Recipe: Savory Cherry Crostatas

Thanks, Fox9, for having me on Saturday morning! We made Savory Cherry Crostatas...and they're really good! The recipe looks long + complicated, but it's really not. I prefer to make my pie crust, but the grocery store kind works just as well!

In the Kitchen: Cherry Crostatas: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

Savory Cherry Crostatas
Servings: 24 appetizers
Pie Crust
Ingredients:

• 4-5 Tbsp. ice water, plus more as needed
• ¾ tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 9 Tbsp. (4 ½ oz.) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Recommended equipment:
food processor

Procedure:

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt and pulse to blend. Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal; there should be no pieces of butter bigger than a large pea.
    
2. With the motor running on dough setting, slowly add the water-vinegar mixture, processing just until the dough forms a ball.
    
3. Turn the dough out onto a wooden board or clean countertop, and gather it, massaging and pressing, until it just holds together. Shape it into a ball, and press it into a disk about 1 ½ inches thick. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and then press it a bit more. Refrigerate the wrapped dough for at least 2 hours
   
   Note: Dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw it in refrigerator overnight before using.
    
4. Before rolling it out, allow the dough to soften slightly at room temperature.

Filling - Cherry Balsamic Reduction
Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried, pitted sour cherries
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar

Procedure:

1. Place all 3 ingredients in a small saucepan over med-high heat
    
2. Bring to a boil, reduce to low and simmer until liquid is reduced to a few tablespoons

Caramelized Onions
Ingredients:

• 1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1 T fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 1 T fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 6 oz quark (German-style cream cheese) or fresh goat cheese

Procedure:

1. In a large sauté pan, coat bottom with olive oil and heat over med-high heat.
    
2. Add onions, and coat in oil
    
3. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally
    
4. Remove cover, and increase heat to med-high
    
5. Cook until liquid has evaporated and onions are browning
    
6. Season with salt, pepper and the fresh herbs

To Assemble Crostatas:

1. Roll out pie dough and cut into 4” circles or desired size with cookie cutter.
    
2. Place 2 teaspoons of cheese in middle of circle
    
3. Add small amount of onion and cherry balsamic reduction directly on top of cheese and press lightly
    
4. Fold edges of dough circle up and just over the edge of the filling, overlapping as needed
    
5. Drizzle with olive oil
    
6. Bake at 400°F for about 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown

Fresh Ricotta Dip

As part of my recent fascination with fresh ricotta, I experimented with a ricotta dip for a party we recently had. Recipe below! Give it a try and let me know what you think! Do you have another way you love to use fresh ricotta? Click here for full recipe if you have trouble viewing.

Ricotta Dip
makes approx. 1 1/2 cups

8oz. fresh ricotta
2 cloves garlic smashed
2T Dijon mustard
2T mayo or olive oil, plus oil for sautéing
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4C fresh parsley
kosher salt + black pepper
water to thin

saute garlic in small amount of oil until softened and fragrant
add garlic + parsley to food processor, pulse to finely chop
add ricotta, dijon, mayo or oil + lemon juice
process to blend
add water to thin to desired consistency, if needed
season with salt + pepper
cover + refrigerate until ready to use, may be made up to 2 days in advance

Ricotta Part 2

So, life got a little bit in the way last week, and I never finished the promised follow-up on Ricotta Fresca! My apologies. To make up for it, I will be posting a couple of items about fresh ricotta, including a recipe later this week. For now, a definition:




Ricotta Fresca n. [ri--kaw-tuh freh-ska]

ricotta (meaning 're-cooked') is made by reheating leftover whey from the cheese making process and adding milk; soft and moist, it resembles cottage cheese but with smaller curds; may take on sweet or savory flavors and is used to stuff many pastas and lasagnas.

Ricotta Fresca

Oh, man. I just had the best lunch. Don't you just love it when you throw some random things together and bliss ensues? I picked up some ricotta fresca at the grocery store this morning, unsure of what I would do with it once home. I wound up making a salad of arugula, fresh parsley, bosc pears + the fresh, creamy whole milk ricotta. Topped it off with some salt, pepper and balsamic vinaigrette and viola! My new favorite salad. Accompanied by one too many trscuits (love 'em!), it was the best lunch I've had in awhile. Obviously, I thought it worth writing about.

I'll write some more about ricotta fresca tomorrow. I'm fearing that it is highly underrated! For now, I'll contemplate how to use some at dinner tonight. Perhaps with some sweet peas...