Wandering Britons and Cathedral Cake

 We are following the road which may be less travelled, unless you have the sort of satnav that wants to put the challenge back into travel.  We are dropping about 250m and what I really like is the glimpses of Mondonedo cathedral we get from time to time.

We came to Mondonedo for reasons that will be made clear tomorrow.  There is a sense of constantly descending into the centre of the palm of a hand. It is somewhere I really want to go back to and stay awhile - I wouldn’t be the first.  One of the most remarkable and unreported stories is the flight of 5th century Britons from the Anglo-Saxon invaders.  Some came to Asturias and Galacia and some settled here and established a bishopric. Naturally the enclave was slowly incorporated into the Iberian community but a 1233 document mentions an estate that belonged to  "to those men called Bretons or Biortos, and whose women were called chavellas."

Mondonedo is first mentioned as such in 858 during the rule of king Ordono I of Asturias. In 1112 the place got a bishop and begun to grow.  It seems to have bumbled along at about 10,000 souls since 1857 till 1940, at which point the people left and today it has about 3500 inhabitants.  In 2006 16 non-Spaniards lived here, of whom 36 were Africans and 55 were Americans.  The place is full of churches, monasteries, an 18th century mansion turned Civil Guard barracks and a very ancient cave.

I will end the day with mention of  Mondoñedo cake.  Here is how to make it.

2 ½ cups unsweetened ground almonds (8 ounces)

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (8.5 ounces), thawed

1 cup (packed) candied angel’s hair (10 ounces)

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

4 eggs + 1 for brushing top of tart

¾ cup sugar + 1 tablespoon for glaze

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons flour + additional for rolling out pastry

Candied cherries to decorate

Spread the ground almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven, turning them once or twice, until uniformly toasted and golden, about 12 minutes. Allow the almonds to cool.  Raise oven temperature to 425ºF.  Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan and line it with baking parchment, leaving an overhang of the parchment to help in removing the tart from the pan.

On a lightly floured board, roll the puff pastry just enough to cut a round to fit in the bottom of the cake pan. Save the scraps of dough. Place the pastry in the pan. 

Spread angel’s hair on top of the puff pastry dough.  

In a mixing bowl, beat 4 eggs with ¾ cup sugar until light. Add the zest, juice, flour and ground almonds and mix well.  Spread the almond batter on top of the angel’s hair in the cake pan. Roll out remaining scraps of puff pastry and cut them into strips, ½ inch wide and long enough to criss-cross the top of the tart. Place the strips on top of the tart in a lattice. Decorate the top with candied cherries. 

Beat remaining egg with 1 teaspoon water. Brush the pastry lattice with egg. (You will only need half of the beaten egg.) Bake the tart 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375ºF. Bake until the pastry is golden-brown and the almond filling is done (skewer inserted in center comes out clean), 20-25 minutes.  Cool the tart on a rack. While tart is cooling, make a simple sugar glaze. Boil 1 tablespoon sugar with ¼ cup water until reduced by half. Brush the top of the tart with the glaze.

To serve, loosen the sides of the tart with a sharp knife. Use the overhanging parchment to lift and slide the tart out onto a platter. Carefully pull the parchment out from under the tart. Use a serrated knife to cut the tart into thin wedges.