Cherry Apricot Crostata With Ricotta Filling Recipe 455

Steps:

• Cut one stick of butter into 1/4-inch cubes or shred with a grater into a bowl (my preferred method). Place butter in the freezer for at least an hour. (You may also do this a day or two in advance.) Make the dough: Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor, and pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of small peas or pebbles. Now, slowly add the ice water, and pulse just until the dough begins to come together. You don't want to over-blend or over work the dough. NOTE: The dough should stick together, like pie dough. It should not be super soft. Simply gently pat the dough into a disc, and wrap it in a piece of plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour (helps to relax any gluten, so the crust will be tender). To make the filling: Whisk together the ricotta, two egg yolks, vanilla, sugar and orange zest. Place back in the fridge until you're ready to make the crostata. For the fruit: Add the sugar, lemon juice and almond extract. Stir gently to combine. NOTE: Clearjel can be purchased either through Amazon or on King Arthur Flour.com It's a pie filling thickener, and I love it because I don't get runny fruit. Taste a small bite of each fruit, and gauge how sweet you want it to be. Add more sugar, if you need to. Set aside. For the crostata: Remove the dough from the fridge. You might have to let it sit for 10-15 minutes, until it is pliable enough to roll out the dough to roughly 9" in diameter, on a lightly floured surface. Don't worry about how it looks. The crust doesn't need to be too thin or perfectly shaped - in fact, part of the charm of the crostata is its odd and rustic shape. Once rolled out, place on a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and pop back into the fridge until you're ready to assemble. NOTE: I actually rolled out the dough on parchment paper, and simply lifted it onto the baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350F. Remove the chilled crust from the fridge. If using the jam, evenly spread a thin layer, leaving about a 3" border. Carefully pour the ricotta filling into the center of the crust. Using a spatula, spread it evenly, being careful to leave about a 3" border-- you'll be folding over the dough to create the "crust". Pile enough of the the fruit on top of the ricotta filling, that will fit in the center of the crust, making sure to leave about 3 inches around the edges to fold over. Brush the egg wash over the crust. Sprinkle coarse sugar on top, for a delightful crunch. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. NOTE: My crostata took about 50 minutes to bake, as the dough need more flour, and it melted. Next time, I'll increase the flour (as corrected in this recipe). Allow to cool until slightly warm. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and a side of vanilla ice cream, or fresh whipped cream.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the apricots, cherries, sugar and flour. Grease an 8 by 8-inch or 1 1/2 quart baking dish with the butter. Pour the fruit mixture into the dish. In a separate bowl, mix together the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Top the fruit with this mixture and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• Make pastry dough:
• Beat together butter and 1/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reserve 1 tablespoon beaten egg, chilled, for egg wash and beat remaining egg into butter mixture, then add vanilla, beating well. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour, salt, and zest until mixture just forms a dough.
• Halve dough and form each half into a 5- to 6-inch disk. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.
• Make filling:
• Heat butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then add fresh or frozen cherries with any juices and sugar and simmer, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. (Cherries will exude juices.) Continue to simmer until cherries are tender but not falling apart, about 8 minutes. Stir together water and cornstarch to form a thick paste, then stir into simmering filling and boil, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Cool filling quickly by spreading it in a shallow baking pan and chilling until lukewarm, about 15 minutes.
• Assemble and bake crostata:
• Roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining piece chilled) between 2 sheets of wax paper into a 12-inch round. Remove top sheet of paper and invert dough into tart pan. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch and fold inward, then press against side of pan to reinforce edge. Chill tart shell. Roll out remaining dough in same manner and remove top sheet of paper, then cut dough into 10 (1-inch-wide) strips and slide dough, still on wax paper, onto a baking sheet. Chill strips until firm, about 5 minutes.
• Put a foil-lined large baking sheet in middle of oven and preheat oven to 375°F.
• Spread filling in chilled tart shell and arrange 5 strips 1 inch apart across filling, pressing ends onto edge of tart shell. Arrange remaining 5 strips 1 inch apart diagonally across first strips to form a lattice with diamond-shaped spaces. Trim edges of all strips flush with edge of pan. Brush lattice top with reserved beaten egg and sprinkle crostata with remaining tablespoon sugar.
• Bake crostata in pan on baking sheet in oven until pastry is golden and filling is bubbling, about 1 hour. (If lattice and edges look too brown after 30 minutes, loosely cover with foil.) Cool crostata completely in pan on a rack, 1 1/2 to 2 hours, to allow juices to thicken.

Steps:

• Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour, salt, and lemon zest until mixture just forms a dough.
• Shape dough into 2 balls, 1 slightly larger than the other. Flatten each ball into a 5-inch disk, then wrap each in wax paper and chill 30 minutes.
• Stir together preserves, lemon juice, and extract in a small bowl.
• Roll out thicker piece of dough (keep remaining piece chilled) between 2 sheets of wax paper into an 11-inch round. Remove top sheet of paper and invert dough into a 9- by 1-inch fluted round tart pan with a removable bottom. Peel off paper and fit dough into pan, trimming side to 1/4 inch below top of rim. Chill shell.
• Roll out remaining dough in same manner and remove top sheet of paper, then cut dough into 10 (1-inch-wide) strips. Slide strips on wax paper onto a baking sheet and chill until firm, about 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Spread apricot filling in tart shell and arrange 5 strips across filling (about 1 inch apart), trimming excess dough at ends of strips. Arrange remaining 5 strips on top (about 1 inch apart) to form a lattice (do not weave), trimming ends. Press ends onto edge of tart shell and bake crostata in middle of oven until golden, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a rack.

Steps:

• Mix together apricots, white sugar, and rum in a bowl. Cover and let macerate in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a 12-inch square of parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.
• Place flour, cold butter, dark brown sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and ginger into a food processor. Blend in short bursts until butter is in pea-sized lumps.
• Whisk together buttermilk and egg in a bowl; pour into butter-flour mixture and continue to blend until it forms a soft dough. Form dough into a smooth ball, using additional flour as needed.
• Pat dough ball into a thick circle onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Drain apricots, reserving juice in a bowl. Spread apricots evenly on top of dough circle; draw edges of dough up over fruit.
• Bake in the preheated oven until crostata is baked through, golden on top, and fruit is soft, about 45 minutes.
• While crostata is baking, pour reserved apricot juice and orange juice into a saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer; cook syrup until it has reduced by 2/3.
• Remove crostata from the oven. Brush syrup on top. Let cool slightly. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Steps:

• Make crust
• Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter; cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Blend in water by tablespoonfuls until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 30 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)
• Roll out dough between 2 sheets of plastic to 11-inch round. Remove top sheet of plastic from dough and invert dough onto 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Remove second sheet of plastic. Press dough onto bottom and up sides of pan. Fold excess dough in, forming double-thick sides. Pierce dough all over with fork. Freeze 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake crust until set but still pale, piercing with fork if crust bubbles, about 25 minutes. Cool on rack. Maintain oven temperature.
• Make filling
• Blanch apricots in pot of boiling water 1 minute. Transfer to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain. Peel, halve and pit apricots. Cut each apricot half into 3 wedges. Arrange, rounded side down, in crust. Arrange cherries over and around apricots. Sprinkle sugar over.
• Bake tart until apricots are tender, about 50 minutes. Transfer to rack. Stir apricot preserves in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted. Strain. Brush strained preserves over fruit in tart. Remove pan sides from tart. Place tart on platter. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)