Torta Della Nonna

A traditional Italian grandmother’s tart made with sweet, buttery shortcrust pastry and filled with lemon-infused pastry cream.

Photographs: Natasha Liviero / Unsplash

Text: Natasha Liviero

Torta Della Nonna

Pastry cream ingredients:

750 full-cream milk

Rind of 1 lemon, peeled into strips

90g egg yolks

40g corn flour

180g granulated sugar

5g vanilla extract

Pastry ingredients:

300g flour

115g butter

Pinch of salt

Zest of 1 lemon

100g castor sugar

110g eggs

30g pine nuts, soaked in water

Icing sugar

Method:

1. Begin with the pastry cream by pouring the milk into a saucepan and adding the lemon rind. Bring to a simmer.

2. In another bowl, combine the egg yolks, corn flour, sugar and vanilla and whisk into a paste. You can add a few tablespoons of the heating milk if you find it too thick to whisk.

3. Once the milk is simmering, gently pour it over the egg mixture, whisking as you pour.

4. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat over medium heat to thicken to a custard-like consistency, whilst whisking all the time to prevent lumps from forming.

5. Once the pastry cream has thickened and begins to bubble, continue whisking for another minute allowing the flour to cook out.

6. Strain the pastry cream through a sieve into a clean bowl, removing the lemon rind. Contact cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 1.5 hours or overnight.

7. To make the pastry, place the flour, butter and pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat with a paddle attachment until the mixture resemble sea sand.

8. Add the sugar and lemon zest and beat for another minute until combined.

9. Add the egg yolks continue beating until a ball of dough develops.

10. Knead the dough with your hands until smooth. Flatten with the palm of your hand, cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.

11. Divide the dough into a third and two thirds, and between two pieces of baking paper, roll each piece of dough until 2.5 - 3mm thick. The larger piece lines the tart tin and the smaller piece covers the top of the tart. Roll out the larger piece first, ensuring there is enough to line the tin - take some dough from the smaller piece if need be.

12. Grease a 25cm wide x 4cm deep loose bottomed tart tin and the line the tin with the pastry. If the dough is too soft, place it back in the fridge for 5 minutes to firm up.

13. Dock the base of the tart with the tines of a fork and place it back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

14. Soak the pine nuts in cold water until ready to use.

15. Set the oven to 160°C.

16. Place a piece of baking paper in the tart shell, fill with baking beans and blind back for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 8 minutes. (If the base of the tart begins to balloon, carefully dock the shell in that area or gently push down with an oven mitt, being careful not to crack or damage the shell).

17. Remove from the oven and leave to cool at room temperature.

18. Increase the oven temperature to 180°C.

19. Whisk the cooled pastry cream to loosen it up a little and pour into the tart shell, smoothing the surface.

20. Cover the surface with the second, smaller piece of pastry and gently press the sides together to seal, removing any excess dough hanging over the sides.

21. Dock the surface around 10 times with a sharp knife, brush with a little water and sprinkle the drained pine nuts evenly over the surface.

22. Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown. If the tart shell or pine nuts begin to brown excessively, loosely cover the tart with tin foil.

23. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for 15 minutes.

24. Carefully remove the tart from the tin and refrigerate until ready to serve or overnight. (If you feel the bottom of the tart is soft, don’t remove the tart tin base until the tart has firmed up in the fridge.)

25. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

26. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.