RICE CAKE WITH RICOTTO AND ORANGE.

Preparation

A simple yet delicious cake, similar to a Pastiera Napoletana (from Naples) but far easier to make. The fragrant soft rice filling is encased into a crumbly short crust tart.

Start with the shortcrust pastry. Mix the flour with sugar, the butter and zest and rub it to create dough lumps. Now add the eggs and knead until smooth. Wrap it in film and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Then place the pastry between 2 sheets of baking parchment and with the help of a rolling pin, flatten out until you have a ½ cm thick sheet of pastry. If it’s getting too warm and soft, leave it in the fridge for another 20 minutes..

When pliable but not too soft and crumbly, butter a cake tin and let the pastry slide gently in and smooth out the excess pastry on the edges. Leave it in the fridge until you are ready with the filling.

Cook the rice in water and milk with half of the sugar and a zest of orange (or lemon) a bit like a risotto, if the rice dries out but it is still too hard to bite on, don’t be shy to add a ladle of extra water to it and keep cooking. While the rice cooks, beat the ricotta in a bowl with the remaining orange zest grated, the sugar and the eggs.

When the rice is ready let it cool completely before incorporating it into the ricotta and eggs mixture.

Now it’s time to pour the filling evenly into the tart case and sprinkle with some almonds flaks. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for about 45/50 minutes, until firm and well golden. Let the cake cool completely and gently remove it from the tin.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy it.