Uruguayan recipe
How to make Pastafrola
Italy, brought by Italian immigrants
A sweet tart of crumbly shortcrust pastry filled with quince paste (dulce de membrillo), sweet potato jam or dulce de leche, covered with a lattice of thin pastry strips. It is a favourite with afternoon mate or coffee.
Ingredients
- 250 g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 100 g caster sugar
- 125 g soft butter
- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
- The grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 400 g quince paste (membrillo)
- 3 to 4 tablespoons hot water
Method
- Beat the butter and sugar together, then beat in the egg, the yolk, the lemon zest and the vanilla.
- Add the flour and baking powder and mix to a soft dough. Wrap it and chill it for 30 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 180°C. Mash the quince paste with the hot water until it is soft and spreadable.
- Roll out about two thirds of the dough and line a 24 cm tart tin. Spread the quince paste over it. Roll out the rest of the dough, cut it into thin strips and lay them over the top in a criss-cross pattern.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Let it cool in the tin before cutting.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
The name comes from the Italian pasta frolla, 'crumbly pastry', the dough used for the Italian crostata.
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