Editor’s Note: Long-time Italy Segreta Contributor Valeria Necchio shared this recipe with us from her debut cookbook, Veneto: Recipes from an Italian Country Kitchen, and we can’t think of a more perfect after-dinner treat.
This brittle, buttery tart–a giant shortbread of sorts–originates from Mantua, in Lombardy. The reason why it found its way into a Venetian cookbook is, well, mostly because I love it. The second reason is proximity: Mantua is only a few miles from the border of Veneto. The area shares a similar landscape and a culinary repertoire to that of its neighboring region, with constant cultural-culinary exchanges happening between the two.
Literally meaning “big crumbly one”, sbrisolona is a tart of humble provenance. Its modest ingredients consist of nothing more than polenta, flour, butter, sugar, and just one precious egg. Hazelnuts were included in the original recipe, but modern adaptations call for almonds.
Sbrisolona is extremely simple to recreate at home. Traditionally served in chunks at the end of the meal, with coffee or grappa (or coffee “corrected” with grappa), sbrisolona is equally good on its own or with a dollop of mascarpone cream. If you feel like embracing the Italian habit of eating biscuits for breakfast, this tart serves the purpose well, whether dipped in a steamy cup of caffe latte or crumbled in a bowl of cold milk and enjoyed like the sweetest of morning cereal.
SBRISOLONA
Makes 1 / Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
- 100g (heaped 3/4 cup) plain flour, sifted
- 100g (2/3 cup) fine polenta, such as Fioretto
- 100g (scant 1/2 cup) caster sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- Pinch of fine-grain sea salt
- Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
- 100g (1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the tin
- 1 egg yolk
- 100g (1/2 cup) whole skin-on almonds (or use 50g [1/4 cup] almonds and 50g [1/4 cup] whole hazelnuts)
PREPARATION
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, polenta, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Using your fingers, work the butter and the egg yolk into the flour mix until you have a coarse, crumbly mixture. Add the almonds and knead them in.
- Grease a 23 cm (9-inch) tart tin with butter. Lay the crumbs in the tin evenly and press them down lightly to make them stick to each other and the tin, but without flattening them; the surface should be craggy rather than smooth. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F / gas mark 3). Bake the tart for 40 minutes, or until deep golden on the surface.
- Sprinkle with a bit of sugar and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Break into chunks, and serve.
