Gluten-free pastiera with corn couscous
Elegant, tasty, rich…it’s the typical Easter dessert! We are talking about the pastiera. Here is our gluten-free version with corn couscous. The recipe is by our Anna Attanasio!
Ingredients:
For the shortcrust pastry:
- 250 g of gluten-free flour
- 1 medium egg
- 100 g of butter (or lard)
- 100 g of granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or the seeds of one pod or vanillin)
- A pinch of fine salt
For the Filling:
- 100 g of Martino Gluten-free corn couscous
- 100 g of hot milk
- 15 g of butter
- 300 g of cow’s milk ricotta
- 180 g of granulated sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 vial of orange blossom aroma (2 ml)
- 35 g of candied orange peel
- 35 g of candied citron peel
Method:
Heat the milk and melt the butter (15g) in it while stirring. Pour the couscous into a bowl, add the hot milk, stir, cover, and let it rehydrate for 10 minutes. After the resting time, fluff it with a fork.
Meanwhile, prepare the shortcrust pastry. Work the cold butter in pieces with the sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt without whipping it.
Add the egg and knead until incorporated, then add the flour and knead until you have a smooth and homogeneous dough.
When the dough is ready, form a ball, flatten it, wrap it in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until you need to use it.
Start whipping the eggs, then add the ricotta and sugar and continue mixing. Add the orange blossom aroma, then the fluffed couscous and the candied orange and citron peels cut into cubes, and continue mixing until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.
Take the shortcrust pastry that has been resting in the fridge and roll it out with a rolling pin to obtain a very thin sheet of about 4 mm
Transfer the shortcrust pastry sheet into the mold, the molds should not be buttered or floured, the shortcrust pastry should only be floured.
Gently press the shortcrust pastry to adhere well to the mold and trim the edges, removing the excess pastry with a knife.
Fill the shortcrust pastry shell with the ricotta cream, stir it before pouring to ensure the couscous or candied fruit does not remain at the bottom of the bowl.
Roll out the remaining shortcrust pastry into a very thin sheet and cut strips with a smooth or fluted wheel, place the strips on the cream forming a lattice, trim the excess.
Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake in a static oven for about 1 hour, bake until it has a nice golden color.
Let it cool completely before removing from the mold, better if done the next day. Dust with powdered sugar as desired.
