ANDREA PANSA
and a classic VESPA
AMALFI, ITALY
on The AMALFI COAST
This is one of the most Beautiful Italian Bakery / Caffes
you’ll ever see in your life. They make all sorts of wonderful
Italian Pastries, Cookies, Cakes, and of course SFOGIATELLE …
If you’re ever on the AMALFI COAST, check them out. They right by the
CATHEDRAL in the main square of AMLAFI … Mangia Bene !
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Classic Sfogiatelle
Italian-American New York’s favorite pastry? It has to be our beloved Cannoli from Sicily. Yes we Italian-American New Yorkers do love our Cannoli, but when it comes to our second favorite it another crispy treat, this time from the Amalfi Coast in the Southern Italian City of Napoli (Naples). Yes we do love our Sfogliatelle all crucnchy crispy and filled with sweet lemon flavored ricotta cream to complete its lovely taste. Yes the Cannoli may be number one, but it’s not everyone’s absolute favorite, though they may love it, if forced to pick one over the other, some would go with the much loved Sfogliatelle a pastry invented by Nuns in The Convent of Santa Rosain the smal town of Conca dei Marini on The Amalfi Coast of Italy.
Most people associate this tasty Italian Pastry the Sfogliatelle with the city of Naples, and tey would be right in doing so. But if they thought it was invented in this city they would be wrong, for as we have just stated it was invented on the Amalfi Coast at the Convent of Santa Rosa. This being said, as this pastry is wonderfully delicious and loved by millions, and with Napoli being the capital city of the region, Naples has adoted the pastry as its own, and more Sfogliatelle are consumed on a daily basis in Naples than in any otherr place. The on Earth including New York , and they make such good ones there, New York Italians and all citizens of The Big Apple associate the pastry with Naples. All this beng said, just go out and get one and enjoy for lucky for those of us who live in New York, we have many fine Italian Pastry Shops that make Sfogliatelle every bit as good s you get in Naples or on the Amalfi Coast of Italy.
That’s Sfogliatelle alla New Yorkese. Basta !
LEARN HOW to MAKE SFOGIATELLE at HOME
This is a GREAT VIDEO …. WATCH IT !
It is a typical cake of the Neapolitan pastry tradition, a sin of gluttony that everyone should enjoy once arrived in Campania. It has a classic shell shape, fragrant in the mouth with a soft and delicious filling, garnished with pastry cream and raspberries…have you understood what we are talking about? The Sfogliatelle Santa Rosa, of course. An inviting-looking sweet rich in tradition, that contains within it the secrets of a distant history.
The history began in 1600, in the Monastery of St. Rose from Lima in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi Coast . The cook-nun (probably inspired by God or by the need to not waste anything) decided to prepare a mixture using a bit of semolina cooked in the milk, lemon liqueur, dried fruit and sugar; then she enriched the bread mixture with white wine and lard and created a pocket like a nun’s hood in which she put the first mixture. Once out of the oven, the nun garnished the new cake with pastry cream and raspberries. This delicious sweet was renamed “Santa Rosa”, to glorify the Saint to which the monastery was dedicated.
The recipe of the sfogliatella Santa Rosa was jealously guarded within the walls of the Monastery of St. Rose for about 150 years. In the early XIX century Pasquale Pintauro, a Neapolitan pastry chef, obtained the original recipe (probably from a nun aunt): he promptly changed it by removing the pastry cream and the raspberries. So he created the “riccia” (curly) variant of the sfogliatella: triangular-shaped, crunchy, composed by composed of layers of thin puff pastry overlapping each other, filled with flour, eggs, ricotta, candied fruit, milk and sugar. Finally, there is also a third variant of the sfogliatella, the “frolla” one, of round form, prepared with soft short pastry and filled with the same puff of the Sogliatella Riccia.
The history began in 1600, in the Monastery of St. Rose from Lima in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi Coast . The cook-nun (probably inspired by God or by the need to not waste anything) decided to prepare a mixture using a bit of semolina cooked in the milk, lemon liqueur, dried fruit and sugar; then she enriched the bread mixture with white wine and lard and created a pocket like a nun’s hood in which she put the first mixture. Once out of the oven, the nun garnished the new cake with pastry cream and raspberries. This delicious sweet was renamed “Santa Rosa”, to glorify the Saint to which the monastery was dedicated.
The recipe of the sfogliatella Santa Rosa was jealously guarded within the walls of the Monastery of St. Rose for about 150 years. In the early XIX century Pasquale Pintauro, a Neapolitan pastry chef, obtained the original recipe (probably from a nun aunt): he promptly changed it by removing the pastry cream and the raspberries. So he created the “riccia” (curly) variant of the sfogliatella: triangular-shaped, crunchy, composed by composed of layers of thin puff pastry overlapping each other, filled with flour, eggs, ricotta, candied fruit, milk and sugar. Finally, there is also a third variant of the sfogliatella, the “frolla” one, of round form, prepared with soft short pastry and filled with the same puff of the Sogliatella Riccia.
SFOGLIATELLE SANTA ROSA
In the 18th century a group of cloistered nuns at the Santa Rosa convent in the town of Conca dei Marini combined ricotta, candied fruit, Lemon Zest, and semolina in a shell shaped puff pastry and thus a culinary star was born. These nuns, as many in the area, invented the dish to avoid throwing away excess ingredients, never expecting to create such a culinary sensation. The traditional version of Sfogliatella is served ‘riccia,’ named for its curly appearance and crunchy texture. As legend has it, this version was difficult to eat for people who had no teeth (dental hygiene was less than spectacular in the days of Bourbon rule), so local bakers invented a ‘frolla’ or smooth version. Both are delicious, but the orginal ‘riccia’ version will always reign supreme.
Many of Italy’s iconic pastries originated in medieval convents. Nuns would rise early and bake my candlelight, ready for the early morning customers who would purchase them hot from the oven and passed through a grilled window. Some time around the year 1700, a sister at the Santa Rosa convent in Conca dei Marini mixed together some flour and ricotta cheese and shaped it to resemble a monks hood as it would fall against his back.
The recipe for the Santa Rosa convent’s signature sfogliatelle pastry may have been passed beyond the walls of the cloister by a nun to her nephew. Sfogliatelle later appeared in the the fashionable pastry shops of the Via Toledo in Naples. The shape was simply inverted to resemble a seashell, a popular design motif for Rococo Naples which was then the densest and most sophisticated capital in Europe.
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My Two SFOGIATELLE SANTA ROSA I had in NAPOLI
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In the two days I was in Napoli in June of 2015, I had Sfogiatelle both days for breakfast and tried Sfogiatelle in about 5 different places in Naples as well as eating them everyday in my fabulous 3 breakfast meals at Villa Maria in Minori. As Cannoli are to Sicily, Sfogiatelle are of Napoli and the Amalfi Coast of Italy. Get an Espresso and a Sfogiatelle in Napoli or at Pansa in Amalfi or at Gambardella in Minori and you’ll be in Heaven.
Basta !
The WORLDS BEST BREAKFAST !!!
VILLA MARIA AGROTURISMO
MINORI , ITALY
This is the amazing Breakfast I had everyday for the 3 wonderful days I spent with Maria and Vincenzo Manzo at there delightful Agroturismo VILLA MARIA in MINORI on The AMALFI COAST of Italy. Coffee, fresh Cherries, an Apricot, Maria’s awesome Lemon Cake, Coffee, toast and Vincenzo’s homemade Jams. “It was absolute Heaven.”
Inside the Fabulous ANDREA PANSA CAFFE / PASTICCERIA
Amalfi Italy
Some Recipes from The AMALFI COAST
COOKING ITALIAN
GREATEST HITS COOKBOOK
PASTICCERIA CAFFE GAMBARDELLA
Minori, Italy
One the great Bakery / Caffes in all of ITALY !
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SUNDAY SAUCE
by Daniel Bellino “Z”
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A LOBSTER TAIL
A SPIN-OFF of The SFOGLIATELL
Larger and Filled with Whipped Cream Folded
into PASTRY CREAM
Yummmm !!!
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My ESPRESSO and SFOGLIATELLE
ANDREA PANSA PASTICCERIA
AMALFI
May 2018
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