Torta Della Nonna - Grandma's Pie

In his beautiful cookbook Giuseppe's Easy Bakes, Giuseppe Dell'Anno, winner of The Great British Bake Off, shares his version of this traditional tart. The original version of Torta della Nonna is made with a sweet shortcrust casing filled with pastry cream and decorated with pine nut kernels but Giuseppe's version is filled with pistachio cream and decorated with pistachio kernels. Both the filling and the pastry can be prepared in advance, making this an accessible bake even for those who don't have a lot of time. 

Makes a 27cm (10¾in), 4cm (1½in) deep pie

Ingredients
For the pasta frolla pastry

• 400g (14oz/4 cups) soft wheat 00 flour
• 200g (7oz/scant 1 cup) cold unsalted butter, diced
• 140g (5oz/1 cup) icing (confectioners’) sugar
• 100g (3½oz) egg (about 2 medium eggs), cold
• Zest of 1 organic lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/8 tsp salt

For the pistachio cream filling

• 200g (7oz/1 1/3 cups) whole, unsalted, blanched, skinned and roasted pistachio kernels
• 500g (1lb 2oz/2 cups) whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 75g (2½oz) egg yolks (about 4 medium egg yolks)
• 110g (3¾oz/2/3 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
• 40g (1½oz/scant ½ cup) cornflour (cornstarch)
• Small pinch of salt
• 80g (2¾oz/1/3 cup) pistachio butter

For the assembly

• 50g (1¾oz/1/3 cup) pine nut kernels
• 50g (1¾oz/1/3 cup) unsalted pistachio kernels
• 1 egg white, for brushing
• Icing (confectioners’) sugar, for dusting

Method
Make the pasta frolla

1. If possible, chill the flour in the freezer for 30 minutes before using it in this recipe as it will help keep the mixture cold. Place the flour in a large bowl and add the diced butter. Work the mixture by pinching the pieces of butter with the tips of your fingers to break them into very small lumps, fully coated in flour. Keep working the mixture quickly without crushing it until it resembles fine, loose breadcrumbs.
2. Make a well in the sandy mixture and add the sugar, egg, lemon zest, vanilla and salt. Mix in the egg and sugar with your hands first, then gradually incorporate the flour mixture by scooping it up from the bottom of the bowl and folding it over, rather than crushing it together: this will create large, well separated flakes of pastry rather than a single homogeneous mass.
3. When the flour mixture has incorporated the eggs, turn it on to the worktop, flatten it with the palms of your hands, lift one side and fold it in half. Repeat the flattening and folding no more than 3–4 times, until the dough forms a roughly homogeneous mass. The dough will be rather sticky at this point, so a metal scraper will be of great help for the lifting and folding.
4. Flatten the dough, wrap it in clingfilm and chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, better still for a couple of hours. Resting in the fridge is a critical part of making pasta frolla as its texture dramatically changes when the butter hardens up again in the cold fridge, making it much less sticky and easier to manage and shape. Pasta frolla will keep in the fridge wrapped in clingfilm for up to 3 days; it can be frozen for up to 1 month.

Make the pastry casing

1. Grease and flour a 2cm (10¾in) tin, 4 (1½in) deep, including the sides. Line the bottom of the tin with a disc of baking paper.
2. Take the pastry out of the fridge, unwrap it and divide it into 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Roll the larger piece to a thickness of 5mm (¼in) on a well-floured worktop, shaping it into a disc. Wrap the pastry around the rolling pin and unroll it over the prepared tin. Gently fit the pastry into the tin so that it fits snugly. Trim off the excess pastry by running a blunt knife along the rim of the tin. Set aside.
3. Now prepare the pastry top: roll the smaller piece of pastry to a thickness of 5mm (¼in) and shape it into a disc. Leave on the worktop for later.

Make the pistachio cream filling

1. To make the pistachio butter, blitz the pistachios in a food processor on full speed; the butter is ready when all the pistachios have been crushed to a thick, smooth pulp. It will take about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the food processor bowl with a silicone spatula midway through the process to ensure that there are no coarse bits of nuts left over. Store any leftovers in a sealed glass jar in the fridge and use them within 2 weeks.
2. Place milk and vanilla paste in a pan and gently bring to a simmer. In the meantime, beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl using a whisk for a couple of minutes or until the mixture becomes pale yellow. Sift the cornflour and salt into the yolks and combine thoroughly.
3. As soon as the milk starts simmering, remove from the heat and pour a ladleful into the egg mixture and incorporate. Once homogeneous, pour in the rest of the milk into the egg mixture in 2 batches and combine.
4. Pour the warm mixture back into the milk pan and return to the heat, on very low setting.
5. Cook, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens. This will take about 4–6 minutes. Remove from the heat at the first sign of boiling.
6. Place the pistachio butter in a small separate bowl and add a few tablespoons of warm cream, one at a time, incorporating the cream into the butter well before subsequent additions. This step is needed to loosen the otherwise very thick pistachio butter. If the pistachio butter is added directly to the cream, it might not dissolve well enough and remain lumpy.
7. Add the cream/pistachio mixture to the rest of the cream and mix well until fully combined. Pour into a cold bowl, cover the surface of the cream with clingfilm.
8. The cream filling should be prepared at least one or two hours before it is needed to give it time to cool to room temperature. The pastry should never be filled with warm cream.

Assemble

1. Place the shelf in the lowest position in the oven and preheat it to 180°C (350°F/Gas mark 4).
2. Prick the pastry base in several places with a fork, spoon in the cream filling and level it with an offset spatula or a spoon.
3. Wrap the disc of pastry around the rolling pin and unroll it over the filling. Pinch the pastry top to the base around the sides of the tin to seal them together, then trim off the excess pastry by running a blunt knife along the rim. Fold the pastry on the sides of the tin inwards, towards the centre of the tart, and emboss slits in the pastry rim with the back of a knife. Brush the pastry with egg white and prick a few holes in it using a fork or a cocktail stick.
4. Roughly chop the pistachio kernels and sprinkle them over the top of the pie. Sprinkle over the pine nut kernels too. Place in the oven immediately and bake for 45 minutes. The pie is ready when the pastry top is a light caramel colour and just starting to swell. Let the pie cool completely before removing from the tin.
5. Decorate with a light dusting of icing sugar when cold.​

Watch the recipe video

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