Italian Plum & Port Crostata

I grew up going to the farmers' market most Saturdays. Now this was not the farmers' market we know today, with its hip, young farmers, high dollar artisanal products, and serenading folk musicians (not that I have anything against with those things--in fact I'm quite fond of all of them), but this market was old-school. Housed in a red barn with individual stalls occupied by Indiana old-timers, Amish, and organic farmers alike, with the smell of homemade danishes in the air, and cuts of meat hanging from rafters, the South Bend Farmers' Market first opened at its current site in 1928. Though part of the building was destroyed by a fire in 1971, it was the market where my mother grew up going to with her mother and grandparents. Every time we'd walk the long aisles, our baskets full of produce, I'd be inundated with stories about the old farmers who were still around or used to be, and be retold which stall would give my mom a piece of Claey's candy while she waited for her mother to finish socializing.

Aside from the times when I was working on a farm or was in one place long enough to maintain a weekly CSA, I've maintained that ritual of a Saturday trip to the market for fresh veggies and fruits, and sometimes eggs, bread, and meat (and oh yeah, the occasional Farmers' Daughter sunshine bun) for the week. 

A few weeks ago, Dalila from a new D.C. business From the Farmer, reached out to me and asked if I might be interested in trying out their farmbox delivery service. Never one to turn down fresh & local produce, especially when it's delivered to your doorstep, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Of course, I was immediately hooked.

As the basket arrives in the night, it felt a bit like Christmas to wake up the next morning to a bundle of colorful goods-- honeycrisp apples, bok choy, shitake mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, fall raspberries, and more. Similar to a CSA, but customizable, week-to-week, and drawing from multiple local farms, farm bundles like From the Farmer can be an advantageous outlet for small, specialty farms that may not be big enough to offer an entire diverse CSA. I also appreciate having my week's selection of produce picked out for me, as I'm not great at conjuring up recipes on the spot at the market. Though I'll always relish my Saturday market trips, I could get pretty use to this.

One of the offerings that was included in my first box were Italian prune plums-- the small oblong variety that are darker and sweeter than the more common round plums. I remembered a recipe for an Italian Plum & Port Crostata in Martha Stewart's New Pies & Tarts, and had some leftover homemade puff pastry in the freezer, so this tart came together quite quickly (even without pre-made crust, it's pretty simple). I LOVE the dark complexity the port reduction adds to the sweet plums, and you can experiment by adding other spices like ginger, cloves, peppercorn, or black cardamom. I brought it to the DC Square Dance and even had a slice left to share with my friend Mike, who was stopping through town on Monday with his band Hiss Golden Messenger. 

Italian Plum & Port Crostata

Adapted from Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts

Ingredients

Homemade Puff Pastry or Nothing in the House pie crust, halved (I used puff pastry, as I had some frozen)

1 1/2 cups ruby port

1 c. packed light brown sugar

1/2 Thai chile, seeded and minced (optional, I couldn't find any so opted out)

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 pounds Italian prune plums, halved and pitted

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon heavy cream or beaten egg, for brushing

Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling 

Directions

1. Prepare whichever crust you're using as per the directions (find links to them in the ingredients list above). Chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out into a 12-inch round and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Do not flute edges. Place pie plate in fridge while you prepare the filling and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2.  Simmer port and 1/2 cup brown sugar in a saucepan until reduced to about 1/2 cup, approximately 25 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and add chile, if using. Cover and let cool, 10 minutes.

3. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, salt, plums, cornstarch, cinnamon, and port syrup. Pour into the chilled pie shell and fold over overhang to make a rough edge. Brush dough with cream or egg wash, and sprinkle with Turbinado sugar. Bake 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 degrees F and bake 45-60 minutes more (Martha calls for 90 minutes more, but in my case this would have been too long), until crust is golden and filling is bubbling. Let pie cool completely and serve with honey ice cream, if desired.

Related recipes:

Plum-Cherry Crumble

Plum & Orange Flower Custard Galette

Whole Wheat Plum Crumble Tart

Lemon-Ricotta Crostata and a Spring Sunday Cookout

 I'm literally about to run out the door, jump in the car, and head north for two months (more on that soon), so I'm going to keep this short. But before I take to the north woods to watch spring come in for a second time, I wanted to share a little snippet from a highlight of the season down here in DC.

Last Sunday I hosted an house show with the Blackburg, VA old-time band The Black Twig Pickers and Vermont singer-songwriter Sam Moss, and decided to lump my birthday celebration and last DC hurrah (for a while) into the occasion. I invited pals over for a pre-show backyard cookout, which was just the thing I needed in the midst of the headed-out-of-town rush. There were flowers and fried pickles, copious amounts of meat, grilled asparagus, deviled eggs and other delights with some of my favorite people in the city.




I made Domenica Marchetti's Lemon-Ricotta Crostata, a traditional Italian Easter dessert. The crust is a little finicky, but it's worth the trouble--perfectly buttery and light. I think you could also replace the ricotta with goat cheese, like in this recipe, if you're so inclined. I was hoping to make a rhubarb sauce to top it all off, but could find none at either the farmers' market or the grocery, so I opted for (California) strawberries instead. I must say, they were the perfect thing to pair with this rich, lemony confection, but I do want to try that rhubarb sauce sometime.

Lemon-Ricotta Crostata
From Domenica Marchetti

Ingredients
For the dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large whole egg
2 egg yolks

For the filling:
8 oz. fresh sheep's milk ricotta or well-drained cow's milk ricotta
8 oz. mascarpone
1 large whole egg
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions
For the dough:
1. Put the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse to combine. Distribute the butter around the bowl and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Add the whole egg and egg yolks and process just until the mixture begins to come together in the bowl.

2. Turn the bowl out on a lightly floured surface and briefly knead it together. Without overworking it, shape the dough into a disc, patting rather than kneading. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or until well-chilled.

3. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut into 2 portions, one slightly larger than the other. Re-wrap the smaller portion and return to the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the large portion into an 11-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Transfer to a greased and floured 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom (I had to do some piecing together for this, as the dough is a little dry). Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Roll the rolling pin over the top of the pan to remove any excess dough. Place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

For the filling and assembly:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, mascarpone, whole egg and yolks, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest. Using a stand mixer or handheld beater, beat the ingredients on high for about 1 minute or until thoroughly combined and fluffy.

2. Remove the tart shell from the fridge and scrape filling into it, smoothing with a silicone spatula. Roll out the reserved dough on a lightly floured surface into a 10-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick. Cut into 3/4-inch wide strips with a fluted pastry wheel. Carefully place the strips over the fitted tart shell in a lattice pattern, gently pressing the ends into the sides of the tart. Use any remaining strips to form around the tart's perimeter.

3. Bake the crostata for 35-45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is puffed and just set. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Remove the tart ring and let cool completely. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled and dust with confectioner's sugar before serving. Will keep in the fridge 2-3 days.

As evening fell and it started to get chilly, we moved inside for a lovely candlelit living room show with  Sam and The Twigs. My friend Morgan took some beautiful photos of the evening (all the non-tart photos are hers)-- you can see them all on her blog. Our friend Dave also made a recording of Sam's set, which you can listen to here.



Related recipes:
Cranberry Goat Cheese Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust
Rustic Cheese Pie
Wild Blackberry Lemon Goat Cheese Tart

Non-tart photos by Morgan Hungerford West

Pickling & Preserving Party!

A few weeks ago there was a post on Food52 about National Can-It-Forward Day. I had never heard of such a day, but they were offering coupons for free Ball jars for folks who were interested in hosting pickling and preserving parties on Saturday, July 14th. I love canning, I love pickles, and I love parties, so I decided to cast my name into the hat. Sure enough, a week or so later, a FedEx envelope with 6 coupons for free Ball jar sets arrived on my doorstep. Score!

So on the morning of the 14th, three friends and I, Andy, Annie, and Lars met at up at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers' Market, checked out what produce looked the best, and planned our attack. We decided to do vinegar cucumber pickles, dilly beans, and pickled okra, a peach-jalapeno jam, and a blueberry-basil jam. We were able to find almost all of our ingredients at the market, thanks in a large part to the very friendly farmers at Earth Spring Farm who had herbs and jalapenos, pickling cucumbers and okra.


We headed to Bestworld to get the rest of our ingredients, as well as some beer and lunch fixins, for we needed to fuel up for our day-long kitchen activities. Next stop was the hardware store for jars...we were able to get one set at the adorable Old School Hardware in Mt. Pleasant. Then we tried the Ace in Takoma Park, but unfortunately they did not take manufacturer's coupons, so we ended up having to buy our jars. No worries, though--I'm sure the coupons will be put to use at some point 'cause we'll definitely be doing this again.

Back home in the kitchen, we spread out our bounty. Andy went to work on our open-face quesadilla (open faceadilla) lunch, Annie put on some summer jams and then we all tied on aprons, cracked beers, and started peeling peaches, stringing beans, and chopping basil.

It was a collaborative process, with everyone helping with each item...prepping produce, stirring jam pots, and sealing jars. Though we're still waiting on the pickles (they need 6 weeks to "pickle"), the blueberry-basil jam was probably our favorite. And since this is a pie blog, I'll say that it would go great on this lemon goat-cheese tart (replace the blackberry preserves with the blueberry-basil jam) or in this almond crostata (replace the marmalade with the jam). Here's the very easy recipe we used, adapted from Rustic Kitchen.

Blueberry-Basil Jam
Adapted from Rustic Kitchen

Ingredients
8 c. fresh blueberries
5 c. sugar
about 1/2 c. minced purple basil (to taste)
5 Tbslp. lemon juice

Directions
Pour fresh, washed blueberries into a large saucepan. Stir in sugar, purple basil, and lemon juice. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reads 225 degrees F on a candy thermometer and coats the back of a spoon. Once the mixture is ready to can, pour into sterilized jars and seal (make sure to follow proper instructions for sterilization and canning--you can find some on the Ball jar site). Makes about 3 pints.


In the end, we had almost 50 jars of pickles and jams and spent a lovely overcast Saturday sharing skills and stories, listening to tunes, and making deliciousness-in-jars from our local farmers' market bounty. Many thanks to Andy, Annie, and Lars for being such awesome pals and picklers. And thanks to Food52 for inspiring us and donating the jars-- even if we didn't get to use them this time, we'll definitely be having another pickling & jam party soon.

Almond and Grapefruit-Ginger Marmalade Crostata

My first taste of marmalade, likely taken at my Anglophile aunt and uncle's house, was much less sweet than I had expected. Having been enticed by the brilliant color and orange flavor (which was my favorite, although usually in the form of sherbet), I was not expecting the bitter aftertaste that came with them. As an adult though, I have developed much more of an appreciation for bitterness (and probably gotten more so myself), and now have quite an affection for the rind-inclusive preserve.

As I mentioned previously, I made a batch of grapefruit-ginger marmalade when I was home alone with an abundance of grapefruit. I wanted to try something from Pam Corbin's River Cottage Preserves Handbook, and auspiciously found a recipe for Seville orange marmalade with a grapefruit variation.

I added some ginger to the recipe, and canned the marmalade in jars of various sizes. With the help of the internet, I mailed them off to friends with a penchant for bittersweet (as it is quite bitter--be warned), many of whom offered up barters of handmade pottery, gif-filled stories, felted creatures and even an original jingle for Tarts by Tarts!

Despite how tempting it was to giveaway more jars in trade for special surprises, I did manage to save two jars for myself for eating and baking purposes. I was eyeing a few different jam-inclusive pies, including a Bakewell Tart (which I still plan to try made here), but remembered this almond and marmalade crostata I had been eyeing and realized it would be a fortuitous use of my grapefruit marmalade stash. I had wanted to make it for Pi(e) Day, but had a crazy week prior, so didn't find the time necessary to make the marmalade in advance. 

Let that be a warning to you, though. This marmalade requires overnight prep and is at least a 5-hour affair, what with the soaking of the rind (which I actually did overnight), cooking, and processing time (that is, if you plan to can it.) The recipe here will yield you at least 10 12-oz. jars, which is much more than you'd need for the tart, but with those extra jars, you make deals with your friends in exchange for all sorts of goodies. Plus once you've got the 'lade, this crust whips up in a jiffy.

Seville Ginger-Grapefruit Marmalade

Adapted from the River Cottage Preserves Handbook

Note: This recipe is for approximately 10 12-oz.  jars of marmalade and requires overnight prep and a cook time of four hours, so plan ahead!

Ingredients

2 1/4 pounds grapefruit, ruby red preferred

10 c. water

2/3 c. lemon juice

10 c. sugar 

1-2 tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and chopped finely

Directions

1. Scrub grapefruit and remove buttons at the top of the fruit and cut in half around the circumference. Squeeze out the juice into a large bowl and set aside. Using a large, sharp knife, slice the peel, pith and all, into very thin slices. Put the sliced peel in a bowl with the grapefruit juice and cover with 10 c. water. Let soak overnight and up to 24 hours.

2. Transfer the entire mixture to a large stock pot or preserving pan and bring to a boil. Once mixture is boiling, reduce heat and let simmer slowly, covered, until the peel is tender. This should take about 2 hours, and in that time the mixture should reduce by about one-third.

3. Stir in lemon juice, sugar, and ginger. Bring marmalade to a boil, stirring until all of the sugar has dissolved. Boil rapidly until the setting point is reached (or until mixture reads 220 degrees F), at least 30 minutes. Remove pot from the heat and let cool for 8-10 minutes. Gently stir to disperse any scum. Pour marmalade into warm, sterilized jars and seal immediately. Use within 2 years.

Almond and Grapefruit-Ginger Marmalade Crostata
Adapted from Desserts for Breakfast

Ingredients
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. slivered almonds
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
9 Tblsp. butter, cold and in chunks
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. almond extract
zest of one lemon (or small orange)
up to 1/4 c. water
1 1/4 c. grapefruit-ginger marmalade (or other marmalade of your choosing)
dash heavy cream (optional)
Turbinado sugar (optional, for dusting)

Directions
1. Combine flour, almonds, sugar, and baking powder in a food processor and pulse until almonds are finely ground. Add cold butter chunks to the almond mixture and process until mix is the size of small peas. Add egg, egg yolk, almond extract and lemon zest and pulse just until dough begins to form (NOTE: I found that this dough was quite dry and crumbly, so I ended up adding about 1/4 c. of water to the mixture. I think that if needed, more water could be added, as in the end, the dough was still rather crumbly and difficult to work with, but it tasted great and not too dry.) Remove pastry dough from the food processor and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for at least one hour and up to 1 day.

2. After at least one hour, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into thirds. I rolled out the dough first(which was a little difficult, as it was crumbly), but you can also just press it into the bottom and sides of the tart pan. The bottom crust should be slightly thicker than the sides.

3. Scoop marmalade into the crust and spread a thin layer across the entirety of the tart. Roll out remaining dough and cut using a cookie cutter, or into long strips for a lattice top (again this proved too difficult due to the shortbread-quality of the dough, so I opted for cut circles). Lay cut crust on top of the marmalade in a decorative fashion.

4. Brush the top of the crostata with cream (could also use water or an egg-wash) and sprinkle with Turbinado sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Do not let it darken too much--it should look like shortbread. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature before serving. Enjoy with a dollop of honey-whipped cream on top (it pairs well with the bittersweet marmalade) and a cup of tea!

I originally envisioned this crostata as a sort of British tea time accompaniment, as I used a marmalade recipe from a British cookbook, and because this tart is particularly light, with a crust that is essentially a marzipan shortbread. I ended up taking it to a dinner party in Virginia for my beau's best friend's going away party, and while it was more cocktail hour than tea time, there was by chance, a number of Brits there (at least three)! I think that's one reason why it went over so well (a deeply-ingrained appreciation for marmalade, perhaps?) I topped it off with whipped cream sweetened with honey from Anarchy Apiaries at Rokeby. I'd definitely recommend a sweet whipped cream to temper the marmalade's bitterness, but all in all this is a lovely little tart with a crust that I'll definitely be incorporating in other recipes and trying out with other homemade jams and jellies.