tart Archives - Very EATalian

Whole Wheat Blueberry Hazelnut Tartlets

August 10, 2016 By very EATalian Leave a Comment

I guess it’s not a secret I love tarts. I drool over pretty much any version of this incredibly delicious sweet confection: apple tart, mixed fruit tart, chocolate frangipane tart, jam tart, lemon meringue tart, ricotta tart, raspberry and chocolate tart, nectarine tart, fig tart…it looks like I’m having a Bubba moment here, so I’m gonna stop with the list!

A tart crust is like a blank canvas for delicious and colorful fillings, and summer fruits are definitely the most fun ingredients to decorate them with! They provide color, freshness, a variety of textures…and they’re so pretty!

Blueberries were the perfect filling for these little whole wheat tartlets. I mixed fresh and cooked berries, and topped each tartlet with a nice sprinkle of chopped toasted hazelnuts. In one bite, you’ve got the wholesomeness of the crust, the sweetness and juiciness of the cooked blueberries, the mild acidity and plumpness of the fresh ones, and the crunchiness and nuttiness of the hazelnuts. In one word, you’re tasting “awesomeNESS”….

Figs 2 ways: Quick Burrata & Figs Appetizer and Almond and Fig Crostata

September 1, 2015 By very EATalian Leave a Comment

Burrata and Figs / Fig and Almond Tart | veryEATalian

Considering figs are one of my favorite fruits, I can’t believe I went two full years without having one. This summer I can finally pick them directly from the tree and eat them as many as my belly can take! Having direct access to fruits and vegetables is just priceless. Spending time with my mom and taking care of her garden has offered lots of rewards that well outbalance the outrageous amount of mosquito bites I collected on my legs and the early wake-ups to water the garden.

Lots of figs = 2 delicious recipes!

#1 is a delicious and easy appetizer made of soft and creamy burrata with fresh figs, simply tossed with lemon, olive oil, and a bit of salt. A drizzle of balsamic glaze brings together this amazing combo.

#2 is a super-pretty crostata made of a delicate crust and a tender almond filling (frangipane), on top of which I arranged small and perfectly ripe figs. To further enhance the almond flavor, I added a bit of Amaretto di Saronno. YUM.

Are you excited? Me too! This is my way to reward you for the long wait since my last recipe.

Enjoy the bountiful fig harvest!

QUICK BURRATA AND FIGS APPETIZER
(Inspired from April Bloomfield Figs with Balsamic Vinegar and Mozzarella)
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 20 min

INGREDIENTS
350 g burrata cheese, room temperature
8-10 figs, cut in quarters
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (better if Aceto Balsamico di Modena)
the juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp honey
salt
extra-virgin olive oil
few sprigs of thyme

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Break burrata cheese with your hands and arrange it on a serving plate.
2. In a separate bowl, gently toss figs with salt, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil. Mix gently.
3. In a very small pot, pour 1/4 balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon of honey. Let boil for 15 minutes, until vinegar is reduced to 1/2.
4. Arrange dressed figs on the plate with the burrata cheese. With a spoon or a brush, drizzle some balsamic reduction on figs and burrata. Sprinkle some thyme and serve.

ALMOND AND FIG CROSTATA
Serves: 8-10 | Prep time: 1 hr and 30 min | Cook time: 40 min

INGREDIENTS
Short Pastry Dough (slightly adapted from Luca Montersino‘s recipe)
8.8 oz (250 g) flour
2/3 cup (11 Tbsp + 1 tsp OR 150 g) unsalted cold butter, cubed
3.5 oz (100 g) powdered sugar
1.4 oz (40 g) eggs (that’s about one egg)
the zest of 1 lemon
the seeds of 1/4 vanilla bean
a small pinch of salt

Frangipane
3.5 oz (100 g) almonds, toasted and then ground
3.5 oz (100 g) powdered sugar
3.5 oz (100 g) unsalted butter
3.5 oz (100 g) eggs, lightly beaten
1.6 oz (45 g) flour, sifted
1 Tbsp Amaretto di Saronno

8 small figs, cut in quarter
1 regular size fig, cut

INSTRUCTIONS
Short pastry dough
1. Sift flour on a clean surface. Form a wide well in the center and, keeping away from the flour borders, add cubed butter, eggs, salt, vanilla bean, lemon zest and powdered sugar. Work with your fingertips the ingredients in the center, without touching the flour on the sides. Once all the inner ingredients are well mixed, bring in the flour and work the dough until smooth and uniform. Be careful not to overwork it.
2. Form a disk and place it inside a folded sheet of parchment paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Frangipane
1. Using a stand mixer, mix butter and powdered sugar until you obtain a creamy and fluffy mixture.
2. Add beaten eggs slowly. Add grounded almonds, flour, and Amaretto liqueur. Mix well and set aside.

Final assembly
1. Turn oven to 360°F
2. Butter and flour a 9-inch (24 cm) wide tart pan.
3. Roll out dough with a rolling pin and line tart pan with it. Trim dough in excess from the pan borders. Spread frangipane mixture inside the tart shell to cover the whole surface.
4. On top of the frangipane, arrange figs, cut-side up, in circle.
5. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden and the frangipane has risen.
6. Remove tart from the oven and let it cool. Dust with powdered sugar and serve

Rustic Peach Crostata and a Picnic in my Dad’s Orchard

June 22, 2015 By very EATalian Leave a Comment

I’m a HUGE fan of picnics—perhaps, I’m the most enthusiastic “picnic-ER” you’ll ever meet and I have tons of good memories from past family outings. When I was little, I used to love singing in the car with my parents. Then, as I grew older, the excitement was mainly for the games we’d play all together, or the places we explored and hiked. These days, it’s simply about enjoying each other’s company in the middle of nature. Food definitely plays a good part in making the whole event more pleasant.

Ever since I got back to Italy, I’ve been wanting to go on a picnic with the whole family SO badly. Unfortunately, not everybody’s schedule seems to line up (at least for this month)…so I tried to compensate. A few days ago, despite the chilly weather, I decided to gather whomever was around, grab a table and a few chairs and set out an impromptu picnic in my dad’s orchard, a few steps beyond our fence. It’s definitely not a wild or picturesque mountain scenery, nonetheless a nice and enjoyable place–conveniently located next door! I’m surprised it took us so many years to realize it’s more than just a place for foraging or taking walks.

My mom and I teamed up and prepared all the food in the morning. We made a farro salad with sautéed veggies, a nice and soft focaccia bread, a few crispy eggplant fritters, and a beautiful rustic peach crostata. Not bad for an improvised get-together! We also quickly boiled a few eggs (a must for any picnic) and we packed them up in our cute picnic basket (I love that thing!). I made coffee as well, as I really wanted to use this tacky-but-kinda-adorable coffee thermos I found in the basement. Then, I loaded a couple of folding chairs, a little table and a couple of blankets on a wheel barrel and I carried everything to the orchard. The rest of the group followed me with the food.

We had a fun and relaxing lunch and it was so nice to be together, under the shade of my dad’s trees. It’s a meaningful place for my family as those trees were planted by my dad and grandfather. They were little twigs and now they’re full sized trees! Amazing.

Everybody raved about my crostata. The crust was nicely colored and perfectly textured: it was buttery, delicate, and flaky. I used Saturn peaches as filling and was able balance their very sweet flavor with a good amount of lemon juice and the tartness of a few cherries. Visually speaking, the crostata is colorful and imperfectly beautiful…in a word: rustic!! This recipe is absolutely a keeper and I’ll definitely make it again soon, before peach season is over.

Rustic Peach Crostata

Prep time

1 hour 45 mins

Cook time

55 mins

Total time

2 hours 40 mins

Author: Adapted from Bon Appétit, July 2002

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

-CRUST
1⅔ cups (210 g) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (42 g) polenta flour (coarse cornmeal)
3 Tbsp (42 g) sugar
¼ lemon peel, grated (use about ½ lemon)
¾ tsp (4 g) salt
14 Tbsp (200 g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
⅓ cup (75 ml) ice water
-FILLING
¼ cup (57 g) sugar
1½ tsp (5 g) cornstarch
4 medium saturn peaches, each pitted and cut into slices
a handful of cherries, pitted
½ lemon, juiced
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
Raw sugar crystals
Peach preserves, heated

Instructions

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a processor and blend for 5 seconds. Add butter and blend just until butter is reduced to pea-size pieces. Add ice water. Blend until dough comes together in moist clumps (adding more water if dough is dry). Form a ball (adding more flour, if necessary) and flatten into disk. Wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
Let dough soften slightly at room temperature and roll it on lightly floured sheet of parchment paper, turning it occasionally to prevent sticking. Transfer onto a round baking pan (the edges will probably stick out). Chill until dough firms slightly, about 15 minutes.
Mix fruit, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and vanilla in a bowl. Let stand until juices are released, stirring fruit occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Take dough out of the fridge. Spoon fruit and juices into center of dough leaving out the edges. Lift about 2 inches of dough border and fold it down over fruit. Brush folded border with egg glaze; sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake until crust is golden brown and fruit filling is bubbling, about 55 minutes. Remove from oven and brush fruit with peach preserves. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

To ensure a flaky crust, be careful not to overwork the butter.

Mini Jam Tarts

March 31, 2015 By very EATalian Leave a Comment

These little tarts (crostatine in Italian) were one of my favorite afternoon snacks when I was a kid. Back then, my grandmother used to buy them from the grocery store and kept them in her pantry, right next to the paper napkins. When it was ora della merenda (“snack time”- around 4pm), I’d run next door and sneakingly grab one of them. I even remember further digging in the box to look for a little match box that contained a little surprise toy (Sorpresine del Mulino Bianco may sound familiar to whomever was a child in the 80s in Italy!). I spent so many afternoons playing with my brother and my cousins with a crostatina in one hand and one of those little toys in the other. Who needed videogames back then? Sure, we watched cartoons but we certainly spent a lot of time outside playing with simple things like those little toys…and we were happy kids!

When I recreated this childhood snack, I couldn’t help but smile while reminiscing about those times. These tarts are only made of short pastry dough and jam. Quite simple, isn’t it? Their small size and the beautiful lattice top make them look so adorable! I couldn’t stop taking photos of them and – ahem – you can tell I went a little overboard this time…

MINI JAM TARTS – CROSTATINE ALLA MARMELLATA
Servings: Makes five 4.75″ tarts (8-10 people) | Prep time: 15 min (dough) + 25 min (tarts assembling) | Rest time: 30 min | Bake time: 30 min

Recommended equipment: 4.75″ tart pans, rolling pin

INGREDIENTS
Short Pastry Dough
150 g (10 Tbsp + 2 tsp) unsalted butter
125 g (1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp) granulated sugar
1 large egg
250 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
a dash of vanilla
a pinch of salt
vegetable oil for plastic wrap
a bit of sugar to sprinkle on top

Filling
13 oz jam (1 jar)

Egg wash
1 egg
1 Tbsp water or milk

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cream butter with sugar using a stand mixer. Add salt, egg, and vanilla extract.
2. Sift flour and add it into the mixture. Once flour is incorporated, remove dough from mixing bowl and knead briefly until you obtain a smooth dough.
3. Wrap it in lightly oiled plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Once the dough has rested, place it on a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a bit less than 1/8 inch (3mm). Add flour if too sticky. Cut dough in circles to fit into each tart pan, trimming the dough to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. Reserve excess dough for lattice top.
5. Heat oven to 350F.
6. Pour jam into dough-lined tart pans until half full.
7. Roll out remaining dough and cut into strips. Form a lattice top by following photo tutorial above. Trim even with the crust edge and pinch to seal.
8. Make egg wash by mixing 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of milk or water. Brush strips and crust edge with egg wash. Sprinkle a little sugar on top of egg-washed crust.
9. Bake for 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Buon appetito!

-Lisa

Chocolate Frangipane Pear Tart

March 4, 2015 By very EATalian Leave a Comment

Last week I saw a pretty and colorful bag of pears at Trader Joe’s. The bag read “Rainbow Pears”. It was basically a mix of different kinds of small pears, including Red D’Anjou, Green D’Anjou, and Bosc. So pretty! I’m a total sucker for nice packaging and clever marketing, and, of course, I love pears. Needless to say, I drove off the Trader Joe’s parking lot with those pears in my grocery bag and the culinary part of my brain already in motion.

Pear and Chocolate. Of course! Such a glorious pairing. I’m not sure if it belongs to any particular cuisine (French, peut-être?), but it sure is a common combination in Italian desserts. The most common dessert that features these two delicious ingredients is Torta di Pere e Cioccolato, a chocolate cake with pieces of pears inside. It’s a really satisfying cake, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I wanted something that provided a variety of textures and would let me play a little more in the kitchen. I love tarts exactly for this reason and they are very, very popular in my family. So, after a bit of research and a lot of notes, I finally opted for a tart, filled with frangipane and topped with pear halves.

Frangipane is a common French filling for tarts, but as the names suggests, it’s originally from Italy. It’s a rich cream made of butter, sugar, eggs, and ground almonds. For my tart, I specifically used a chocolate frangipane recipe from one of the finest Italian pastry chefs, Luca Montersino. Both my mother and I have a “culinary crush” on him and together we often watched his cooking show on Italian TV. Not only he is great at what he does, he is also a gifted teacher and always provides the scientific explanations behind any of his creations.

So here’s my tart! I love how the pears, kept in their natural shape, provide a nice, rustic look that balances out the rest. This is a perfect dessert for chocolate lovers like me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

CHOCOLATE FRANGIPANE PEAR TART
Servings: 8 | Prep/Resting time: 1 hour and 20 min| Cook time: 40 min

NOTE: Conversions are approximate. I highly recommend the use of a digital scale and measure all ingredients in grams. It’s just easier and more precise!

INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Short Pastry Dough
150 g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
125 g (1/2 cup and 2 Tbsp) sugar
a pinch of salt
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
few drops of vanilla extract
250 g (2 cups) all purpose flour
15 g (2 Tbsp + 1 tsp) unsweetened cocoa powder
(optional) 1.5 g (1/2 tsp) baking powder

Chocolate Frangipane Filling (slightly adapted from Chef Luca Montersino’s recipe)
95 g (3.35 oz) blanched almonds
90 g (3.17 oz) brown sugar
95 g (3.35 oz) butter
105 g (3.7 oz) eggs
28 g (3 tbsp) rice flour
7 g (2 tsp) corn starch
10 g (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp) unsweetened cocoa powder
25 g (0.9 oz) amaretti cookies

2 pears
confectioners sugar

INSTRUCTIONS
[Chocolate Short Pastry dough/Crust]
1. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar and then add in a pinch of salt, the egg, the egg yolk, and a few drops of vanilla.
2. On a clean surface, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and add to the butter mixture. Knead briefly until you obtain a uniform, smooth dough. If too sticky, add a bit more flour.
3. Form a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

[Chocolate Frangipane Filling]
1. Grind almonds and sugar together to a fine powder.
2. Mix almond/sugar powder with butter, using a stand mixer. Slowly pour in the eggs. Add in the rice flour, the corn starch, and the cocoa powder. Finally, add finely crushed amaretti cookies. Refrigerate mixture in a bowl until short pastry dough is ready.

[Final assembly]
1. Turn oven to 375F.
2. Remove dough from fridge and roll it out in a disk by putting it in between 2 pieces of non-stick parchment paper until the dough is a little thinner than 1/4 inch (4 mm). Remove paper from the dough. Place dough inside a tart pan with removable bottom. Trim dough in excess from the tart pan borders.
3. Spread the frangipane inside the tart to cover the whole surface.
4. Cut the pears in half and remove seeds. Peel each pear and push pear halves cut-side down into the mixture.
5. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the frangipane has risen.
6. Remove tart from the oven and let it cool. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve.

Enjoy and buon appetito!

-Lisa