RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Lita Lotzkar Almond Pastry for Purim: Monte Sinai con Uova Filate - pareve
Here's something unusual for Purim. Monte Sinai con Uova Filate is an almond pastry topped with "egg threads," a sweet yolk mixture poured through a colander and cooked in hot syrup. The dessert immigrated probably with the Marranos of Portugal to Italy in the 16th century. It is still a Purim tradition in Livorno, where it is sometimes molded in the shape of a Star of David. The recipe is from "The Book of Jewish Food" by Claudia Roden. MONTE SINAI CON UOVA FILATE Serves 10 Macaroon pastry base: 1/2 cup sugar grated zest of 1 orange 1-1/3 cups ground almonds 1 egg 3 Tbs. finely chopped preserved citrus peel Egg threads: 2-1/2 cups sugar 1 cup water 1 Tbs. lemon juice 1 to 2 Tbs. orange blossom water 8 egg yolks Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-1/2-inch cake pan with parchment paper and set aside. To make the pastry base, place sugar in a pan with 4 Tbs. of water and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes, until thick and sticky, but do not let it brown. Add the orange zest and ground almonds, stir vigorously and remove from the heat. Let it cool a little, then beat in the egg. Pour in the almond mixture. It will make a very thin layer. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let cool completely, then invert onto a serving plate and peel off the foil or paper. To make the egg threads, prepare a syrup in a wide pan by boiling the sugar with the water and lemon juice until it is thick enough to coat a spoon. Pour about half the egg yolks into a colander and let them run through the holes into the boiling syrup, moving the colander in a circling motion, so that the yolks make threads. Help the yolks through with a spoon. When the surface of the syrup is full of egg threads, push them in with the back of a fork and let them cook a few seconds till set but still soft. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Continue with the remaining yolks. Add water to the syrup if it becomes too thick. Wash the colander. Put the cooked yolk threads in the colander and rinse off some of the syrup in cold water; then let the threads dry. Spread the preserved citrus peel on the pastry base and the egg threads on top. Current source: Jewish Bulletin of Northern California Zillah Bahar
