Orange Tart

The picture is not the most appetizing, this is my problem in trying to record while doing too many other things... However this is one of my favorite winter cakes.

Oranges are the winter Sicilian delight. Not only they are available on the market but with some luck, as you take short tours visiting friends, you will be often presented with the orange bag or crate to take home with you, as a winter sharing gift.

Although in Sicily there are too many orange groves that go uncultivated and are abandoned, thankfully some of the beautiful fruits are harvested by the ones that still care.

This particular tart was made with the oranges from Valle Allegra, an old farm house that has been in Maria Rita's family for generations, and that hosts, amongst others,many citrus trees.

Honey & Ginger Apple Pie

More Apples! Yhoommy!
This recipy came about when I discovered the wonders of the oil based pastry, and when in my large "fammily" communinity there was a debate about the benefit of ginger.
It is quite light and it is dedicated to all ginger lovers.

For the pastry
- 3 cups of flour
1/2 cup of water
-1/2 cup of oil
- a pinch of salt

Mix water and oil and brisk it till it becomes milky in color and creamy in consistence. Add the 3 cups of flour and knead it make a neat dough.
Divide the dough in two, one for the bottom one for the top.

For the filling

-5/6 pealed apples cut in medium chunks
- some grated fresh ginger
- a pinch of cinnamon
- half a vanilla stick
- 2 spoons of honey
- 2 spoons of brown sugar
- 1/2 grated lemon peel

Mix the filling, and cook for about 5 minutes in pot at medium heat.

Flatten down both of the doughs, first with your hands and than with the help of the rolling pin, in order to obtain a surface as thin and as round as you can. Place the bottom dough in a buttered round tin about 26cm diameter, place the filling and cover with top dough, securing the edged by folding them between themselves.

- mix some egg red and some milk and brush it lightly over the pie, to add shine.
Cook in medium oven for about 35-40 minutes, keep an eye on the crust so that it does burn.

This is the perfect light dessert following a fish based meal, or served as a richer dessert with some vanilla icecream.

Soft apple cake

I would like to start this page with one of my favourite of all times, an apple recipy that I learned to appreciate in Holland. When times got tough, my lovely friend Hanna baked one and life got sweeter again.

Apples are often associated with the domestic and the ordinary, often leaving them unapreciated.
They can be used both in sweet and savory dishes, cooked or just raw, with so many different qualities to choose from I believe the apple is the perfect fruit.
No wonder it was believed to be the forbidden fruit in our long lost paradise...

Measurements for a cake of about 500 gr.
- 15 spoons of flour
- 1 teaspoon of backing powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of backing soda
- 1/2 grated lemon peel
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 4 spoons of sugar
- 1 full egg (mixed with the yogurt)
- 125 gr plain yougurt or butter milk
- 150 gr. of melted butter

Mix all the ingredients together starting with the solid ones and ending with the liquid ones, till you obtain a crumbly paste of a cottage cheese consistence ;).
Place it in a round tin, of about 24-28 diameter, wich you have previously buttered and sparkled with some floured.

- peel and cut 4/5 medium size apples in wedges, and dip them into the soft paste till you have covered most of the surface. They will make the paste rise a bit creating a lovely arched pattern.

-cook for about 30/35 minuted in a medium hot oven. (150/160 c.)
When you remove the cake from the oven place a soft damp cloth on the borders of the tin, this will allow the cake to remain soft and not make a crust.

To gloss it, mix:
-1/2 lemon squeezed
-1 teaspoon of honey
-2/3 teaspoons of apricot jam
And brush it over all the cake surface to spark and shine.

This is an ideal afternoon cake to enjoy with tea or cooffe or any other time you wish.
la'la'