Inspired by a friend’s recent trip to Italy and my own desire to be in Italy right this minute, I adapted a crostata recipe found in Gourmet Italian Kitchen Issue and made it a bit different with citrusy flavors and vanilla aromas. The pâte brisée or pasta frolla as the Italian call it will remind Americans of shortbread. If you’re not used to deal with pâte brisée aka sweetcrust pastry, you will need to know that it breaks easily but can be patched back together very well.
Ingredients for the dough:
2 cups (200 g) of flour
1/4 cup (50 g) of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1.5 stick (170 g) of butter (cold and cut in cubes)
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
In a big bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter cubes and mix well with your hands, warming the cubes, and creating small lumps of butter. The mixture should be coarse. Dig a well in the center and add the yolks and vanilla extract. Slowly, start filling the well with the flour around and gently stir with your fingers. The dough should start to form at this point. Knead gently. Once the dough is formed and rolled into a ball, divide the dough in half with a sharp knife and wrap in plastic. Keep in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Ingredients for the filling:
10 oz. or 1.5 cup (280 g) of soft dried Calimyrna figs (stemmed and cut in half)
1 cup (150 g) of dried apricots
1/2 cup (100 g) of brown sugar
1 1/4 cup (30 cl) of water – replace some of the water by Cointreau or Grand Marnier if you feel like it
1 cup (25 cl) of grapefruit juice
1 stick (115 g) of butter (melted and cooled)
3 eggs (beaten)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 teaspoons of lemon zest
1.5 cup (170 g) of walnuts (chopped) – or mix with some almonds
Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
Cook the figs and the apricots in a saucepan with the water, grapefruit juice and sugar. Stir often and let simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Pour the mixture in a food processor and blend. You should get a thick mixture. Transfer to a bowl to cool a bit. Stir in the butter, eggs, vanilla, zest and walnuts.
Remove 1 dough ball from the fridge. Roll it out into a 11-inch disc. I used a 9-inch pan for this recipe. If you are having issues with rolling the dough, try rolling it between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Place the dough in the pan and adjust with your fingers pressing it onto the bottom. Trim excess dough on the sides. If it broke in the process, patch it together with left over dough. Put the pan in the fridge to chill some more.
Roll out the second dough ball – same process. When the 11-inch round disc is ready, cut 10 strips of dough (about 1-inch-wide) and place on a tray. Put the tray in the fridge for 20 min.
Assemble the crostata by removing the pan and the tray from the fridge. Pour the fig/apricot filling into the tart shell and arrange 5 strips of dough 1 inch apart on the filling. Do the same with the remaining 5 strips so as to create a lattice. Trim the excess dough if needed from the strips. Sprinkle the crostata with a bit more sugar and bake for 50-60 min. The crostata should be pale golden with a tiny bit of brown when ready.
Having just returned from France, now I want to get to Italy! That looks delicious.
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This is a totally unfair post: I’m STARVING!
😉
Thank you for sharing what looks to be an amazing recipe…
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This looks and sounds amazing. I love the Italy pictures too!
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Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I love that the recipe uses grapefruit juice too. And trust me I’d be using some Grand Mariner instead of water. Great tip.
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The recipe is could be right even if we use less butter (pasta frolla needs 2:1 200gr weath flour and 100 gr or 250 for 125) but briséé is different: no eggs! Absolute no eggs!
Anyway enjoy your crostata, it seems really good 🙂
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Beautiful photos, makes me want to visit!
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wonderfull,.. your picture is absolutely wonderfull!!!
i have a dream sometime i can visit a place like that,.. fell the fresh air from those place and put it in my deepest memory.
great food,.. how can you combine food photos with the landmark photos and still in harmony??
awesome!!
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🙂
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love this!
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You might find this funny: https://frenchieandtheyankee.com/2010/12/07/frenchie-and-the-italian-skunk/
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Hello. The food, architecture, and landscape, all remind me of when I lived in Croatia and Slovenija. Both are neighbors of Italy. Very nice to see here. Thank you. Have a good Thursday. 🙂
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Your photos are so lovely and the recipe…oh my! My mouth is watering now. I’ve never traveled anywhere outside of the US and I would love to visit Italy, if not just to enjoy a meal there. Obviously I would love to see the landscape too, but the cuisine would be my fist love.
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Correction: the cuisine would be my “first” love 🙂
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I wanna try this recipe out. Great pics as well!
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those fig pie pictures are making my mouth water. Nothing beats old world baking skills.
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Wow this looks very awesome im going to have to try this one thanks for the recipe!!!!
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Very nice images. It is great to see images from different countries.
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That looks delicious!
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I think you may have photographed heaven=)
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The brick and plaster in the pic with the bicycle look smashingly delicious after reading the recipe and seeing the proscuito and cheese displayed on a board. And the entire blog smells soooo good. Great post
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Lovely pictures and mouth watering crostata!
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Great photos – delicious looking pie 🙂
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Beautiful pictures!!! You make me hungry~ Thank you for your sharing!!!
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wow,look very delicious…mmmm:)
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Yum, that looks so good. So does the antipasto plate…. mmmm.
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Tempting recipe, will surely try.
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it looks so delicious. congrats
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Yummy!so delicious and amazing recipe,i love this.
Thanks for sharing outstanding post.
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OMG now I’m hungry. 😉
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i’m hungry too…. 🙂
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Yummy!so delicious and amazing recipe,i love this.
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Bravissima!
Foto bellissime!
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nice pics
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Tempting recipe, will surely try.
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That looks delicious!
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This looks absolutely amazing! Love the photos too. I would also love to be in Italy right now…
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Excellent post today! I really enjoyed it. I enjoy making great food for my family and friends when they come over for entertainment. Food can also be entertaining in itself. Thanks again for sharing this.
A Delicious Coffee Roll Recipe
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What a beutiful use of figs, and the pictures are wonderfull.
“Cinnamon bites and kisses simultaneously.”
-Vanna Bonta
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You’re twisting my arm you’re hitting me in the stomach
love it !!!
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And, I must add: you were on the front page of WordPress!
CONGRATULATIONS, Man!!
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Excellent post today! I really enjoyed it. I enjoy making great food for my family and friends when they come over for entertainment. Food can also be entertaining in itself. Thanks again for sharing this.
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