Recipe of the Week: Sour Cherry Crostata
This tart will surprise and delight your guests all year round. I make it with the freshest fruit in season and serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream. The tart shell can be made up to five days ahead and the tart can be made a day ahead. Serves eight. (Chef tip: The tart can be made with any type of fresh fruit jam according to the season.)
Crostata dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg yolk
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1/2 cup unsalted chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons ice water
16 ounces sour cherry jam
Place the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. Add egg yolk, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla paste and with the motor running, add ice water through the feed tube with the machine running, only as needed to make a soft but not sticky dough. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough becomes a solid mass.
Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and form into a flat disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Flour a rolling pin and roll the pastry into a circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to a nine-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press dough into the center and sides of the tart pan. Roll over the edges of the tart pan with the rolling pin to remove extra dough. Gently prick the pastry all over with a fork, taking care not to pierce pastry all the way through. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
Quickly knead all the dough trimmings together. Roll them out again and cut into strips of identical thickness. Spread the jam evenly onto the crust. Decorate the top of the tart with a lattice of dough strips.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown, turning the crostata around midway.
Let cool before serving it.
Chef Loretta Paganini is a visiting chef at The Community House on Sanibel. To contact her, email lpscinc@msn.com or call 440-729-1110.