Pay attention to the date: January 17th. On that day throughout Italy Sant'Antonio Abbate is celebrated, the Egyptian hermit who lived in the third century after Christ, born into a wealthy family who stripped himself of all possessions to donate them to the needy and who subsequently chose the path of preaching in the desert where he founded the first religious order to help leprosy patients.
His cult has origins in France from the twelfth century. Over time, great thaumaturgical powers were attributed to him by popular devotion in healing many people suffering from terrible diseases, and he too was invoked to free people suffering from demonic possessions.
But in more modern times since in theiconography traditional is always depicted accompanied by a piglet (in remembrance of the fat of the animal used by his monks for healing ointments for the sores of the sick) popular devotion has elected him a protector of pets. His cult is one of the most widespread in Italy among the peasant populations and on the day of January 17 everywhere the stables are blessed and the blessing of the animals is invoked.
But it's not all roses and flowers: on January 17, in the countryside of Mantua, a territory which is the custodian of age-old peasant traditions of life and faith, on the feast of Sant'Antonio Abbate, there is also one ancient "curse", the Sant'Antoni Chisoler which reads: “Sant'Antoni chisuler, al vegn al darset da sner e sensa chisöl a da so al soler” which, translated, reads "St. Anthony chisuler arrives on January 17 and without chisöl the attic falls on your head". As if to say, remember to celebrate the saint in your homes otherwise the curse ….
La Sulada is a sweet that is a concentrate of peasant life products, from beans to dried chestnuts
If the Chisol, a dry donut, very elementary, brushed with egg or milk and covered with granulated sugar, it is still widely used in the local tradition, a another sweet, much more interesting for its cultural significance and its gastronomic characteristics, linked to the cult of Sant'Antonio in lower Mantua is in danger of disappearing, is the "Sulada", a tart that is a real triumph of peasant life, a summa of poor local products in which fruit, borlotti beans and dried chestnuts coexist.
Few of the new generations remember its name but Carlo Mantovani, journalist, writer and food blogger from Concordia sulla Secchia (Modena), for years he has been engaged in a real battle because do not lose knowledge of this delicious and original tart, witness of ancient traditions. And so relying superstitiously on Sant'Antoni Chisoler, theinvitation-appeal addressed to all by Carlo Mantovani is: put yourself in the kitchen and don't forget to prepare the Sulada for January 17th which…. will safeguard the future of your home.
"Since 2016 - when my mother, originally from Quistello (MN), fell ill and was no longer able to cook it - that I have had one thought fixed in my head: saving the Sulada ad Sant'Antoni, the ancient rustic cake of the Mantuan Oltrepò”, affirms Mantovani. A generous fruit tart and shortcrust pastry with the typical lozenge decoration with a genuine and inimitable taste, due to the ingredients that make up the filling, coarse and with the typical brown color (more or less dark): chestnuts, borlotti beans, bell apples ( all rigorously cooked), plum preserve, macaroons and crushed dry biscuits and lemon zest. Real recipes, those with doses and cooking times - Mantovani specifies - do not exist: but the secret, to have a balanced taste, sweet but not too much, is to balance the ingredients, not exaggerating with the plum preserve, which would increase the acidity of the filling and would cover the more delicate flavor of chestnuts, beans and apples”.
The appeal to cook the tart on December 17 to safeguard an ancient tradition ... and avoid the curse of St. Anthony
A cake to save, therefore, not only because it is delicious and because it is healthier than many others (because of the sugars, which are almost completely natural) but above all because this wonderful country cake represents a cultural richness of a peasant world in danger of extinction which does not only belong to the reference territory but is an authentic testimony of the wealth of the great national gastronomic tradition.
Mamma Mantovani's recipe for Sulada for Sant'Antonio
Ingredients for the base (shortcrust pastry):
400 gr of flour
100 gr of sugar
2 Eggs + 2 yolks
100 gr of Butter
1 dose of baking powder
Ingredients for the filling:
200 g of dried chestnuts
250 g of borlotti beans
10 Campanine Apples
150 g of plum preserve
50 g of Amaretti Benelli
12 dry biscuits
The zest of 1 lemon
Method
Rehydrate the chestnuts, then cook them; cut the apples into small pieces and then cook them with a little sugar and lemon peel; with the potato masher (or with a mixer) summarily crush chestnuts and beans and apples (that is, without turning them into a cream); put all the ingredients in a bowl and add chopped amaretti and biscuits (always coarsely) and the plum preserve, dosing it as desired even if, being an acidic ingredient, it is advisable not to overdo it and to use one that is not too concentrated, because otherwise you risk covering the more delicate flavors of chestnuts, beans and apples. Mix well until you have a fairly homogeneous dough.
Let the filling rest and in the meantime let's prepare the shortcrust pastry. Mix the ingredients together until a smooth and homogeneous dough is obtained. Let the dough rest for two hours; then roll it out, cutting out the strips for the typical lozenge decoration and fill it; finally, place in the oven for 30-40 minutes at 180°. Once cooking is complete, it should be left to cool: the cake should be eaten at room temperature, otherwise the complex and inimitable delicacy of its flavors would not be fully appreciated.
