Crostata di Ricotta

from Time-Life Cookbooks

submitted by Anne Halsted

preparation time: 45 minutes plus cooking one hour plus

serves many, nine-inch pie

For the Pasta Folla (Pastry Crust):

2 cups un-sifted all-purpose flour

12 tablespoons lard or butter at room temperature

4 egg yolks

¼ cup sugar

3 tablespoons dry Marsala

1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel ½ teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl, make a well in the center of 2 cups of flour. Drop into it the butter, or lard, egg yolks, sugar, Marsala, lemon peel and salt. With your fingertips, mix the ingredients together, incorporating as much flour as you can. With the heels of your hands, work in the rest of the flour until the dough is smooth and can be gathered into a ball. Do not, however, knead the dough or work it any more than necessary.  (If you have an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, all of the ingredients can be placed in the bowl at once and mixed at low speed until they are just combined.) The dough can be rolled out at once, but if it seems at all oily, refrigerate it for about 1 hour, or until it is firm but not hard.

Break off about ½ of the dough, dust lightly with flour and cover with wax paper or plastic wrap, set aside in the refrigerator. Reshape the rest of the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured board or pastry cloth.  With the heel of your hand, flatten the ball into a disk about 1 inch thick. Dust a little flour over both sides of the disk to prevent the dough from sticking, and begin rolling it out – starting from the center and rolling to within an inch of the far edge. Gently lift the dough, turn clockwise, and roll out again from the center to the far edge. Repeat lifting, turning and rolling until the disk is about ⅛-inch thick and at least 11 inches across. If the dough sticks to the board or cloth while you are rolling it out, lift it gently with a wide metal spatula and sprinkle a little flour under it.

Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 1½-inch springform or false bottom cake pan.  Then, starting at the nearest edge of the circle, lift the pastry and drape it over the rolling pin.  Place the pin in the middle of the buttered pan, and unfold the pasty over it, leaving some slack in the center. Gently press the pastry into the bottom and around the sides of the pan, taking care not to stretch it. Roll the pin over the rim of the pan, pressing down hard to trim off the excess pastry around the top. Unwrap the remaining pastry, place it on a lightly floured board or cloth, flatten it with the heel of your hand and roll it into a rectangle about 12 inches long. With a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut the rectangle into long, even strips about ½ inch wide.

For the Ricotta Filling:

5 cups ricotta cheese (2 ½ pounds), or whole curd cottage cheese

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon white raisins rinsed and drained

1 tablespoon diced candied orange peel, and/or crystallized ginger

2 tablespoons slivered blanched almonds or pine nuts

1 egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the ricotta cheese with ½ cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, ½ teaspoon salt, vanilla, and egg yolks, and beat until they are thoroughly mixed.  Stir in the raisins and the candied orange peel/ginger. Spoon this filling into the pastry shell, spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the top with slivered almonds or pine nuts, then weave or crisscross the pasty strips across the pie to make a lattice design. Brush the strips lightly with the egg-while and water mixture.  Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 1 to 1 ¼ hours, or until the crust is golden and the filling is firm.

Remove the pie from the oven and set it on a large jar or coffee can. Then slide off the outside rim of the pan. Cool the pie on a wire cake rack, leaving the bottom disk of the pan in place. If you prefer to remove the disk before serving, wait until the pie is cool, loosen the crust with a wide metal spatula, and carefully slide the pie onto a round serving plate.