Tips & Recipes

A culinary Giro d'Italia: Crostata

Watch our team chef Owen Blandy teach you how to make the classic Italian dessert

May 27, 2022

It’s time for il dolce.

After traversing Italy from south to north, the Giro has arrived in bike racing’s most beautiful arena: the Dolomites. Cycling’s greatest champions are remembered for their exploits in the shadows of these peaks.

Fausto Coppi won his first Giro after Gino Bartali helped him up the Passo Pordoi. Marco Pantani’s most memorable attacks took place on the Fedaia Pass, under the Marmolada.

Before Sunday’s final time trial in Verona, the peloton will race two stages in the Dolomites. The climbs to the Villanova Grotte, Passo di Tanamea, Kolovrat, and Santuario di Castelmonte won’t seem so sweet to Hugh Carthy and his teammates on Saturday—though they look forward to the challenge.

Sunday’s climbs are even harder. The course includes the iconic passos San Pellegrino, Pordoi, and Fedaia. But the Dolomites are the most beautiful mountains in the world. Sharp limestone ridges loom over alpine meadows, pine forests, and ski villages.

Thousands of spectators will come out to see the race. They are in for a treat. You are too. On TV the race will be spectacular.

Make it even sweeter with a classic Italian dessert: the Crostata Marmalata.

A crostata is a tart made with pasta frolla (shortcrust pastry) and a sweet filling.

“It’s a recipe that every Italian family will have their own take on,” says our team chef Owen Blandy. “Every Italian grandma will have her own recipe.”

For the filling, you could use chocolate or fruit or ricotta or custard. Jam is classic though.

Wherever you are, put the Giro on TV, set your crostata out on a table with some plates and enjoy a slice or two with an espresso or cappuccino. You could almost be in Italy, where they typically enjoy crostata for breakfast.

Here is the recipe that Owen uses.

Ingredients

250 g flour

100 g sugar

120 g unsalted butter

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/6 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Grated zest of half a lemon

300 g jam

Method

Place the flour on a flat surface and make a crater in the centre

Add the sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and eggs

Cut the butter into small pieces and quickly knead into the dough with your hands

Round the dough into a ball and cover it with cling wrap

Cool the dough for at least one hour in the fridge

Cut about one third of the dough and rewrap it and put it back in the fridge. This will be used for the edge and lattice work.

Roll out the remaining 2/3 of the dough until it reaches a thickness of about 1/2 cm.

Place the pasta frolla in a tart mould, lined with baking paper.

Cut off a piece of the dough that is still cooling in the fridge and make a long roll to wrap around the edge of the tart

Crimp the edge of the pastry with the tines of a fork

Fill the bottom of the tart with jam

Make rolls of the remaining pastry and arrange them in a criss-cross pattern across the top of the tart

Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for about 30 minutes

Cool before serving

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