Strawberry season is sadly at an end here on the East End and despite a fridge filled with bowls of prepared strawberries for yogurt in the morning and ice cream at night, I couldn't resist buying the very last box of these small, sweet delights at our favorite farm stand - Babinski's this past weekend. The question was, what "something special" could I do with them and for that Food52 helped out with a recipe for Strawberry Lime Crostata.
I could be wrong but I'm thinking a crostata is for Italians what a galette is for the French - certainly they are similar in construct and intent. Flakey pastry casually wrapped over a fruit filling creating the simplest and some of the best desserts I've ever enjoyed. I thought the combination of strawberries and lime sounded unusual enough to try and this is the flakiest pastry I have ever made. My husband and I enjoyed this for dessert one evening with ice cream and for breakfast twice ... with ice cream, for him! He has proclaimed this as one of the top 5 "desserts" I've ever made.
Strawberry Lime Crostata
1 9-inch crostata
Tart Crust (makes 2)
2 cups all purpose flou
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into uniformed-sized cubes
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons heavy cream, divided
small glass ice water
1 tablespoon sanding sugar, granulated sugar is fine if you don't have the fancy stuff on hand
Filling
4 cups strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and halved (quarter the large ones)
1/4 to 1/3 cups sugar, depending on the sweetness of your berries
2 tablespoons strawberry jam, preferably homemade
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 lime, tested and juiced
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Tart Crust
- Place flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse to mix.
- Add butter to flour mixture. Process just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 seconds.
- Whisk together egg yolk and two tablespoons of the cream and process into flour mixture briefly.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of ice water and pulse just until the pastry begins to hold together, about 6 to 8 times. Add more water as needed. Do not let it form a ball.
- Transfer the pastry to waxed paper; form into two one inch-thick disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to four days. The recipe makes double the amount you need; freeze the other half or roll it out and cut it into strips for a lattice topping.
Filling
- Meanwhile, mix berries with sugar, lime zest and juice, cornstarch, and jam. Let sit for about 20 minutes.
Assembly
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- On a floured surface, roll out one disk of dough to about 1/8 inch-thick. Carefully fold the dough in half and then in quarters to transfer to a pie dish or parchment-lined sheet pan. Use a pie dish if the strawberries are super juicy.
- Fill the crust with the berry mixture.
- Gently gather and fold the overhanging crust over the pie.
- Brush with the remaining cream and sprinkle generously with sugar.
- If you’re using a pie dish, stick a sheet pan underneath it to catch spills.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes until crust is golden and the filling is bubbling.
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