Inspired from the recipe in La Cucina Ebraica in Italia by Juan Rundo, it reflects Ashkenazi influence in Italian Jewish cooking as the use of tagliatelle combined with sweet apples remind us of Ashkenazi sweet kugels.
- Preheat oven to 180°C (fan) and line a 24cm spring-form oven tin with parchment paper.
- Halve and core the apples then finely slice one half into thin slices, putting them in a small bowl with the lemon juice, rubbing each slice to stop them browning. Cover and put aside for decoration. Finely chop the remaining apples – I like to pulse it a few times into a food processor until very fine.
- Keep a handful of almonds aside
- for decoration and finely chop or blitz the rest in a food processor. Soak the raisins in water for 5 minutes then squeeze them out. Keep a tablespoon aside for decoration.
- Fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the rock salt and the tagliatelle and cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for only 2-3 minutes so it stays al dente as it will continue cooking in the oven.
- While the pasta is cooking, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until fluffy, then add the cinnamon, crushed apples and almonds and the squeezed raisins. Mix well.
- Drain the pasta and mix with the egg mixture. Stir well and set aside.
- Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold it into the tagliatelle mix. Transfer into the baking tin. Scatter the sliced apples over the top and scatter with the reserved almonds and raisins.
- Bake for about 30 minutes until the top is crispy. Serve warm.
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