The Last of the Honeybear Butternut Squash - In a Crostata

 I had fun growing butternut squash this summer knowing that these Honeybear squash, a smaller variant or the usual squash, would be easy to roast and enjoy. A few days ago I took the last one, which measured about 7-inches tall by 4-inches in diameter, cut off the stem, cut the rest of it in half, scooped out the seeds with a melon baller, put some foil on a baking sheet and oiled it, then put the two squash halves, cut side down onto the baking sheet and the sheet into a preheated 400 degree F oven. I baked it until tender when pierced with a knife (about 20-25 minutes? - I forgot to write it down but it was about that amount of time). After the squash had cooled enough to be handled, I peeled it and stored it in the fridge in a sealed container until I could bake with it.

Today was the day and the recipe changed from my planned calzone to an even better crostata - a freeform savory pie. I was inspired by a ravioli that I had once in a restaurant that had butternut squash stuffed ravioli swimming in a sage butter sauce. This is a little more complicated, but still pretty easy.

It's fine to use premade pie dough circles. I like the refrigerated ones and I usually roll them out a bit more so the crostata has a larger diameter. It still isn't much wider than 8" in diameter because you fold some of the dough up and over the filling before baking.

Over the rolled out dough I spread some ricotta cheese that has been mixed with herbs and spices. This is when you decide how much dough to leave for folding. I left a bit over 2-inches to fold.

Next you sprinkle on some grated Parmesan. For best results, use real Italian Parmesan cheese. It has the full flavor you want.

Next you add the butternut squash. Slice or mash it, just make sure you have a fairly even layer covering the cheese layer.

Next you add leeks that you have already washed, sliced, and cooked in a combo of butter and olive oil until soft and translucent and with a few bits lightly browned. Again, cover the prior layer as evenly as you can.

Over this goes a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese, then more grated Parmesan. The last bit is to sprinkle on some chopped Italian parsley.

Now you're ready to fold over the dough that you have left uncovered. With a small bowl of egg wash and a pastry brush handy, you fold and sort of pleat the dough. There will be a center section of about 5-6 inches uncovered where you'll see mozzarella cheese, Parmesan, and parsley bits. The egg wash will both give you a lovely golden crust and it can help the pleats and folds of dough stay folded while the crostata bakes.

Now the crostata gets transferred to an oiled baking pan (I used a pizza pan) and baked in a preheated 400 degree F oven until  golden brown, about 25 minutes. Not only will the crust bake to a golden brown, but the cheese will brown a bit too. Photo at top shows the baked crostata, ready to serve.

Now you can serve it after it cools 10-15 minutes, or you can serve it slightly warm or at room temperature. I like it slightly warm. The combination of the three cheeses, the leeks and that wonderful winter squash with a flaky crust is delectable. Enjoy the fruits of your labors!

Butternut Squash Crostata with Three Cheeses and Leeks

An Elle the Baker Recipe
Serves 6-8

1 pre-rolled refrigerated pie dough round, such as Pillsbury Readycrust

1 cup ricotta cheese - if very moist, drain for 1/2 hour in cheese cloth over a sieve
1/2 teaspoon dry rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
1/8 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1 large or two small leeks, washed well, quartered, and sliced in thin slices
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 small baked and peeled butternut squash, about 2 cups
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a pizza pan with olive oil or baking spray. If you have one, put a baking stone in the oven on a low rack before turning on the oven.

If cold, bring the refrigerated pie dough round to room temperature.

In a small bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, sage, Italian parsley, thyme and paprika, along with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. 

In a medium skillet, over low heat put the olive oil and butter and heat enough to melt the butter. Cook the leeks in the olive oil / butter over low heat until translucent with a few parts starting to brown, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Set aside.

To assemble the crostata, roll out the pie dough on a lightly floured clean work surface to 10 or 11 inches in diameter. (If you don't have a cake lifter or similar tool to move an 8-inch wide pastry, cut a piece of parchment or foil and place the pie dough on it. If it's foil, lightly grease it with baking spray.

Spread about 1 cup of the ricotta mixture over  the dough circle, leaving a 2-inch edge with no ricotta. This dough will be folded up and over the finished topping later. Sprinkle on 1/2 the Parmesan evenly over the ricotta. Top with the butternut squash as evenly as you can. Top with the leeks, distributing the leeks over the squash. 

Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese and then the rest of the grated Parmesan. Sprinkle the parsley over it all.

Fold the plain outer edge of the dough over the filling, pleating and folding as needed. Use a pastry brush to coat the egg wash over the dough, including at the back of the pleats and folds. Gently push the egg-washed pleats and folds towards the rest of the dough to adhere.

Once the crostata has been filled, pleated and egg washed, check to make sure that the pre-heated oven is hot. Move the crostata to the pizza pan, either using a cake lifter or using the parchment of foil as a sling.

If you are using a baking stone, slide the pizza pan onto the stone and bake until the dough is golden brown. If you're not using a baking stone, slide the pizza pan onto the lowest oven rack and bake until the dough is golden brown.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cheese of the filling is beginning to brown, too.

Let cool a couple of minutes, then serve or let cool to warm or room temperature. Serve in wedges.

Rhubarb Adds Zing To This Crostata

 We're at the beginning of berry season, with local, divine strawberries easily available and the first of the blackberry types due locally in a couple of weeks.

When strawberries are so plentiful and ripe, I love to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie or crostata. You don't need a lot of rhubarb to add a nice zing to the filling. Yesterday morning I made a crostata (a rustic pie made by rolling out a circle of dough larger than the diameter of the pie. Once filled, the extra pastry gets folded over the filling) with a pint of strawberries and one long stalk of rhubarb. I cut all the fruit in a large dice. It only made four servings, but that was just right since Sweetie is still watching his calories and losing weight. We each had a serving for breakfast yesterday while it was warm, and ate the other two servings today for breakfast, warmed slightly in the microwave.

Use your favorite pastry for this. I used Pillsbury ReadyCrust from the refrigerator section of the market. If you look at the flaky crust in this photo you'll understand why I often use this ready made pie dough instead of making my own. Quick, easy and wonderful flaky pie crust...what's not to like? I baked it on a pizza pan but you can use a cookie sheet or similar pan. I like to use a pan without sides because I think the crust browns better all over that way.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crostata

Elle's recipe

1 pint fresh strawberries, washed, drained, hulled and cut into large dice
1-2 stalks fresh rhubarb, washed, ends trimmed, cut into smaller dice (about 1/4-inch)
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon (less if freshly grated) nutmeg

1/2 box Pillsbury ReadyCrust or any pie dough for 1 crust pie
sanding sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the rack in the middle or lower-middle part of the oven.

In a large bowl, thoroughly but gently mix the strawberries, rhubarb, flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt and nutmeg.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to an 11 to 12-inch diameter circle. Transfer to a sheet pan, pizza pan, cookie sheet or similar flat metal pan.

Mound the contents of the bowl in the middle of the dough circle. Spread out to a single layer, making sure that there is at least an inch of uncovered dough at the outer edges. Fold the uncovered dough up and over the fruit mixture. If you have a smaller quantity of filling, there will be more pastry over the filling (as happened with my crostata); if you have more filling, the pastry over the filling will not cover as much of the filling. It's all good!

Optional: Brush the pastry lightly with water using a pastry brush and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and crust has browned. Remove pan to a wire rack to cook for at least 10 minutes, then cut in portions and serve.

Is It A Cookie Or A Tart?

Recently our local newspaper, the Press Democrat, has a delicious sounding recipe in the Food Section. It was for a Crostata with jam. A crostata is sort of a cross between a cookie and a tart. It's baked in a tart pan, but uses a dough for the base which is cookie-like and fluffier than a usual tart dough. The filling is usually jam. I used a combination of good quality apricot jam and fresh, cooked peaches, lightly mashed and scented and flavored with almond extract. It made for a delightful dessert which I served for afternoon tea yesterday. With a topping of pieces of some of the tart dough and a sprinkle of sliced almonds, it looks very pretty and tastes divine.

My health improves day by day, which is very encouraging. It's nice to finally have enough energy to try a new recipe. Sweetie is happy because I'm also cooking again. Mostly simple things like steamed corn on the cob and salads, but now and again a little more complicated like last night when I marinated some portabella mushrooms for sandwiches. Sweetie did the grilling. I'll try and post the recipe soon.

Back to the crostata. When you are putting the dough into the bottom of the pan, keep flouring your hands as they get sticky for the most even crust. Don't forget to set aside the 1/2 cup of dough for the top. You can chill it while you work on the tart. Do plan on enough time to also chill the dough-filled tart pan for at least 20 minutes.

If you are using some or all pre-made jam (as I did), be sure to taste it and add some lemon juice, as needed, to make it a bit tart. If you are making your own jam, you can taste it and add sugar if needed as you make it. You can also make the jam ahead of time, up to 1 week before making the crostata.

You'll only need small pieces of this crostata. Try it with a nice cup of hot tea and take a few moments to relax. If you used fresh, seasonal fruit, you can think of the wonders of harvest time, too.

Jam Crostata
based on a recipe originally in the New York Times, by Melissa Clark
Makes 8 servings

For the jam - use at least 12 oz. good quality pre-made jam, or make your own as follows:
3 cups blackberries
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus more as needed
2 teaspoons minced fresh lemon verbena (optional)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
topping:
1/3 cup sliced almonds
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

In a medium saucepan, stir together the blackberries, blueberries, sugar and lemon verbena (if using). Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally at first, then more frequently as the mixture starts to bubble and reduce. When the mixture has reduced and looks syrupy (about 30 minutes), stir in lemon juice and zest. Taste and add sugar if necessary. This depends on how sweet your berries were to begin with.
Cook for 3 minutes longer, stirring frequently to prevent burning. When the jam is thickened and shiny but still slightly runnier than you expect jam to be, take it off the heat; it will continue to thicken as it cools.
Scrape jam into a bowl or heatproof container, stir in vanilla and let cool to room temperature.
Taste and stir in a little more lemon juice if jam is very sweet. At this point, the cooled jam can be chilled for up to 1 week.
Note: I used 10 oz. pre-made apricot jam and then used the instructions (but not the quantities) above to make a peach jam to combine with the apricot jam to make my crostata filling. I used a tiny bit of almond extract instead of vanilla and no extra sugar since my peach was quite ripe and sweet.

For the crust - allow time to chill
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
12 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (about 1 large lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours; set aside. In a second bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, lemon zest, vanilla, salt, and almond extract until combined, then beat in flour, only beating until flour is incorporated.
Scoop 1/2 cup of the dough into a covered container and chill. Transfer remaining dough into a 9 or 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and use floured finders to press the dough into an even layer in the bottom of the tart pan and up the sides. Chill for at least 20 minutes
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread cooled jam evenly into the crust the, using your fingers, crumble reserved chilled 1/2 cup dough over the jam. Sprinkle with sliced almonds and Demerara sugar (if using).
Bake until golden, 35 to 48 minutes. Let cool completely to room temperature before serving.

Fall Flavors in a Crust

Recently I came across a recipe online that looked really perfect for fall. It was for a crostata filled with Italian sausage, fresh oregano, ricotta, honey and delicata squash. Although the recipe called for making your own buckwheat pie crust, I went with super easy but still tasty ReadyCrust by Pillsbury. I used almond milk ricotta by Kite Hill instead of regular dairy ricotta, but otherwise pretty much followed the recipe. Delicata squash is a great winter squash with a mild flavor and you don't need to peel it, which eases prep time, plus it bakes up tender and moister than acorn squash, which is also a short-time keeper squash.

Well, other than the fact that I only filled half of the crostata with the sausage/squash mixture. The other half had a filling I made up, inspired by the fresh figs that I received from a friend. The second filling included bacon, red onions cooked in the bacon fat, chicken, the fresh figs, chopped walnuts and reduced balsamic vinegar. Those ingredients went on the ricotta filling from the other recipe. After baking, the sausage half was drizzled with honey and the chicken half with the balsamic vinegar syrup. Do find ripe fresh figs for this filling...they make all the difference and are such a wonderful fall fruit.

I have to say that I liked the chicken version better, mostly because the flavors were intense and more layered, but the sausage side was delicious, too. Sweetie and I each had a small wedge of each kind plus a huge green salad for dinner and saved the rest for the weekend.

You could choose one filling or the other and make a whole free form pie with it, or do as I did and make half and half. If you have a crowd to feed, make a whole pie of one filling and a whole pie with the other. If you make this could you let me know what you think? If you create your own filling, could you tell me about it in the comments? Part of the fun of doing posts is getting the feedback. Even if you don't comment, I hope you make one or both fillings and enjoy these rich and delightful flavors of fall.

Two Fillings Fall Crostata
Inspired by a recipe by Dana Frand and Andrea Slowecker of Food and Wine

1/2 package pie crusts like Pillsbury ReadyCrust (or make your own favorite pie crust recipe)
Sausage Filling -Note: The following makes enough sausage filling for a whole pie. If using for half a pie cut ingredients in half or save second half for another use.
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 oz. mild Italian sausage bulk (or remove from casings)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1 delicata squash, halved, seeded and sliced very thinly (you may only need half the squash)
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
honey to drizzle

Chicken Filling - Note:Chicken filling is enough for half a pie. If using for a whole pie, double the amounts.
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 cup chopped, cooked chicken
1-2 fresh figs, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons toasted walnuts, chopped

For both
2 cups ricotta
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
Flaky sea salt like Maldon

Roll out one of the pie crusts on a lightly flour work surface to 15 inches in diameter. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment. Cover with plastic wrap and chill while you make the fillings.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Sausage Filling- In a large frying pan heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown the sausage in the olive oil, stirring in the fennel right away so that it gets browned, too, about 15 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to break up the sausage into small pieces.Remove from heat and add the squash slices, black pepper and salt. Stir to combine, then set aside.

Chicken Filling - In a small, wide pan or skillet heat the balsamic over very low heat, stirring every two to three minutes if needed, until reduced and syrupy. Set aside.
In a large skillet brown the bacon, then remove with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel lined plate. Cook the red onions in the bacon fat until browned, then use slotted spoon to remove them to the same plate as the bacon. Reserve bacon fat for another use or discard.

Ricotta Filling - In a medium bowl combine the ricotta, oregano, honey and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Remove chilled dough from fridge and spread with the ricotta filling, leaving a 2-3-inch border.
Scatter squash filling over half and on the other half evenly place or spread the bacon, onion, chicken and figs, then scatter walnuts even over that half. Drizzle lightly with the balsamic syrup.

Fold the border without filling up and over the filling, pleating as necessary so that it encloses the filling. Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle generously with the sea salt.

Bake in the preheated oven until browned and crisp. Check at 30 minutes but it may take up to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle the squash half with honey and the chicken half with the balsamic syrup. Scatter fresh oregano leaves over all and serve at once.