand for a flying bird and wants to slap it. Likewise, the horses were all neighing and looked like they were ready to escape to the wild West.
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| Fresh free manure |
Around the house, the Holiday Deer came a day late. Usually the deer never fail to walk behind our house on holidays. They came on the night we moved in then on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentines Day. Yesterday we kept peaking out to see if they were here but they seemed to have been enjoying their Easter lunch at Grandma's house. This morning, as I was typing out this blog, I saw the hole family out for their Pasquetta, or Easter Monday outing.
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