Crostata di crema e frutti di bosco (blackberry and strawberry pastry-cream tart)
| May 12, 2011 | Posted by ameliaps under dessert, strawberries, summer, sweets |
Life’s been really crazy for me lately. Work (just wrapped up a long project and starting a new one), kids (birthdays, school, soccer…), and training for a few triathlons. Cooking has not been downgraded at all (even though from the scarcity of my posts lately you might have felt that was the case). However I just not have had the time to post all the delicious things I have made and eaten (fettuccine with fava beans, guanciale, and pecorino, rhubarb mini pies, artichokes, asparagus-lemon risotto, asparagus ricotta quiche, zucchini chips with Parmigiano – more posts coming soon) and thoughts I have thought of over the last couple of weeks (mainly surrounding how food fits into my life experience and how I “feed” from my heritage – I am speaking at BlogHerFood next week about Food in Travel, History and Experience with a great panel of speakers with very unique “voices”).
I need to definitively refine the process and speed at which I get around posting, maybe get into the habit of writing at least one post a week, possibly the same day? Sometimes the lengthy process of preparing, styling, photographing, writing, editing (never enough for me, given English is my second language), posting gets in the way. I’d like to reproduce for you that giddy expectation I get when I patiently wait for my friend Tori’s Tuesday recipe to come in my email: every single week it makes its way to my inbox, consistently good, consistently seasonal, and consistently approachable. That’s the key: approachable quality. Tori makes everything sound so casual and she has a relaxed, nonchalant, je ne sais quoi approach to life (I can learn from that!): you just want to be her friend, be in her kitchen, and eat her food! This week she is talking about cherries and making a lusciously soft clafoutis.
I echo Tori, on her excitement of finding a new seasonal fruit at the market, by sharing my favorite recipe for crostata di crema e frutti di bosco (tart with custard and berries) which I made on Mother’s day (yes…call me crazy: I baked my own dessert on Mother’s day, but I have fun baking, so I WANTED to do it. But that’s all I cooked: my husband made the rest of the meal: a wonderful grilled trout with herbs, alongside grilled summer vegetables: eggplant and bell peppers – it was great, we sat outside under the shade of our Japanese maple tree and enjoyed the sun and the handwritten cards the kids has spent the whole last week preparing for me: aw! love).
Feel free to use cherries instead of berries, of course, if you already found them at your market… I am still patiently waiting for them.
On a side note, I have been reading (more like devouring…) “Bread Bones and Butter” by Gabrielle Hamilton. It’s been a powerful read so far… the coming of age of a reluctant chef with a tough life (her parents broke up when she was just a child, basically abandoning her) brought all together by a passion for food (she had to fend for herself already at a young age through dishwashing and waitressing jobs, which is where she started learning the ropes of cooking at restaurants, among other things). She has an MFA in writing, so the book is very well written. I am halfway so far and eager to find out what happens next in her life… Gabrielle does not care about others: she just moves through life: never mind that things get in her way – she finds a way around them and to hell with formalities… life is too short not to say what you think. Reading the book, I am finding myself “eating” bites of a life that is not mine, savoring them as if I was the one that had “digested” them. She’s inspired me to dig deeper in my memories and try to find my darker voice.
Have you read any other inspiring food memoires? What inspires in food-centered fiction?
Crostata di crema e frutti di bosco (blackberry and strawberry pastry-cream tart)
The recipe has three part to its assembly: tart shell, pastry cream, and fruit (I used blackberries and strawberries, but feel free to add blueberries, raspberries and more).
This recipe makes 2 tarts (and you will have a little left-over cream too…which the kids love and never – ever – goes to waste!).
Last year we planted some blackberries in our garden and they have just started to flower and bare fruits… they are almost ready…not quite yet through.
OH BTW, I had some leftover balckberries so I made a quick blackberry-port wine sauce for the blackberry tart (just boiled a handful of blackberries with a few tablespoons of port wine and a tablespoon of sugar until reduced to a thick sauce)
| Crostata di crema e frutti di bosco (blackberry and strawberry pastry-cream tart) |
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- Crema pasticcera (pastry cream / Crème Pâtissière)
- The peel from 1 lemon (if you prefer, seeds scraped from half vanilla bean or 1 teaspoons vanilla extract)
- 1 liter (4 cups) milk
- 8 egg yolks
- 200 gr. (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 80 gr. (2/3 cup) flour or cornstarch, sifted > you can use a bit more (100 gr.) if you want it thicker
- Pasta frolla dolce (pastry dough)
- 250 gr. (2.5 cups) flour (all purpose or 00)
- 100 gr. (3/4 cup) of confectioners’ (powder) sugar
- 100 gr. (7 Tbsp.) butter, cold, diced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- To assemble
- 4 cups berries (I used blackberries and strawberries), rinsed, dried
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
- For the crema (pastry cream): In a small saucepan combine the milk and lemon peel (or the vanilla bean seeds). Scald the milk (heat just below the boiling point). In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar with a whisk. Stir in the flour (or cornstarch). Pour about one third of the hot milk into the egg mixture to temper (which means to avoid curdling), whisking continuously. Whisk the tempered egg mixture back into the remaining hot milk, and place the saucepan back on the heat. Cook on medium high heat, stirring constantly with the whisk, until the mixture comes barely to a boil. Remove the lemon peel and remove the cream from the heat. Chill completely, covered in plastic wrap until ready to assemble the tart.
- For the pasta frolla (dough): create a mound of flour, salt and sugar on a work surface. Make a small well in the center and add the cubed pieces of butter. Working very quickly, rub the butter and dry ingredients together with your fingers until the butter has broken into tiny crumbles. Make a small well in the center of the mixture and add the eggs. Combine with your hands, working quickly. Do not knead the dough too long. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, flatten gently into two balls, wrap to cover, place in refrigerator and for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 350F. Remove the dough from refrigerator, unwrap and place on a flat work surface lightly floured. Roll out with a rolling pin until thin, transfer to a lightly greased tart tin (I use waved edges and removable bottom, rectangular or round), gently press the dough against the sides, trim off excess dough with your fingers. Blind bake: prick the bottom with a fork. Line the dough with parchment paper, top with pie weights (beans or rice work), bake for 20-25 minutes with weights and then remove them to bake for the last 15 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely before assembling.
- To assemble: spoon the pastry cream and smooth it inside each tart shell and decorate with the berries. Before serving dust with confectioners’ sugar.
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Thanks for the shout out for Tuesday Recipe, Amelia. I can’t wait to meet you in person — FINALLY — next week. I was at a crostata class in San Francisco yesterday and we made all sorts of variations on the filling: fresh fruit, dried fruit, macerated fruit (rhubarb), plus a few different crusts: one with butter, one with lard and butter, one with cocoa powder. It’s such a forgiving dough because of the eggs; easier to work with than, say, pate brisee. Regarding your darker voice: it’s always your true voice you want to write with, dark or light, funny or scholarly, whatever. Just be yourself, as you always are, and it will be perfect. xo
Tori: likewise! Your class sounds so interesting… I am intrigued by the cocoa powder crust. Also, my nonna used to make the crust with lard…but I agree with you, it’s a bit anachronistic these days.
As far as my voice: you are spot on. Finding a voice that is your own is not easy and always requires so much hard work. Writing, writing, wrinting…a lot!
Tori, Thanks so much for your Crostata Recipe!
I Loved “Blood, Bones and Butter” !!! Wild Read!
Donna: actually that is mom’s recipe!
I recently finished reading Gabrielle Hamilton’s book, and I was so impressed by her writing style. She has such a way with words – it’s just so refreshing to read something so blunt and honest. Hope I get to meet you at BlogHer Food next weekend!
Merry: blunt and honest are the words for Gabrielle, which make her book a captivating read
Tori,
Loved seeing una a vera crostata! Never seen pastry cream with lemon in it for this type of thing, interesting!
And I loved that book too, how can someone be SO talented as a chef AND a writer, eh? She picked two of the hardest jobs in the world and excelled at both! So inspiring.
My goodness, you prepare the most beautiful and delicious looking food!
Another food related memoir I liked was Amanda Hesser’s The Cook and the Gardener. It is quite different from Gabrielle Hamilton’s book, but wonderful in its own way.
Denise: I have that book on my read list: thank you for reminding me to order it.
Lovely to look at both your food and the berry shots. You are ahead of us here in MD. My raspberries are about to bloom, but haven’t yet. Now that I’ve seen your photos, I’ll have to capture mine when they’re ready. Thanks for visiting my blog. Look forward to meeting you shortly.
This looks so incredible! It will be the perfect recipe to use up all of my summer strawberries. Can’t wait to make it!
This looks sublime! I have been looking for something new to try. Thank you for sharing.
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