Sbrisolona

Preheat oven to 350u0b0 F. Grease a 10-inch springform pan or a tart pan with a removable bottom. Line with parchment and grease the parchment. (I may try it without parchment next time, as this cake has quite a bit of butter, and parchment might be irrelevant. But it's always nice to play it safe, isn't it?)
Reserve a handful of almonds, then finely crush -- but don't pulverize -- the remaining ones.
In a large bowl, mix together the nuts, flours, sugar, salt, zest, and anise seed.
Using your hands, mix in the butter and egg yolk until incorporated. The dough should be at the large clump stage -- not a uniformly smooth dough.
Lay the crumbs in the pan evenly. It should be craggy, so don't sweat it. Scatter reserved almonds and extra anise seed on top of cake.
Bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes. If the middle of the cake hasn't reached the golden-brown stage, place the pan one rack up in the oven for another 10 minutes. Let cool completely and remove to a large serving platter -- it might get messy.
Alternatively, bake in three 6-inch cake pans for giving as gifts. I've also made this in five mini 4 x 4-inch paper baking pans/molds (the kind with the plastic snap-on lids). Reduce baking time and start checking cakes at 15 to 20 minutes. The cakes are done when they are golden brown on top.
When cool, dust cake with powdered sugar, if desired. The cake keeps well, wrapped in wax paper. I keep my leftovers in an unzipped ziploc bag.