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Reflections: What Grows in Silence - I Sepolcri di Grano

Today, as I prepare i sepolcri di grano - those tender shoots of wheat grown in darkness for Holy Week, I’m struck by how much of our heritage is cultivated in shadow. These small grains of wheat will in time sprout into humble and symbolic tender shoots; grown quietly in cupboards and cellars, much like the family stories carried in silence. They belong to rituals that travelled across oceans with our families, reappearing each year in kitchens and parish halls far from Basilicata. I remember my maternal grandmother, nonna Carmela preparing them for Good Friday. I watched her soak the grains, spread them into shallow dishes, and hide them away in darkness. She had carried this tradition from her village to Australia, recreating it in a suburban kitchen that bore little resemblance to the world she left behind. For her, it wasn’t nostalgia; it was devotion and continuity; a quiet way of keeping the rhythm of faith and the old world alive in a new one. I didn’t fully understand the sy...
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Torta di Mela e Cotogna (Apple & Quince Cake)



I have been reading through my mother's little recipe book that I wrote about in my last post (click here) and found an apple cake that also uses Lievito Vaniglinato Bertolini, of which I have substituted with Lievito Pane degli Angeli. This cake resembles a tart, but the base is somewhat of a dense cake consistency. The recipe requires apples only, however I have chosen to spread a layer of quince jam before assembling the thin slices of apple.  The recipe for quince jam, can be found here Quince- Mela Cotogna 
Ingredients:

 350g flour
150g sugar
1 sachet Lievito Vaniglinato Bertolini or Lievito Pane degli Angeli (vanilla raising agent 16g in weight)
75g butter
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 grated lemon rind 
Quince jam (or jam of choice)
2 apples (I used pink lady)
Icing sugar for dusting
This cake is very simple to make.  In a mixing bowl add all ingredients and mix well until combined. The cake dough will be dense and less buttery.  It will be easy to handle, so rather than rolling it out, you just place it into a well greased tart tray of about 20cm in diameter. With your fingers, press the dough in place trying to achieve the same thickness all around.  Add a layer of jam and then arrange thin slices of apple. Glaze the apples with jam and bake in a moderate oven for 50 minutes.  

Dust with icing sugar.



Enjoy!

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