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Lagane e Ceci (Pasta & Chickpea Soup)

  Lagane e Ceci is a well-known southern Italian dish whose roots stem from ancient times when legumes were the staple ingredients, easily accessible with a very long shelf life.  Chickpeas, beans or lentils were alternated and cooked with hand made pasta, feeding the whole family.  This soup is made with dried chickpeas and hand-made ribbons of eggless pasta, but can also be made with  canned chickpeas which are just as good,  and  a short store-bought pasta like ditaletti. Mamma would make it this way when she was time poor.   We however preferred this soup with home-made pasta, rendering it more creamy. Lagane are believed to be the ancestors of today’s lasagne and the oldest form of pasta. The word lagane , like lasagna , comes from ancient Greece where it was used to describe a pasta made of flour and water, cooked on a stone, and then cut into strips. The Roman statesman  Cicero wrote about his passion for the Laganum  or laganas ...

Orange & Olive Oil Cake

 




I hope everyone is keeping safe and in good spirits as best as one can.  Lock down in Melbourne and working from home has been hard but presented many positives for me (and lets just focus on those positives!), one of which is having a cake baked to be enjoyed with an afternoon cup of tea.  The winter citruses have been shared around and kept us connected as much as possible.  There hasn't been time to preserve the harvest, so many have been enjoyed fresh or in cakes like this one.

I won't take the credit for this creation though, as it was baked by my daughter from one of mamma's simple cake recipes using only a few pantry ingredients and an orange from their garden. 

This dairy free cake is moist and full of flavour and you can substitute the orange for lemons if you so desire.  Ideally organically homegrown oranges are preferred however, if you use store bought citruses, I do recommend that you give them a good scrub before using the zest.

Mamma's recipes read very simply with no exact measurements except the use of a tea cup.  So quantities and measurements below have been converted to more conventional ones. Enough flour is added to reach the desired cake batter consistency. It is a simple one bowl and whisk type of cake making it quick and hassle free.

Orange & Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 orange (juice & zest)
150 ml olive oil
1 cup sugar
self raising flour (enough to reach cake batter consistency)


Preheat oven 180 C and grease a bunt tin with a light spray of oil. 

In a bowl whisk 3 eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the olive oil, zest and juice of an orange and continue to whisk.  As mentioned above, enough flour is added with a spoon, whisking in between until you reach the desired cake batter consistency. 

Pour batter in tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or check with a skewer and it will be ready when it comes out clean.

It also makes a lovely breakfast cake enjoyed with coffee.  

Keep safe and positive X

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