Fresh Raspberry Crostata

   I'm on a roll.  I have stacks of tart dough discs in my freezer, waiting to be filled with the fresh berries and stone fruit available right now in the local markets.  Last night dinner was pizza on the grill, topped with homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, arugula and proscuitto (my contribution), a Greek salad (our neighbor's contribution), and this Fresh Raspberry Crostata.  I made the tart dough early in the day and rolled an 11-inch circle that was placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet. The dough was kept covered and chilled in the refrigerator.  Right before starting the pizzas, I filled the pastry with fresh raspberries and baked the crostata for about 30 minutes.  It couldn't have been any easier.

   The recipe for Fresh Raspberry Crostata is from Johanne Killeen, chef and co-owner along with her husband, of Al Forno in Providence, Rhode Island.  Met Home, October 2007 featured their beautiful home in the south of France, along with this recipe and others for a Sunday lunch.

                                       Fresh Raspberry Crostata
                                           recipe by Johanne Killeen

• 1/2 batch Jo's food processor tart dough (recipe follows)
• Flour for dusting
• Ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons superfine sugar
• 1 pint fresh raspberries
• Confectioners' sugar for dusting
1.  Heat the oven to 450˚F.
2.  Roll out the dough on a floured surface into an 11-inch free-form circle.  Transfer to a baking sheet and sprinkle with a minute amount of cinnamon (you want only the slightest hint of the spice).  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar on the dough and cover the surface with berries, mounding them in the center and leaving a 1 1/2-inch border all around the outside edge.  Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
3.  Raise a portion of the dough border up to the fold and drape it over the berries to enclose them.  Continue to do this around the outside of the crostata, pleating the dough as you go along.  There will be a large portion of the center of the tart that remains "open-faced" with no pastry covering the berries.  Gently press down on the dough where it touches the baking sheet to snugly secure the sides and bottom of the pastry.  Be careful not to mash the fruit underneath the dough fold.  4.  Bake the tart until the fruit has given off some of its juices and the pastry is golden, about 20 (I baked for 30) minutes.
5.  Cool on a rack 10 minutes and serve dusted with confectioners' sugar.       
                                                 Serves 6


                                Jo's Food Processor Tart Dough

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake or pastry flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon ice water
1.  Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes.  Put the butter into the refrigerator or freezer while you assemble the other ingredients.
2.  Combine the flours, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse on and off to combine.  Take a few tablespoons of this mixture and sprinkle over the butter cubes.  Toss gently with your fingers (this will keep the butter cubes separate without clumping together when you process it).  Transfer the dusted butter cubes to the food processor bowl with the flour mixture.  Pulse on and off until the butter is uniformly the size of peas.
3.  With the motor running, pour the ice water all at once through the feed tube.  Immediately turn off the motor.  Pulse on and off a few times until the water is well distributed but long before the dough collects into a ball.  You want to process the dough just long enough for it to stick together between your fingers when you test it.  It will still seem sandy and not well combined.
4.  Dump the contents of the bowl onto a piece of plastic wrap.  Gather up the dough.  Form it into a round flat disk about 7 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches thick.  Wrap well and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.  Makes about 20 ounces of tart dough or enough for two 9-inch crostatas.