Crostata facts for kids
Crostata with honey and apricots
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| Type | Tart |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Place of origin | Italy |
| Main ingredients | Pastry crust, jam or ricotta, fruit |
| Variations | Crostata di frutta, crostata di ricotta, many other sweet or savoury variations |
A crostata is a yummy Italian baked tart or pie. It's sometimes called coppi in Naples or sfogliata in Lombardy. People have been making crostatas for a very long time! The first known recipes appeared in cookbooks around the year 1465. One old recipe from the late 1400s was even called Crostata de Caso, Pane, etc.
Think of a crostata as a "rustic" or simple fruit tart that doesn't always need a special pie dish. It can be baked in a regular pan or even shaped by hand. In the past, the word "crostata" also meant an open-faced sandwich or a type of meat pie.
Contents
What's in a Name? The Word "Crostata"
The name crostata comes from the Latin word crustāta. This word means "to encrust" or "to cover with a crust." It's related to the word crusta, which means "crust." So, the name perfectly describes this delicious pastry with its crusty top!
The French word croustade also comes from crostata, and that's where the English word custard gets its name. The word crostata has been in Italian dictionaries since the early 1600s. It was described as a type of torta, which is another Italian baked dish.
What is a Crostata Like?
A crostata traditionally had a base made of three layers of crumbly dough. This dough was often flavored with butter. Today, most people use shortcrust pastry, which is a simple, crumbly dough.
You might wonder how a crostata is different from a torta. A crostata usually has a chunky filling, meaning you can still see the pieces of fruit or other ingredients. A torta, on the other hand, often has a smoother, blended filling. There are so many different kinds of crostatas, both sweet and savoury. Sweet ones are usually eaten as a dessert.
Sweet Crostatas
Sweet crostatas are often filled with fruit preserves like jam. Popular flavors include apricot, cherry, peach, nectarine, or different berries. Sometimes, the crust is baked first without a filling (this is called blind-baking). Then, it's filled with a creamy pastry cream (called crema pasticciera) and topped with fresh fruit pieces. This is known as crostata di frutta.
In a cookbook from 1570, there were recipes for crostatas made with plums, sour cherries, quince, and pears. A modern and very popular sweet crostata is crostata alla nutella, which is filled with delicious Nutella.
Savoury Crostatas
Savoury crostatas can have fillings like meat, fish, or vegetables. These ingredients are usually cooked before they are put into the pie. The old cookbook from 1570 also had a recipe for a "crostata of crabmeat and shrimp." It even said that if you wanted to make a torta instead, you should crush the shrimp and crab.
A very popular sweet version, especially in central Italy, is crostata di ricotta. This one is made with ricotta cheese mixed with sugar and lemon zest. Sometimes, it also includes cocoa or raisins.
The 1570 cookbook had many other interesting crostata recipes. For meat and seafood crostatas, there were recipes using pork jowls, prosciutto, crayfish, anchovies, or oysters. Other savoury crostatas included ones with creamy cheese (called a butirata), truffles, field mushrooms, artichoke or cardoon hearts, and even one with "the viscera of any sort of turtle"!
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