Italian cuisine pillars: the pastry making tradition
Tarts, pies, cakes, biscuits are all part of an extended variety of typical Italian sweets that could never be missed out as a morning start, a little snack in the afternoon or as an after dinner indulgence. Italian pastry making is strongly rooted in regional traditions and it's usually handed down from one generation to another. With time, they are usually enriched or slightly modified but without alter completely their true essence.
Not surprisingly, traditional recipes, which are often inherited from parents or grandparents, are scrupulously guarded as a real treasure within the family circle and are not given away so easily. Especially because more or less every good Italian mother or grandmother proudly states to have a “secret” ingredient in her recipe that the others don’t have! The recipe I'm going to share with you is a jam tart with homemade clementine marmalade, one of my favourite afternoon snacks after school.
My childhood's memories are filled with its aroma, a unique combination of sweet and citrusy that filled the kitchen while I was doing my homework.
Ingredients
For the tart
350g ‘00’ flour
100g sugar
1 egg
200g unsalted butter
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of sambuca liquor
For marmalade
1 kg of leafy clementines
330-350g sugar
Water
Method
Clean the clementines taking away all the leaves and rubbing the peel under running water. Put them (with the peel) in a large pot and cover with water. Boil them for about half an hour, drain and let them cool down completely. When cold, peel half of them and cut all the clementine in four. Take away all the seeds, if any, put them in a mixer and blend.
Transfer all in a pot, add the sugar and 2 tablespoon of water and cook at low heat for about 40 minutes or until reaching the right consistency. A good way to understand if our jam is ready is to drop a teaspoon of the compote on a plate: if bending it forward the jam slips over slowly, it’s ready; if it doesn’t it’s overcooked, if it slips too quickly, it’s not ready jet. Once ready, our jam must be transferred in jars quickly before it cools down. Seal the jar and take it upside down until the jam is lukewarm.
