Newsgroup: it.hobby.cucina
Titolo: Traduzione in Inglese del migliaccio della Teresa

La settimana scorsa sono approdato qui su it. hobby.cucina alla ricerca
di informazioni sulla pasta doppia ed il migliaccio di tradizione
meridionale; fra le altre risposte (grazie a tutti) Elena mi ha inviato
una copia della ricetta del migliaccio postato dalla Teresa. Quando le
ho chiesto il permesso di tradurrla in inglese mi ha risposto di si,
aggiungendo che e' il frutto dello scambio di idee qui su IHC. Segue per
chi la volesse vedere in inglese (postato anche su RFC).
Kyle
...having said all this, here is Il Migliaccio Sette Anni Dopo,
Migliaccio
seven years later.
"The strangest things flitter through your head sometimes. It would have
been just a couple days ago, would have been but wasn't, and will never
be again. It would have been a birthday.
"Eyes that continue to look at me, and that I cannot see, nor ever will
again. Hands I gripped tightly with my own, which were a little larger
than hers, and which I held during her first walks. Legs I saw rise
slowly, and slowly begin to walk. And a smile, just like mine.
I've always liked to cook, Il Manuale di Nonna Papera (Walt Disney's
manual for little girls) is probably to blame. Not her, she just liked
to eat. And be naughty, especially when I was cooking… 'Wow! You're
baking a cake!' She'd say it behind my back, and before I could turn
around disaster would strike: the oven open and the cake collapsed.
"I'm smiling now, and how could I not? I know how to make it even
better, something very sweet.
"Migliaccio is a classic Neapolitan specialty, something I've never come
across anywhere else. Its flavor is reminiscent of pastiera di grano
[another Neapolitan sweet, made with ricotta and grain], is it aroma of
orange blossoms. It's got the same color too, like a ray of sunlight.
And it's easy to make, when you come right down to it. To begin, prepare
a pastry cream with 3/4 cup (175 grams, or about 175 ml) whole milk, 2
egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2/3 cup potato or corn starch. [With these
proportions it will come out quite thick -- bring the milk to a boil.
While it's heating, whip the yolks with the sugar until the mixture is
pale yellow and foamy, then sift the starch into the mixture, stirring
constantly to keep lumps from forming. Stir in the hot milk, a few drops
at a time, then heat everything over a very low flame, stirring gently,
until it thickens somewhat -- about 10 minutes. Don't let the cream come
to a boil, and be gentle, lest it curdle.] Then heat another 3/4 cup of
milk with a pinch of salt, stir in a scant 1/2 cup of semolina (80
grams), a cup of sugar, and cook for about 5 minutes.
"Afterwards, you simply have to combine this mixture with a touch more
than 3/4 of a pound (350 grams) of fresh ricotta, a flacon of acqua di
fiori d'arancio [orange blossom water, use orange extract if need be, to
taste), two more yolks, and the pastry cream. Done. Butter and flour a
mold, and bake the mixture in it at 360 F (180 °C) until it done. [It
should set, figure about 45 minutes but check it at 30]. Open  the oven
and let the migliaccio cool without removing it, to make sure it's
completely dry, and dust it well with confectioner's sugar.
"In a couple of hours I'll again behold the color of a sunbeam. Tomorrow
night a friend will share it with me, but I won't tell him the 'why.'
Nor will he know we're celebrating a birthday, there won't be any reason
to tell him. But he will smile, I know that. And in that smile, and
mine, I'll find another that my eyes, and mine alone, haven't seen for
seven years. Because everyone always said my sister and I had the same
smile. It would have been a birthday, her 33rd. And it will be reason
for joy."
Recipes mean more if they have stories behind them; if you would like to
write Teresa, her address is 
tde...@nospam.tin.it
. (remove the obvious
first).
Enjoy!
Kyle Phillips
Webweaver, The Mining Company's Italian Cuisine
Recipes, ingredients, techniques, wines, travel, *lots* of links, and
now a
newsletter too! (this and a few other things are the text of the current
issue; if you want to sign up, drop me a line to the address
that emerges from removing the spam-blocker per instructions below)
http://italianfood.miningco.com
to reply directly, replace dot com with dot net (spam-blocker in place)

first).
Io, sono commosso.
aldo

Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Teresa