Vatican City unit

Sometimes there are some weird facts you learn about. As we studied history for the last couple of years, the kids have been wildly amused as the Papal States have been a minor player off and on for much of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, so I knew they would be wildly amused by the Vatican City when we studied there for our Geography lessons. I was right.

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Vatican City resources

I am sure you are all shocked, shocked I say that the Vatican City had no books in my library.

I was incorrect, it has several, but they are mostly adult fiction, or have conspiracy theory-sounding titles (The Secrets of the Vatican!). I’d completely forgotten though, they have a Vatican Cookbook….

More on that in just a moment.

That one was into a lot of the nitty-gritty, and I’d have to watch some of his other videos because every now and then some of his phrasings had me glancing sideways at the video. But, it does a good job of explaining the distinction between the Vatican City and the Holy See, which both are legal names for the area.

This is a slightly more conventional take.

Recipes for Vatican City

Technically, there aren’t national dishes for the Holy See, because it doesn’t have a nationality per-se (how is this not a word spellcheck, am I the only one who uses it?) because it’s made up of citizens all over the world.

However, it does have a few hundred popes over the years, and the Pontifical Swiss Guard put together the Vatican Cookbook.

No, seriously, it exists. I kind of want to try several more recipes from it.

Now, this cookbook only has favorite recipes from the last three popes, so it’s not covering hundreds of years, but it’s a good 50 years worth of favorite recipes.

I turned the cookbook over to Batman and said, “Pick something out, you would like to cook.” He looked through the recipes and picked out a cheese torte Italiana.

Cheese Torte Italiana

Crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons cold water

Filling:

• 1 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup grated Fontina
• 2 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes, thinly sliced into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 1/3 cup Gorgonzola (we did not use this part because I hate Gorgonzola)
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Let’s make this dish!

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425.
2. Mix the flour, herbs, and salt in a bowl.
3. This is where I deviate from their instructions. I don’t cube the butter and then cut it in. I shred the butter with my handy dandy cheese shredder AND THEN cut it in with the pastry cutter.
4. Then add in the water slowly, you may not need all of the water. Add just enough water to form a workable dough. Roll the dough out and place in pie tin (I like how this one cooks), then cover and put in refrigerator to rest as you mix up the filling.
5. Meanwhile, mix the eggs (beating them thoroughly), milk, and grated Fontina cheese together.
6. Add the sun dried tomatoes, and capers to the mix, then pour the mixture into the pie tin. Crumble the Gorgonzola on the top (I just added extra Fontina).
7. Bake for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 300 for 15 minutes more.

Vatican City Cheese Torte Italiana

Print

This Cheese Torte Italiana from the Vatican City makes a wonderful breakfast or brunch dish.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons Italian herbs
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons cold water
• 1 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup grated Fontina
• 2 tablesppons sun dried tomatoes, thinly sliced and chopped
• 1 tablesppon capers
• 1/3 cup Gorgonzola
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Pre heat oven to 425.
2. Mix flour herbs, and salt in a bowl.
3. Cut in the butter, until it resembles a bowl of crumbs.
4. Slowly mix in the water, until you can form a dough.
5. Roll out the dough and put in pie tin. Then cover and let rest in refrigerator for 20 minutes while you mix the filling.
6. In a bowl beat the eggs, then add in the milk. Once the milk has been incorporated add the cheese.
7. Mix in the sun dried tomatoes and capers, then add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the filling into the pie tin.
8. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven to 300 and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Vatican City notebooking pages

I was half expecting the official language of the Vatican to be Latin with how long they’ve clung to the language so long.

Since it’s only a few city blocks, there aren’t any landforms, I mean the entire city is paved, it’s a giant building.

But the most hilarious thing, and it’s something I didn’t find out until AFTER our Vatican City Unit, it’s been at war with Italy for about 100 years, and didn’t settle the war until after World War 2.

That is just hilarious.

Yes, I choose favorite moments of history and geography, based on amusement value. You shouldn’t be surprised by this.

More great ideas to learn about

• Galileo lesson (more crazy pope shenanigans)
• Martin Luther unit (someone else who disagreed with the Pope)
• San Marino unit (another tiny nation inside of Italy)

“Vatican City – Rome” by Justin in SD is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0