A simple crostata: thank you for the ordinary that becomes extraordinary
It was not supposed to ba a blogpost, it should not even be a studied photo. It was a careless day with friends: it was warm, variable, with the blinding sun of the first spring days. We looked with concern at the heavy clouds running in the sky, we deserved at least a sunny day.
It was supposed to be an unpretentious crostata made with different leftover flour, an open jar of homemade blackberry jam and a bowl of strawberries left from a birthday cake. A humble cake to finish with something sweet a garden barbecue with Noa and Draco happily running in the background.
Then, as it’s happening more and more often lately, I experienced a deep awareness, I felt the urge to freeze somehow the moment: a blurry polaroid where all the smiles stood out anyway, a tray of grilled meat passed from hand to hand slowly becoming lighter, the warm sun on your skin, playing cards and laughing without a reason, listening to music in silence – the best kind of silence, not heavy but light, because the music was talking for us -, the feeling of being where you had to be, with the people you wanted to be and to be yourself without filters, eventually.
How to freeze this? how to make it eternal, or rather infinite? With the only mean I have, I had to write a post. I have to express my gratitude to those who came into my my life by accident – but then is it really chance, or is it a more complex scheme of which we live only the laughter and the fun? Thank you for filling the last three months with fun, thank you for making my life exciting and vibrant. Thank you for the new experiences you gave me the chance to make, for the surprises, the chatter, the laughter, the film at the cinema with huge popcorn bins, thank you for the days spent with our dogs, thank you for the walks and for the fun texts, thank you for the happy mornings of Whatsapp chats in bed, thank you for your advice, for the hopes of sun and the reality of rain, thank you for the projects of short trips and longer holidays. Thank you for this ordinary life that you made extraordinary.
From now on this will be our crostata. An outer shell made with whole spelt flour and raw cane sugar, my mum’s blackberry jam and a handful of strawberries left from Ale’s birthday cake. It was born as a humble crostata but now this is our special crostata, because we enjoyed it together, those who were there and those who were not physically there, but it was like they were there!
Blackberry jam and strawberry crostata
Print Recipe Share by EmailIngredients
- 150 g of raw cane sugar
- 150 g of butter at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 200 g of plain flour
- 100 g of whole spelt flour
- 5 g of baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- Zest of 1 organic lemon
- 300 g of blackberry jam
- 100 g of fresh strawberries
Instructions
- Rub the butter with the raw cane sugar with the tip of your fingers.
- Mix in the beaten egg. Sift plain flour and spelt flour with salt and baking powder, then rub them in with lemon zest.
- Knead into a ball, flatten it a little bit, wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight.
- Heat oven to 180°C.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge, halve the ball and knead it, then roll out on a floured surface with a rolling pin.
- Roll out the pastry on the bottom of a 26 cm round cake tin.
- Spread the blackberry jam on the bottom of the crostata, then add the strawberries, cut into small pieces.
- Use the left pastry to decorate the crostata with intertwined strips.
- Bake the cake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown Let cool before serving.
Happy dogs…
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That looks so delicious and the post was written beautifully. Cheers to gratitude for the simple things!
Often the best things are created on the spur Juls! Loving this post on so many levels. Have not been around for a while but as always you bring sunshine into my day!
Read this post in the car to work today and it made me smile. I can’t wait to try this crostata but for some reason I think it will taste better in Tuscany under the first spring sun… here it is still terribly cold!
Beautiful pictures!
Your spontaneous joy erupts with Spring’s bounty. Glorious to see.
Crostata is the hand-made, garden fresh, artisanal delight that reminds me of so much that I love about Italy. I can taste its earthy, crumbly, sweet and tart from your photos and words. Thank you!
A beautiful beautiful post Juls and all the photos screams Joy 🙂
What a warm inspiring post to brighten up a Canadian April day (more snow and icy roads). Reading this brought me joy and hope for spring to arrive here, too – and outdoor times with dear friends.
Love this post – it expresses everything cuisine should be. Love the recipe too. I’ll have to get my hands on some blackberry jam, it sounds too good to pass up!
Beyond beautiful!
A lovely post and perfect crostata. I’ve never used spelt flour but I’ll be looking for it at my next trip to the store.
I don’t know whether it’s just me or if everybody else experiencing problems with your blog.
It appears as though some of the text in your posts are
running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if this
is happening to them as well? This may be a problem with my browser
because I’ve had this happen before. Thanks