Category: Pie

Posted on

Crostata di Ricotta

Filling:

  • 1/3 cup dark raisons
  • 2 tablespoons brandy (Grappa is more Italian; brandy is more Sconnie)
  • one 15-ounce container whole milk ricotta
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
  • 2 ounces, about 1/3 cup, semi-sweet chocolate chopped into bits (or use mini-chips)

Crostata assembly & serving:

  • One batch of double crust pasta frolla. Your choice, but I prefer scented with orange zest for this tart.
  • One large egg yolk beaten with a little water for egg wash
  • Confectioners sugar, if desired

Roll out the bottom crust:

On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the dough into a 10-inch circle, that’s about 1/8 inch thick. Fit the dough into a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removeable bottom. Trim the overhang to about 1/2 an inch, and fold and press that into the sides of the pan, to make the sides thicker than the bottom. Chill the shell for abut 30 minutes.

Prepare the filling:

Soak the raisons in the brandy for 30 minutes.

Mix the ricotta, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and orange zest in a large bowl until no streaks of egg remain. Stir in the raisons with all their liquid, and the chocolate.

Assemble the crostata:

Heat the oven to 350°, with a rack in the bottom third.

Spread the filling into the chilled bottom crust.

Roll out the second disk of dough into a 10-inch circle, and cut as many 1-inch wide strips as you can. Use a fluted pastry cutter if you have one, or a knife.

Brush the edges of the tart with the egg wash. Lay about half the strips across the tart going one direction. Brush them with the egg wash. Lay the remaining strips cross-wise over the other strips, forming a lattice –  no need to weave. Brush with egg wash.

Put the tart in the oven (if you’re worried the pan may leak, place a cookie sheet or round pizza pan under the tart pan) and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle, and then remove the outer rim of the tart tin.

For Orange Tree Imports cooking class

Posted on

Crostata de Marmellata

Filling:

  • 2 cups fresh or un-thawed frozen blueberries
  • 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup sugar

Crostata assembly & serving:

  • One batch of double crust pasta frolla. Your choice, but I prefer scented with lemon zest for this tart.
  • One large egg yolk beaten with a little water for egg wash
  • Confectioners sugar, if desired

Roll out the bottom crust:

On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the dough into a 10-inch circle, that’s about 1/8 inch thick. Fit the dough into a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removeable bottom. Trim the overhang to about 1/2 an inch, and fold and press that into the sides of the pan, to make the sides thicker than the bottom. Chill the shell for abut 30 minutes.

Prepare the filling:

Combine the berries and the sugar in a sauce pan that’s at least 2 quarts, cover, and cook over medium-high heat until the berries start give off juice. Uncover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for about 10 minutes, until berries are very soft. Mash the berries with a spoon, and continue cooking up to 10 minutes longer until very thick. Cool the filling.

Assemble the crostata:

Heat the oven to 350°, with a rack in the bottom third.

Spread the cooled filling into the crust.

Roll out the second disk of dough into a 10-inch circle, and cut as many 1-inch wide strips as you can. Use a fluted pastry cutter if you have one, or a knife.

Brush the edges of the tart with the egg wash. Lay about half the strips across the tart going one direction. Brush them with the egg wash. Lay the remaining strips cross-wise over the other strips, forming a lattice –  no need to weave. Brush with egg wash.

Put the tart in the oven (if you’re worried the pan may leak, place a cookie sheet or round pizza pan under the tart pan) and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle, and then remove the outer rim of the tart tin. Cool completely, and dust with confectioners sugar if desired, just before serving.

For Orange Tree Imports cooking class

Posted on

Pasta Frolla

Pasta Frolla is an all-purpose sweet dough that can be used for tarts and cookies. It’s easy to handle and can be rolled or patted into baking tins. This recipe is based on Michele Scicolone’s La Dolce Vita, and was also published in the Sept. 1992 issue of Gourmet magazine.

Double Crust pasta frolla (two 9-inch crusts)

  • 2 1/2 2  1/3 cups unbleached white flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • grated zest of one lemon, or a small orange
  • 12 tablespoons – 1 1/2 sticks – cold unsalted butter
  • 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor – or the bowl of a stand mixer, or, if you do not have either appliance, a large mixing bowl. Slice the butter in on top of the dry ingredients, and either pulse in the food processor, or cut the butter in with the paddle blade of the mixer, or a pastry blender or your fingers in the large bowl, until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, and there are no large pieces of butter left.

Beat the egg and egg yolk together with a fork, add the vanilla, and drizzle the liquid into the food processor or mixing bowl. Pulse or mix until the dough just comes together. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide it in half and shape it into two disks. Wrap on wax paper and chill for an hour or overnight. You can also freeze the dough at this point, for later use.

Pasta Frolla Almond Cookies:

On a lightly floured surface, roll the pasta frolla out about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes and arrange on parchment lined cookie sheets. Brush with an egg wash, and sprinkle with sliced almonds and coarse sugar. Dab a little extra egg wash on top to really adhere the nuts and sugar. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned.

For Orange Tree Imports cooking class

Posted on

Rhubarb Strawberry Pie

I’ve been using a recipe I adapted from a book called American pie : slices of life (and pie) from America’s back roads, by Pascale Le Draoulec. It uses flour for thickening, which I like with rhubarb.

Crust for a 2-crust pie*
1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb
2 cups halved strawberries (can be frozen – we rarely have rhubarb & strawberries at the same time in WI, and when the fresh strawberries come in, seems a shame to bake them!)
1/4 cup flour
2 TBLS cornstarch
1 1/2 cups sugar
pinch of salt – or use salted butter
1 TBLS butter, approximately

Preheat the oven to 400°. Combine the rhubarb and the strawberries in a bowl. Mix the flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt, if using. Roll out the bottom crust and ease it into the pie dish. Put 1/4 cup of the flour mixture in the bottom crust and spread it around. Set the crust in the fridge. Add the rest of the flour mixture to the fruit and toss well. Roll out the top crust and cut it into strips – with a decorative cutter if you have one – the one I use is actually for making the ruffled edges of lasagna noodles. Toss the fruit again, and pour it into the bottom crust – it helps to take it out of the fridge at this point. Dot the fruit with small pieces of butter. Weave the crust strips into a lattice – the American pie book has explicit instructions on page 345 – or just use what you remember from making woven potholders for your mom. Bake the pie for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 375°. Bake for about another 50 minutes, until the filling is bubbling. Cover loosely with foil if the crust browns too fast. let cool at least 1 hour and eat with vanilla ice cream.

*I have always used my mom’s recipe – 3 cups flour to 1 cup butter, with 1 TBLS sugar per cup of flour for a sweet pie. And I tended to use unsalted butter, which makes a good tasting, but not flakey crust. For flakes you need shortening or lard. Recently I’ve been playing around with both the proportions, and the type of fat – mom used salted margarine – and I have decided that I like the original proportions, but with salted butter, plus two TBLS vegetable shortening. Also recently, I like Earth Balance better than Crisco. I guess that’s not so blasphemous – even my mom, born and raised in Cincinnati – both her Dad & brother worked for P&G – thought that Crisco was suitable for greasing pans, not eating. And P&G spun off the Crisco brand in 2002, along with Smuckers & Jif.

Originally published summer 2012 … I think

Proudly powered by WordPress