Maureen Halson is well-known and well-regarded for her sculpture which combines a long experience in the ceramics industry in the UK with delicate and perceptive creativity. Those of you who have collected china figurines from such firms as Royal Worcester, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton will recognize her work. And those who have participated in the Colombina Festa of Bagni di Lucca (alas, no more) will identify Maureen as the originator of that white dove you can paint in whatever colours you like.

There is an important association between the little dove and the feast of Pentecost which this year falls on June 5^th. The feast celebrates when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles gathered together in a small room after the death and resurrection of Christ. They then began to speak in all the languages known around the Mediterranean so that everyone who heard them could understand what they were saying – I wish a similar technique could be used today when learning languages! The other two symbols for Pentecost are fire and wind.

The Colombina is also a typical cake of Bagni di Lucca.

Here is one recipe for it I gleaned from a local:

Ingredients

• 1 kg Bread dough
• 150 grams of sugar
• 25 grams of yeast
• 50 grams of butter
• 300 gr ‘0′ Flour

Method

1 Mix the bread dough with yeast, sugar and flour to make it smooth and velvety. Add the soft butter at room temperature

2. Place in a covered container and leave to rest until doubled in volume.
3. Cut into roughly 70 g portions
4. Divide into two and form two loaves, one short and stubby and one more stretched
5. Let it stand for 10 minutes
6. Put the longer loaf around the shorter one and connect it together (see photo). When pairing the two pieces do not put flour between them otherwise they do not stick well and create a crack
7. Let the mixture rest for 10 minutes. After sprinkling it with flour, crush and stretch slightly.
8. Place into a baking-pan to rise.
9. Once the volume is doubled bake at 185 g for 20/25 minutes.

Note: Vegans or vegetarians can substitute butter with sunflower-seed oil It is important to use high quality raw materials, avoiding margarine or lard.  A feature of the Colombina is that it is neither sweet nor salty… It, therefore, can be filled either with mortadella or Nutella or jam

Tips: The Colombina can be flavoured with orange peel and grated lemon or vanilla. If you like you can make it sweeter, saltier, and more buttery or add other ingredients, such as chocolate or raisin drops. The Colombina can be brushed with egg before putting it in the oven to make it more colourful. It can also be dusted with icing sugar before placing it in the oven to make it crunchier.

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The main feature of mountain districts like ours in the Mediavalle-Garfagnana region of Tuscany is that it produces wholesome and nutritious meals with very plain ingredients. One of the glories in our part of the world and a feature of many festivals, especially in the autumn, is the neccio, or chestnut flour, pancake.

Chestnuts, before being turned into flour, are placed on wooden shelves to be dried in a hut called a metato.  This is a characteristic stone houses, where a fire is lit on the floor and fed with chestnut wood. Flour grinding then takes place with stone millstones. In addition to polenta and bread, chestnut flour is the essential ingredient of the neccio, which is a sort of soft crepe that is usually rolled and filled with fresh ricotta, or with Nutella. (Another typical Garfagnana dessert is the so-called Castanaccio, or Torta di Neccio, in which dried fruit and rosemary are added to chestnut flour).

The neccio is cooked on a piastra which translates as a griddle in English.

Interestingly, another mountainous district, this time in the United Kingdom, uses a griddle to bake its own, particularly delicious cakes. The principality of Wales is noted for its ‘picau ar y maen’, ‘pice bach’,’ acennau cri’ or ‘teisennau gradell. They are usually called bakestones or ‘pics’ and have been popular since the 19th century.

Pics are also known as griddle cakes, or bakestones, since they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone ‘(maen’ = stone’) planc, lit. ‘Board’) this is a Cymric form of the Italian ‘piastra’; it’s a cast-iron griddle placed on the fire or cooker.

Pics are made from flour, butter, currants, eggs, milk, and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Roughly circular and usually just over an inch in diameter they can have attractive scalloped edges and are around half an inch thick. Served hot or cold the pics are dusted with caster sugar and are complete in them without needing, unlike scones, to be sliced and eaten with jam or cream.

Pics were introduced to us by neighbours from South Wales and they were the highlight of our tea. Indeed, they could easily have provided our supper too: so filling and nutritious were they!

If you have a griddle and are keen to make these delicious mountain region cakes from a Celtic country then here is one recipe to try out.

Ingredients:

• 225 g plain flour
• 85 g caster sugar
• ½ tsp mixed spice
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 50 g butter
• 50 g currant
• 1 egg
• splash of milk

Method

1. Tip the flour, sugar, mixed spice, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Then, with your fingers, rub in the butter and lard until crumbly. Mix in the currants. Work the egg into the mixture until you have soft dough, adding a splash of milk if it seems a little dry – it should be the same consistency as shortcrust pastry.
2. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of your little finger. Cut out rounds using a 6 cm cutter, re-rolling any trimmings. Grease a flat griddle pan or heavy frying pan with lard, and place over a medium heat. Cook the Welsh cakes in batches, for about 3 mins each side, until golden brown, crisp and cooked through. Delicious served warm with butter and jam, or simply sprinkled with caster sugar. Cakes will stay fresh in a tin for 1 week.

It’s true, these cakes or pics will stay fresh for a long time! Thus they can be a very useful adjunct to a mountain hike or a long car journey.

Thanks D and C for introducing us to these delicious cakes. Diolch yn fawr neu’r cacennau Cymreig blasus !