“Cartellate are a typical Pugliese Christmas sweet. ‘Carta’, or paper, refers to the thin-rolled dough. They are also known as roses because of their appearance. As in Sicily, ricotta is commonly used in Puglia to prepare desserts, and this is the Pugliese version of the cassata Siciliana. It is called ‘nude’ because we don’t cover it with fondant as the Sicilians do. The dried figs and the toasted almonds belong to Puglia.”
Ingredients
Cassata nuda
Method
Main
1.Place flour into a bowl. Heat oil and moscato in separate saucepans to 80C. Pour warmed oil into the flour and stir to just combine, then add moscato and stir with a wooden spoon until a shiny dough forms (add extra moscato if dough feels too dry). Shape dough into a cylinder and set aside on a tray to rest (45 minutes).
2.Preheat oven to 160C. Slice dough widthways into 24 pieces and, working with one piece at a time, feed through the rollers of a pasta machine, rolling and folding and reducing settings notch by notch until dough is 3mm thick. Cut the pasta sheet lengthways with a fluted pastry wheel into 3cm-wide ribbons. Pinch each ribbon every 3cm to form small pockets, then, keeping ribbon flat on the work surface, roll into a spiral. The finished roll will resemble a rose. Place spirals on oven trays and bake until golden and crisp (10 minutes).
3.Meanwhile, for cassata nuda, combine ingredients (except almonds) in a bowl and stir until well combined. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 2cm-star nozzle and pipe ricotta mixture into 6 to 8 small mounds on serving plates. Decorate each ricotta mound with flaked almonds. Refrigerate until required.
4.Meanwhile, heat vincotto in a small saucepan over low-medium heat until warmed through (3-4 minutes). Pour over the cartellate and serve with cassata nuda.
Note Fig vincotto is available from Italian grocers. If unavailable, substitute vincotto or sweet aged balsamic vinegar.
This recipe is from the May 2010 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.
Drink Suggestion: 2006 Rivera Piani di Tufara. Drink suggestion by Sabino Matera
Notes
