Ricotta crostata
SERVES 10-12
“Every week I buy a large slab of fresh ricotta,” says Bacchia. “It reminds me of my father, who liked nothing more than to spread creamy ricotta and jam on a piece of toast for breakfast. I have accumulated almost a dozen cake recipes that use ricotta and this one, which I found in Ci vo’. La cucina marinara Pescarese is my current favourite. It is called pizza di ricotta per la Santa Pasqua, a sweet ricotta pie made for Easter celebrations. The term “pizza” in Abruzzo and all through Puglia is a sweet or savoury pie rather than what we generally think of as pizza. It tastes even better when the ricotta has cooled completely, allowing you to really savour the aniseed liqueur in the pastry and the orange zest in the filling.”
500 gm fresh ricotta, drained well 2 eggs 125 gm white sugar 75 gm dark chocolate
(45% cocoa solids), grated or finely chopped
100 gm almonds, finely chopped ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Finely grated zest of
1 small orange 3 tbsp white rum
Pure icing sugar, for dusting PASTRY 250 gm (12/3 cup) plain flour, plus extra for dusting 1 scant tsp baking powder 125 gm white sugar 1 egg 50 ml milk 50 ml extra-virgin olive oil 1½ tbsp aniseed liqueur, such as Sambuca
1 Preheat oven to 170°C and line a 21cm-diameter loose-bottomed tart tin with baking paper. For pastry, place flour, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add egg, milk, oil and liqueur and stir with a wooden spoon until dough comes together.
2 Dust a work surface with flour and knead the dough for a minute or two until smooth.
Cut dough into two portions – two-thirds of the dough for the base and side, and a third for the lattice top. Roll out the larger portion of dough between two sheets of plastic wrap to a 3mm-4mm thick circle large enough to line the base and sides of the tin. Carefully lift the pastry into the prepared tin, use your fingers to gently flatten it onto the base and side, then trim excess with a sharp knife. Wrap remaining dough in plastic wrap and rest in the refrigerator.
3 Place ricotta, eggs and sugar in a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add chocolate, almonds, cinnamon, zest and rum, and stir until combined, then spoon into prepared pastry case.
4 Roll out remaining dough to 3mm-4mm thick, then cut into strips just under 1cm wide. Arrange strips in a lattice pattern over the filling, gently pinching the ends to join them to the pastry rim. Bake until lattice is cooked through and golden
(45 minutes to 1 hour), then cool completely (about 2 hours). Dust with icing sugar and serve cold. The “pizza” will keep in an airtight container in a cool spot for 1-2 days, although the pastry will soften over time.