Summer Fruit Crostata

Recently the Kitchen Gnome and I were invited to the neighbor's home for dinner. I volunteered to bring dessert. I had an abundance of fresh fruit in the house it was time to do something!


Since I enjoy spending an evening searching through cookbooks, I settled in my chair with a pile of my favorites and a glass of wine! It soon became apparent that the neighbors would be my guinea pigs because I seemed to be focused on new recipes. It didn't take me long to find just what I was looking for...something that appeared easy and looked delicious!


Ian Garten's Summer Fruit Crostata in Barefoot Contessa at Home was a match (kind of) for the fruit that I had available, it looked easy enough and I could taste it just looking at the picture!

I have never really made many pies. Unless one makes pies frequently, it is always a first time experience....at least for me it is. I didn't want to spend the day baking so a rustic pie fit the bill.

As I said, the recipe kind of matched...I made a couple of changes. I used pluots instead of black plums and I used a half cup blackberries and a half cup blueberries instead of all blueberries.

Summer Fruit Crostata

For the pastry (makes 2 crostatas)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated or superfine sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
6 Tbsp (3 ounces) ice water

For the filling (makes 1 crostata)
1 pound firm, ripe peaches, peeled
1/2 pound firm, ripe black plums, unpeeled
1/2 pint blueberries
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
plus 1/4 cup
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
plus 1/4 cup
1/4 tsp grated orange zest
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 tst kosher salt
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 stick

For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel lade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and toss quickly (and carefully!) with your fingers to coat each cube of butter with the flour. Pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board, roll it into a ball, cut in half, and form into 2 flat disks. Wrap the disks in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour. If you only need one dough, freeze the second disk.

Preheat the oven to 45o degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to the sheet pan.

For the filling, cut the peaches and plums in wedges and place them in a bowl with the blueberries. Toss them with 1 tablespoon of the flour, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, the orange zest, and the orange juice. Place the mixed fruit on the dough circle, leaving a 1 1/2 inch border.


Combine the 1/4 cup flour, the 1/4 cup sugar, and the salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts to hold together. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Gently fold the border of the pastry over the fruit, pleating it to make an edge.


Bake the crostata for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit is tender. Let the crostata cool for 5 minutes, then use 2 large spatulas to transfer it to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

PRINTABLE RECIPE


I must be honest...I made two crostatas, the summer fruit crostata and an apple crostata. The procedure is the same. The apple is not pictured...it was the victim of me being over zealous and not paying attention! I made the apple one first. When I rolled the dough out, I was so eager to turn up the edges and make pleats that I forgot to move the dough from the rolling cloth to the sheet pan. I need not tell you the challenge this posed and that by the time I managed to move it...it wasn't pretty! Thank goodness moving it from one point to another didn't effect the taste! We enjoyed them both. Had my brother-in-law been there he would have requested a "lumberjack" cut! I would have been happy to oblige!