I only recently met Ghisanativa and fell in love with it. Cooking on bare cast iron has so many advantages, such as saving time. I recently tried my hand at making something that is not normally prepared on this type of material. The success and taste were great and my family was super happy. I made a simple tart with panna cotta and berries, a fresh, colourful and delicate dessert to eat in company, even in the warmer months. I noticed that Ghisanativa can withstand temperature changes and cooks faster and evenly, browning the food perfectly. My recipe is yours. Try it for yourself!

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry

• 250 g weak “00”-type flour for cakes
• 150 g butter at room temperature
• 100 g icing sugar
• 2 egg yolks (medium egg) at room temperature
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 1 pinch of fine salt

For the panna cotta

• 700 ml cream
• 135 g milk
• 135 g castor sugar
• seeds of a vanilla pod
• 12 g gelatine sheets

For baking the shortcrust pastry

• 1 medium egg yolk
• 10 ml water

Preparation Method

In the bowl of your planetary mixer, put the soft butter together with the sugar and start mixing at low speed. If you don’t have a planetary mixer, do it by hand.

Slowly add the lightly beaten egg yolks, together with the seeds of the vanilla pod.

Now incorporate the flour in several batches and the salt. Knead until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous. Tip the dough onto a work surface and knead quickly to form a ball.

Cover the ball with cling film and place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

After leaving it to rest, roll out the shortcrust pastry to a thickness of about half a centimetre. Lay the pastry on Ghisanativa and let it take shape in the pan.

Place in the freezer for about 20 minutes with the pan. After leaving it to rest, take the pan and separate it from the pastry. Use a thin knife without blades. It will come off easily. Put the shortcrust pastry base back into the freezer on a piece of baking paper.

In the meantime, rehydrate the gelatine sheets in plenty of cold water. Put the cream, milk, caster sugar and vanilla pod in a small saucepan. Heat without bringing to the boil. Add the squeezed gelatine and stir well using a hand whisk to mix it in. Then allow cooling.

In the meantime, the saucepan is back to room temperature. Wipe the pan with a paper towel. Heat the oven to 200 degrees and put the pan inside to warm it up. Take the Ghisanativa pan out; be careful not to burn yourself because it will be very hot, and put the pastry base inside without the baking paper. The maintenance oil will be enough. Quickly prick with the prongs of a fork. Place a sheet of cut out baking paper on top and cover with ceramic balls (or dry pulses).

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 200°C.

After 10 – 15 minutes take out of the oven and remove the paper with the ceramic balls/legumes. Brush the entire bottom with a mixture of egg yolk and water. Return to the oven for a further 5 minutes, this will help to seal the pastry so that it remains crumbly even after the filling has been poured in.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

When Ghisanativa has cooled pour in the panna cotta (which will be warm and still liquid). Place in the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours. Decorate as desired. I chose raspberries, blackberries, currants and blueberries. Some of them were picked just behind my house!

Stefania Fracasso

“My name is Stefania Fracasso, born in 1977 under the sign of Pisces. If I had to compare all their positive and negative characteristics, I would say that I am a perfect representative of this sign of the zodiac, especially on the creative side. I consider myself a woman in constant change, in continuous evolution.

About 6 years ago I opened my blog where I started to talk about my culinary experiences, my logbook.

I was born with a great passion for leavened products, and I studied the subject in depth by attending courses with masters of baking such as Giorilli, Morandin, Montanari and Montersino. By chance, although I prefer to call it destiny, I met photography.

And it was love at first sight.
I start combining recipes and images to create storytelling that can remind us of ancient flavours and traditions but with a touch of innovation.

I define myself as a content creator, I develop personalised recipes for brands by studying their products and I collaborate with editorial magazines. In 2019 I won the Best Food Photo award for Igers Italia. My dream is to publish my own book, with my photographs and recipes.”

This recipe was prepared on