SHF41: Colomba Pasquale with Candied Peel

Happy Easter!

So here is the Columba Pasquale at last. I have some nice memories of eating this when we went to visit friends in Milan at Easter a couple of years ago, so this year I decided to have a go at making some at home. It's my entry for Sugar High Friday number 41, which is hosted by Habeas Brulee this month with the theme of sweet gifts.

Columba Pasquale (Easter Dove) is a lesser known relative of the Italian classic Panettone that is eaten around Christmas and New Year. It is said to have been made by the bakers of Milan since the twelfth centuary. Traditionally shaped like a dove, Colomba is a rich and soft bread packed with candied peel and topped with crunchy sugar and almonds. It's a typical dessert for Easter lunch, but makes a great gift as well.

The origins of Colomba are linked with an old story. When King Alboino of the Longobards conquered the city of Pavia on the eve of Easter Sunday, he requested that all the gold and treasures of the city should be given to him together with 12 virgins. The poor girls were sent to the castle to await their fate and they were all crying in despair. All, except for one, who asked to be given some honey, flour and dried fruits as she wanted to bake a cake. She prepared a dough and gave it the shape of a dove and asked her guardians to have it baked. When she was called to see Alboino, she carried the cake on a tray. The king was surprised and he asked her to taste the cake first in case she was trying to poison him. The girl ate a piece and Alboino, seeing that she looked so confident, did the same. He found the cake delicious, so as a reward he ordered his guards to free the baking girl.

Moral of the story? When in danger, bake! The colomba recipe I used is here. It's quite simple, but takes a long time becuase of the different rising stages, including one overnight.

The candied peel is a crucial part of this recipe, so I decided to start off my bake-fest last weekend by making my own. I described what I did in this post last week, but basically involved successive rounds of boiling the peel in fresh water, then for several hours in sugar syrup. As manoute pointed out, candied peel makes a lovely gift, and is especially delicious dipped in dark chocolate. I was really pleased with the home mande peel, it's got so much flavour compared to the bough stuff. It's a taste that really lingers for a long long time (possibly because it gets stuck in your teeth so much!), and is very refreshing. I'm surprised we had any left to make the Colomba with because we've been nibbling at it all week. Here's a picture of the peel as it was being candied, and then as it was drying before being tossed in sugar...

Last week I challenged everyone to make something foody for Easter. Manoute has just sent me some lovely pics of her Easter Pate that she made last year, and also a sweet version of the French flat bread fougasse. Yum! More pics of Easter baking to follow hopefully...