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Recipe: Polta di Pacentro, the peasant dish that symbolises the traditions of Abruzzo
ALSO FOR VEGETERIANS
Among the traditional desserts of north-eastern Italy, Pinsa — or Pinza — occupies a special place: it is the scent of winter, of heated stables and fireplaces lit after the holidays. Widespread in Veneto, Friuli and some valleys in Trentino, it originated as a leftover dessert, prepared with whatever was left in the pantry after Christmas: bread, cornflour, dried fruit, raisins and apples. Simple ingredients, but capable of transforming into a rustic and fragrant cake, a symbol of abundance and good luck for the new year.
It used to be baked slowly under the ashes of the fireplace and shared with the family during Epiphany: it is no coincidence that it is still considered the dessert of the Befana. Each valley has its own variation — leavened or more compact — but they all tell the same story of seasons, community and rural memory, when nothing was wasted and every recipe was first and foremost a collective gesture.
Ingredients
400 gr yellow polenta flour
600 gr 00 flour
100 gr butter
1.6 liters boiling milk
150 gr sugar
1 sachet of yeast
250 gr walnut kernels
200 gr raisins soaked in rum or marsala
100 gr soft dried figs in chunks
100 gr pine nuts
2 apples
fennel seeds
grated lemon peel (yellow only)
2 eggs
30 g butter
A pinch of salt
1 l. milk
Method
We start by mixing well the two flours, the sugar and the sachet of yeast. Dissolve the butter in boiling milk and add it little by little in the flour. We mix paying attention not to form lumps. We add all the other ingredients, mix and let rest for an hour. We oil a baking tray and fill it with the dough. Cover the surface with slices of apple and sprinkle with sugar. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake for an hour. Allow the dessert to cool well before serving.
…Good appetite and Happy Epiphany!
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