Let the Christmas preparations begin. The Christmas tree already stands in the central square of Lefkada. Meanwhile, the locals start planning things to do before Christmas. Cooking local sweets, shopping gifts and lots of decorating ideas are only some of them. By the way, today we will disclose you an easy recipe for a delicious Season’s “Crostata” to cook on Christmas Eve. But first of all, we want to wish Blue Merry Christmas to you all. Blue just because the wishes come from the island with the bluest beaches in Europe.
The Meaning of Christmas
Christmas means love to you and to your loved ones. In Lefkada it means family gatherings. In particular, it is the most wonderful time of the year for the grandparents to see again their grandsons and granddaughters. So, it is also the right time to share lots of love by doing something altogether. For example, sharing starts with the Christmas tree and the decoration of the whole house and ends with a family photo at the Christmas table. Of course, the cooking of local sweets like an olive oil pie, some chocolate biscuits and a delicious Crostata, (Pasta Flora in Greek) all of them are part of this season preparations.
A Blue Merry Christmas Crostata
Crostata is a popular traditional Italian sweet and its recipe comes from very old around the 12th century. In particular, the name comes from the crosses we make with the dough on the top of the pie. The recipe first came in Greece in Ionian islands during the Venice occupation around the 17th century. Today is a popular easy recipe all over Greece as “Pasta Flora”. Of course, to cook the pie you need its basic ingredient which is marmalade. So, here it is the lovely recipe to cook with your loved ones.
Ingredients for a Blue Merry Christmas Pasta Flora :
200 gr all-purpose flour and 3 more handfuls
100 gr sugar
150 gr fresh butter from the fridge
1 vanilla sachet
1/2 tea spoon of salt
peels of a little lemon from a grater
2 eggs
500 gr marmalade (apricot recommended)
Preparation:
Put the sugar, the flour and the salt in a big bowl and mix them. Cut the butter in cubes and add it to the bowl too. Stir all of them well until you get a granular mixture.
In a separate ball you add the one egg and the yolk of the other one. Keep the remaining egg's white for later use. Add the vanilla and the peels of the lemon. You stir well and pour this mixture in the big bowl of the granular mixture. Stir well the final mixture to create the dough of the Pasta Flora. Finally, you put the dough in a transparent film in the fridge for one hour.
Take a removable bottomed tin of a 25cm diameter and smear it inside with little butter. Also, put inside a handful of flour. Take out the dough from the fridge and from the transparent film. Cut the dough to two pieces of 2/3 and 1/3. Open the 2/3 piece of dough with a rolling pin and shape a circle a little bigger than 25cm. Put a handful of flour on the dough before you do this to avoid sticking. Put the dough in the tin in order to take its shape. Using your fingers the dough should be up to the middle of the tin's height. Pour the marmalade inside and spread it with a spoon of soup.
Finally, take the other 1/3 piece of dough and open it with the rolling pin to shape a circle. Do not forget to use again a handful of flour on the dough before. Cut the circle of dough in strips with a knife. Use enough strips to make the crosses above the marmalade. Before this put first the strips in the remaining egg's white to give a shine to the final outcome of the pie. Cook in the middle of the oven in hot air at 190 degrees Celsius approx. for 30 minutes. Take it out and leave the pie for 15 minutes to cool down.
Enjoy your first Greek Pasta Flora and have yourselves a
Blue Merry Christmas from LEFKASEABNB Beach Resort.