Strawberry and Fig Jam Crostate with Meyer Lemon Panna Cotta and Saba
It’s impossible to walk into any bakery in Italy without seeing a lattice-covered jam-filled tart called a crostata, so when I penciled out a short list of the desserts I would want to make at Mozza, it was only natural that crostata was on that list. For the longest time, I just couldn’t decide how I wanted to serve it. An unadorned crostata seemed fine for a bakery, but it looked too naked on the plate to serve alone at the Pizzeria. At the same time, I was struggling with how to incorporate another Italian favorite, panna cotta, into our repertoire. Somehow, in the course of all of my experimenting, I got the idea to substitute the creaminess of gelato, the most obvious accompaniment to a fruit tart, with the creaminess of panna cotta, and I put the crostata and panna cotta together. It worked, solving both problems at the same time. We drizzle the panna cotta with saba, Sardinian grape must. What we created was a dessert built of all Italian elements that, though you would never see them together in Italy, somehow work. I’m proud of that. The recipe makes twelve crostate, four more than you will serve with the panna cotta. I based the yield on the number of crostate the dough would make—and I figured you could find someone to eat the extras. You will need twelve 1/2-cup miniature brioche molds to make the panna cotta, though you could use 2-ounce ramekins—your panna cotta will taste just as good, it just won’t look as pretty. The crostata dough is the same as the Pasta Frolla (page 276) with toasted sesame seeds added. Dahlia and I got the idea when she was working on a sesame-seed biscotti. We didn’t like the biscotti enough to include them in our repertoire, but we really liked the subtle flavor and crunch that the seeds added to the dough.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 12
Ingredients
for the crust
for the filling
for the panna cotta
Preparation
Step 1
To make the crust, toast the sesame seeds in a small skillet over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until they are fragrant. Transfer them to a plate to cool to room temperature.
Step 2
Combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, butter, leavening, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until the butter and dry ingredients form a coarse cornmeal consistency, about 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, if you are using it, and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Dust a flat work surface with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Knead the dough for a few minutes until it comes together into a ball.Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, and up to three days; or freeze it for up to two months. (Defrost the dough overnight in the refrigerator.)
Step 3
To make the filling, combine the figs, strawberries, sugar, and lemon zest strips in a small saucepan. Use a small, sharp knife to split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Scrape the pulp and seeds out with the back side of the knife and add the scrapings and the bean to the saucepan. Add enough water to cover the fruit and bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer the figs until they’re tender and the liquid is syrupy and golden, about 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, and set aside to cool to room temperature. Remove and discard the lemon zest strips and the vanilla bean. Transfer the figs and the liquid to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and purée. (You can prepare the jam up to a week in advance. Transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate until you are ready to make the crostate. Warm it over low heat to a spreadable consistency.)
Step 4
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, dust a flat work surface with flour, cut the dough into chunks, and knead the dough on the countertop to soften it, until it is the texture of Play-Doh. Dust your work surface again with flour and dust a rolling pin with flour and roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. (Depending on the size of your countertop, you may have to roll the dough out in two batches. Cut the dough in half and refrigerate one half while you are rolling the other.) With a five-inch-diameter plate or can as a stencil, use a knife or bench scraper to cut around the stencil to create large circles of dough. You should be able to cut all 12 crostate from the first rolling of dough; if not, bring the scraps together into a ball and reroll the dough to cut what you need. Reserve the scraps of dough to decorate the crostate.
Step 5
Roll the edges of each dough round toward the center to create a rim about 1/8 inch thick. (This is a single roll around; your fingers might feel too big to do this, but work slowly and with care and you get a nice rim.) If the jam has cooled to the point where it is too thick to spread, warm it over low heat just to loosen it. Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of the jam onto each crostata. Dip a small offset spatula in hot water and use it to spread the jam out toward the rim of the crostata.
Step 6
Dust your work surface again with flour. Break off a segment of dough about the size of a Ping-Pong ball and roll it on the floured surface with your fingertips to create a long, thin tube about 1/4 inch thick, or twice as thick as spaghetti. Lay the strand of dough across the center of one of the tarts. Roll two more strands and lay them on either side of the first, evenly spaced to the edges of the crostata. Lay three strands in the other direction at an angle, creating a diamond design on top. Continue to roll the dough and place the strands on the crostate to finish decorating all eight crostate, discarding any excess dough when you have finished. Trim the dough at the edges of the crostate with your fingers and discard. Use a large spatula to carefully lift each circle of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, placing six on each sheet. Cover the baking sheets with plastic wrap and refrigerate the crostate for 30 minutes, until the dough is firm, or up to one day.
Step 7
Adjust the two oven racks so that one is in the top third of the oven and the other is in the bottom third, and preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 8
Bake the crostate for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crusts are golden brown, rotating the baking sheets both from front to back and from the upper to lower racks halfway through baking time so the crostate brown evenly. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and set aside to cool to room temperature before removing from the baking sheets.
Step 9
To make the panna cotta, stir the lemon juice and gelatin granules together in a small bowl until the gelatin dissolves. (If you are using gelatin sheets, place them in a bowl of ice water to soften.) Spray eight 1/2-cup miniature brioche molds (or 2-ounce ramekins) with nonstick cooking spray. Place the molds on a baking sheet and refrigerate to chill while you prepare the panna cotta. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set a smaller bowl inside. Set a fine-mesh strainer in the smaller bowl.
Step 10
Combine the cream, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Stir to combine the ingredients and heat over medium-high heat until the cream just begins to bubble. Turn off the heat. Add the buttermilk, lemon zest, and the lemon juice–gelatin mixture and stir until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Pour the panna cotta through the strainer into the bowl set over ice and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Step 11
Ladle the cream mixture into the molds, filling them 1-inch deep. You may not use all of the cream. Return the molds to the refrigerator to chill until the panna cotta is set, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
Step 12
To serve, place the crostate in the center of each of twelve large plates. Remove the panna cotta from the refrigerator and fill a bowl with hot water. Working one at a time, carefully dip the bottom of each mold into the hot tap water to loosen the panna cotta. Turn it out directly onto the crostate so the edges of the panna cotta are flush with the crostate. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of saba over each panna cotta so that it cascades down the sides.
Suggested Wine Pairing
Step 13
Brachetto d’Acqui (Piedmont)
