One Fat Man

5th Feb: Minne di vergine o cassatelle di S. Agatha

St Agatha (d. 251 AD) is one of the virgin martyrs mentioned in the Canon of the Mass. Her breasts were cut off during her martyrdom. In Sicily -- from whence St Agatha hails -- they make this pert little pastry on her feast day. You join the dots.

 

The recipe below is brought to you care of Googletranslate, a lot of editing, and some educated guesswork. I'm not sure I executed it perfectly, esp. as I used muffin tins, which aren't quite the right shape or cup size. I made some by hand which I cooked on a baking tray, they looked better, and are the ones pictured.

 

The finished pastry is basically a cassate, but without any marzipan, although some receipts that I found for these did use marzipan (unnecessary, I think). They're rather like a cross between a cheesecake and a bakewell tart, and the result is not unpleasant.

 

Ingredients

280 grams of sugar 

550 grams of 00 flour 

150 grams of lard/butter

1 large egg 

400g ricotta 

50g candied diced peel

50g chocolate drops 

grated lemon rind 

For the icing: 

250 grams of powdered sugar 

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

1 egg white 

Glace cherries

 Method

Sift the flour into a bowl and mix with 150 grams of sugar. Add the lard (if you prefer you can use butter) and rub it in. Begin to knead into pastry with your hands. Then add the egg and lemon zest. Continue to knead until you have a smooth pastry dough. If it is a little dry add a splash of milk. Form into a big ball, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for about 45 minutes.

Prepare the filling by whisking the ricotta with 130 grams of sugar, continue to work the ricotta until it becomes smooth and you can no longer see the grains. Add the candied fruit and dark chocolate to taste. Put filling in the fridge and let it rest.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out thin, then cut disks of the right size to line the moulds (already brushed with lard/butter and sprinkled with flour). Fill the cavity with ricotta cream previously obtained. Place a smaller disk of dough over the top and make sure that the contents does not spill. Be careful not to overfill as the cheese will expand during cooking.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees C for about 35 minutes. After cooking allow to cool on a rack.

Prepare the glaze by heating a tablespoon of water and the lemon juice. Sift in the icing sugar and stir it in. Allow to cool, add the egg white and mix with electric beaters until very foamy. Spread the icing over the pastries, making sure to cover them thoroughly. Garnish each pastry with a glace cherry.

A helpful linctus for St Blaise. 3rd Feb.

St Blaise was born in Sebastea in what used to be Armenia, but is now Turkey. He died in the 300s some time through having his flesh torn by hot metal combs, and then by being beheaded for good measure. Poor chap. Not nice at all.

The medieval Greek 'Acts of St Blaise' hold the key to his specialist area today --- throats. Apparently a poor woman's only child was choking on a fishbone and St Blaise sorted the little fellow out and ever since then he has dealt with throats. This has given Blaise a special place as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, the saints of medieval times who were particularly useful for certain things.

It's even traditional for people to have their throats blessed on the feast of St Blaise, using two crossed candles that have been blessed the day before at Candlemas. This is still very popular in many places --- I try to get the throat blessing each year if I can, as I do a lot of singing.

And so what better to prepare for St Blaise than a helpful linctus for the throat. After all it's a rotten time of year for sniffles and bad throats.

Really this is the traditional honey and lemon but with a few of my little twists.

Honey: a nice, light, runny honey. Sweet and tasty. Apparently it does pretty much nothing for the health, but it is soothing for a sore throat.

Lemon: works as an astringent, which helps clear the throat, but really does very little either.

Ginger: you can use a teaspoon or so of ground ginger (it works v. well and is much less faff than fresh stuff). This does all sorts of nice things to your body and it doesn't half clear your nose.

A couple of drops of Tabasco: peps it all up

And finally, garlic: apparently this actually *does* something. It's a natural antiseptic, it helps the body absorb nutrients, it boosts the immune system, and it makes your breath smell lovely.

And the ingredient that's probably best for your throat of all... WATER. Hot, steamy water.

I'm actually feeling quite vocally fresh at the moment, but it's always nice to be soothed in the winter months.

Finally: if you are from Milan you will of course have saved a bit of your Christmas panettone to eat today for San Biagio. I am not from Milan and so I have guzzled mine already.

Peas and Bacon for Candlemas -- Liichtmesdag in Luxembourg

One of the more peculiar highlights of my year is my January trip to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, where I have been privileged to give my 'dame' (in the traditional British Panto sense) four times now --- most recently as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. We always do the pantomime rather late in the season, when people and scenery are more easily available. The marvellous thing about this is that it extends the festal feeling of Christmas to the end of January, and towards its proper end at Candlemas.

In the traditional agrarian calendar the return to work after Christmas was gradual too. In England people got sort-of done with Christmas on twelfth night, and returned to work the following Monday (Plough Monday) to have a go at churning up the soil. But really, whilst there was some stuff to do, often the ground was frozen or it was simply too cold to get anything much done at all and so the festivities continued.

Candlemas was that bit later and as a significant feast it became the perfect time to get rid of Christmas once and for all, falling as it did at a cross-quarter point of the year (the days in between the quarter days --- the two solstices and equinoxes). The cross-quarter days were also occasions for paying debts and hiring new servants, and thus were often given to mini celebrations.

Much like our pantomimes now the time from twelfth night to Candlemas was often a time of mummers' plays and revels. Light was a big theme, largely because of the way the feast falls between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The feast heralds the coming spring in many ways and all over Europe the blessing of candles, and processions with candles, is traditional.

It's very traditional -- certainly in France -- to eat pancakes at Candlemas, partly as it can often fall close to the start of Lent and so the need to use up good things in advance of the great fast was frequently an issue. But pancakes have been featured twice on this blog before and thus are not an option.

So... in quiet desperation and looking back to the joys of panto I thought, 'I wonder if they do anything for Candlemas in Luxembourg?'

 

It turns out, they do! The children basically go 'trick-or-treating'. They sing a very traditional song, which references St Blaise (tomorrow) and asks him to feed them well:

Léiwer Härgottsblieschen,	Dear little St. Blasius,
Gitt ons Speck Ierbessen	Give us bacon and peas.
Ee Pond, Pond Zwee,	One pound, two pounds,
Dat da anert Joer gitt der gesond,	So that next year you will be healthy.
Da gitt der gesond.	You will be healthy.
Loosst Déi jonk Leit liewen.	Let the young people live.
Loosst Déi al Leit stierwen,	Let the old ones die.
Kommt der net ball	If you don’t come fast,
On Feiss ginn kal ons.	Our feet will get cold.
Kommt Der net gläich,	If you don’t come at once,
Wed da gi op Schlaich.	We will slip away.
Kommt der net geschwënn,	If you don’t come soon,
On Feiss ginn ons Denn.	Our feet will get thin.
Kommt Der net gewëss,	If you don’t come for certain,
Da Der Kritt e Schouss voll Ness.	You will get a lap full of nuts.

 

It's a bit blunt, isn't it? It speaks of needing the spring, and perhaps in cold winters it was necessary for the children to remind the adults that it was in them that the future lay... not in their grandparents. Anyway, I decided to bypass the 'lap full of nuts' in favour of 'bacon and peas' which always go down well.  So here's an idea for a souped up version of petit-pois a la francaise with added cabbages and leeks and bacon. In the spirit of ridding the house of the last bits of Christmas greenery you could also throw in a few miserable sprouts if you have them left.

Fry some bacon in cubes/small gobbets, then fry sliced leeks, halved sprouts and shredded cabbage until tender but still crisp. Add frozen peas and a little sherry and cream/milk. Grate on some nutmeg, and a little black pepper. Bubble it away for a few minutes. This all goes very nicely with roast pork and a Moselle valley wine.

It occurs to me now that perhaps the rhyme refers to a very traditional Luxembourgish dish of broad beans with pork (Judd mat Gaardbounen). But I think this dish of bacon and peas every bit as delicious.