rhubarb and raspberry crostata / DELICIOUS BITES

Rhubarb and raspberry crostata

29 Jan 2018

I hope you all enjoyed the Australia Day Long Weekend. It gave me the chance to get into the kitchen to work on some new recipes for you. If you think you've seen a rhubarb raspberry crostata on the blog before, it's because you have. I made individual rhubarb and berry crostatas a few years ago but found the original pastry a bit too rich so I reworked the recipe using a different pastry and added frangipane to the filling.

I love the idea of a crostata, which is just a free-form pie, but every time I make one the pastry splits and the filling leaks everywhere. This one was no different.

Despite all the problems I had with the pastry, the end result was so delicious I'm not giving up on crostatas. Pretty much anything looks good dusted in icing sugar!

Here's the recipe for you. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams; I use unsalted butter and my oven is a conventional gas oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Jillian’s Rhubarb and Raspberry Crostata - serves 8
Pastry
250g plain flour
¼ teaspoon salt
150g cold butter, diced
⅓ cup cold water

Filling
1 bunch (500g) rhubarb, rinsed, drained, trimmed
200 g frozen raspberries
¾ cup caster sugar
2 tbsp custard powder

Frangipane
50 g unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
1 tsp grated orange rind
75g almond meal
1 tbs plain flour
1 egg, beaten lightly

Topping
1-2 tbs milk
Raw sugar, Demerara or coffee crystals

To serve
Icing sugar
Double cream or ice-cream

Method
On a flat work surface, combine the flour and salt, then incorporate the cold diced butter with your fingers. Rub the butter into the flour until the butter pieces are no larger than the size of peas. Make a well in the centre of the flour, and pour in the cold water. Using your hands, mix the water into the flour until dough is formed. Flatten the pastry into a disc; wrap the dough in plastic and put in the refrigerator for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Chop the rhubarb into 5cm pieces and put into a bowl with the frozen raspberries, caster sugar and custard powder; toss to coat. To make the frangipane; place all the ingredients into a food processor then process all the ingredients to form a soft paste.

Lightly dust a large sheet of baking paper with flour (I used the Le Creuset toughened non stick baking sheet from Everten) and roll the pastry out to form a rough circle approximately 30cm in diameter. Transfer the pastry on the baking paper to a large oven tray. Spread the frangipane in the centre of the pastry, leaving an 8cm border. Top with the drained rhubarb mixture. Lift the sides of the pastry up over the fruit and crimp in place. Brush the edges of the pastry with milk and lightly sprinkle with raw sugar or coffee crystals.

Bake on the lower shelf of the oven for 45-50 minutes or until crisp and golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve with double cream or ice-cream, if desired.

The combination of flaky pastry, the tartness of the berry and rhubarb filling offset by the frangipane made for a very delicious tart and they're still talking about it at work. Next time I make this I'm planning to make it as a lattice pie using the same pastry and the same filling.

See you all again soon with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

23 May 2011

After a few weeks lay-off, it was time to get baking again so last week I loaded the shopping trolley with butter, sour cream, rhubarb and berries to try out this recipe. The strawberries at this time of year aren't at their best, so I picked up a punnet of raspberries instead.

I've had this recipe in my folder for quite some time, just waiting for the right occasion. Well a few weeks ago Maggie Beer was on Masterchef demonstrating her sour cream pastry recipe. When I checked the pastry for the crostata I recognised Maggie's sour cream pastry and decided the time had arrived.

I followed Maggie's instructions to the letter and barely worked the dough.

I only used half the pastry and filling to make 4 mini crostata and I can tell you that the pastry doesn't like to be re-rolled. The pastry still tastes lovely but it doesn't rise anywhere near as much. Once cooked, the pastry is very flaky and short and as I had quite a bit of juice left over I reduced it to make a glaze, which I used to finish off the tarts.

The raspberries were particularly tart so I used a bit more sugar than suggested and the glaze really helped to sweeten the pastries as well. I took the crostata into work and the sour cream pastry was a hit. I now have to work out what I can make with the left over dough that's in my freezer.

Here's the original recipe for you -
Rhubarb and Berry Crostata
Ingredients
200g chilled butter, chopped
250g plain flour
125ml sour cream
6 rhubarb stalks, sliced into 2cm-3cm pieces
500g strawberries, hulled
¾ cup caster sugar
2 tbsp custard powder
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 egg yolk

To serve
450g mascarpone
1 tbsp icing sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon

Method
To make the pastry, pulse butter and flour in a food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add sour cream and pulse until the dough just forms a ball. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix rhubarb, strawberries, caster sugar, custard powder and half the lemon zest in a large bowl and toss well.

Preheat oven to 200C. On a floured surface, roll the pastry out to a rough circle about five millimetres thick and 35 centimetres wide. Place on a tray lined with baking paper. Pile the filling into the centre of the pastry and spread it out, leaving about a five-centimetre edge. Turn the edges over the filling and brush them with the egg yolk. Bake the crostata in the oven until the pastry is golden, about 45-60 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix mascarpone, remaining lemon zest and icing sugar. Serve straight from the oven topped with the sweet mascarpone.

I hope you all had good weekends. I'll be back Wednesday to show you where and how I spent mine, so until then.

Jillian

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