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Tarte de Santiago - recipe and origins

Bridget and Peter

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Home to Reims 2007
Reims to Limoges 2008
Camino Ingles 2009
Limoges to Gernica 2009
Gernica to San Vicente de la Barquera 2010
San Vicente to La Isla 2012
La Isla to Santiago Sept/Oct 2014
Interesting item on Womans Hour on BBC Radio Four about Tarte de Santaigo, with Claudia Roden, who traces it back to the medieval Sephardic Jews who emigrated from Andalucia to Galicia. Fascinating. You can listen on line, (and get to the recipe by clicking on 'cook the perfect...')from here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dtdc0
 
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I enjoy making the Tarta de Santiago to the delight of everyone, and, since it is gluten free, some of my friends on special diets get to eat this treat.

Tarta de Santiago
4 eggs
¾ c sugar and then ¼ c. sugar
1-3/4 to 2 c finely ground almonds. (I grind them to a fine flour using my coffee grinder)[img]
Preheat oven to 375°.

Separate 4 large eggs into 2 large bowls. Beat yolks and slowly add ¾ C sugar then fold in 1-3/4 to 2 C finely ground almonds. Whisk egg whites until foamy then beat in1/4 C sugar and beat until stiff. Fold the egg whites carefully into almond mixture, 1/3 of them at a time. Pour batter into a buttered and papered 9” pan and cook until a toothpick stuck into the cake comes out clean ~ 35 Minutes. Allow to cool. Using a stencil of the Cross of St James, dust with sugar and then remove the stencil.

http://www.lupepintos.com/Cookbooks/Mexican/Tarta-de-Santiago-Stencil.html?print=1&tmpl=component [/img]
 
But what do people think about the link to traditional Jewish cuisine? I thought it was fascinating. Apparently they had Claudia Roden on Galician tv talking about her discovery. You need to listen to the discussion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ur_Katy_B/

the item begins 34mins and 30 seconds in (after a discussion about Rowan Williams)
 
I could not hear the podcast, but I found the almond tarta very interesting as there are no almond trees in Galicia. Why not one made of the local chestnuts or walnuts? One answer I was told was that many pilgrim carried almonds with them on their way to Santiago. They were used to barter for goods. Not too sure about the Jewish origin.
 
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According to "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding," the Greeks invented everything, so I am going to venture a guess that the Greek invented it...
 
My wife bakes a "to die for" Tarte de Santiago but I am not sure she is prepared to release her recipe.

Better than any of the store bought Tarte we have had other than the tradition style.
 
I've got Claudia Roden's book, The Food of Spain, and it's a fascinating read. She explains her theory in it. Like all her books, they aren't simply recipes books, there is so much history, observation and culture in there as well. I heartily recommend it, the photography alone in it is beautiful. Plus it has a great recipe for a staple of my Camino, Galician empanada. Her other book on Middle Eastern cookery is a fantastic reference as well.

If you want to listen to the BBC from outside the UK then you can do it using a proxy. If you use the Tor browser and set the outgoing node to be in the UK then you can fool iPlayer into thinking you are in Britain.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
There is nothing but a hunch behind her statement that Tarte de Santiago has a Jewish origin, however. A footnote cite is quite absent! It seems to be limited to the commonality of dusting desserts with powdered sugar. The Santiago cross would have been quite an affront to the average Jew. Most of the Jewish influence is in the area of vegetables, spices, and some meats (obviously not the ubiquitous pig in Spanish cuisine). Kosher rules preventing dairy and meat mixing limited the appeal for most of Spain. Since Egypt was ruled by Greece in Roman times, it still could have been the Greeks...
 
Listen to falcon....the Greek word tourta, meaning a cake used for special occasions could definitely have been mentioned in the movie;-)
 
I read this post this morning and then baked Claudia's cake for a Camino evening I am attending tomorrow night. I can't wait to try it. I went online to copy a template of the cross.
 
More 2024 Camino Guides available
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
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