Scarlett WCrostata Di Albicocche (Apricot Pie)
July 1st 2008 14:07
Crostata Di Albicocche (Apricot Pie)
About Crostata
A crostata is an Italian baked dessert tart, and a form of pie. It is traditionally prepared by folding the edges of the dough over the top of the fruit filling, creating a more “rough” look, rather than a uniform, circular shape. The fruit can be anything from apple to mixed berry to peaches.
About Maraschino
Maraschino is a bittersweet, clear liqueur flavoured with Marasca cherries, which are grown in Torreglia (near Padua in Northern Italy), and around the Dalmatian city of Zadar in Croatia. It is one of the very few liqueurs in the world produced by disstillation.
The liqueur’s distinctive flavour to Maraschino. Honey is also part of the ancient recipe. The distillate is allowed to mature for two years in Finnish ashwood vats (because this wood does not lend its colour to the liqueur even after many years of maturing), and is then diluted and sugared. It is typically bottled in a straw-coated bottle. Although Maraschino cherries are traditionally preserved in maraschino liqueur, today most bottled maraschino cherries are made using artificial ingredients and are non-alcoholic.
About Kirsch
Kirschwasser, German for “cherry water”, often known simply as Kirsch (from German “kirsche” for “cherry”) in the English-speaking world, is a clear brandy made from double distillation of the fermented juice of a small black cherry. It is colourless because either it is not aged in wood or it is aged in barrels made of ash. The cherries used recently can be either sweet or sour, but in the past the sour morello cherry was used with the pit crushed down. As the morello cherry was originally grown all around the Black Forest in southern Germany, the drink is believed to have originated there.
Clear alcoholic beverages made from distilled fruit juices are common in southern Germany, western Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. In addition to Kirschwasser, typical drinks of this sort include Obstler (“fruity”, distilled from apple, or a mixture of apple and pear), Zwetschgenwasser (“plum water”) and Himbeergeist (“raspberry spirit”, made from grain spirit with unfermented raspberries added later, as fermented raspberries do not produce a good spirit). Such spirits are also distilled in France and French-speaking Switzerland, where they are known as eau de vie (“water of life”, the same term that is the root of the words akvait and whisky).
Unlike cherry liqueurs, Kirschwasser is not sweet. The best Kirschwassers have a highly refined taste with subtle flavours of cherry. Kirschwasser can be found in such mixed drinks as the Lady Finger, Florida Cocktail, and Black Forest.
Kirschwasser is sometimes drunk by itself. Traditionally, it is served cold in a very small glass and taken as an apéritif. However, people in the German-speaking regions where Kirschwasser originates would more usually serve it after dinner, and high-quality Kirschwasser would more likely be served at room temperature or warmed by the hands, like other brandies.
“Kirsch” is an essential ingredient in Swiss chees fondue recipes. It is also used in traditional German Schwärzwalder Kirschtorte (Black Forest gateau) that is believed to have originated from the 16th century.
Kirsch is also used in some recipes, for example in Kugelhopf, Black Forest and Black Russian Cakes.
Kirsch can also be found as filling for chocolate products. A typical piece of kirsch chocolate will consist of no more than 1 ml of Kirsch, surrounded by milk chocolate, with a film of hardened sugar between the two. The sugar acts as a stronger casing for the liquid contents than the usually soft chocolate, it also compensates for the lack of sweetness typical of Kirsch. Swiss chocolatiers Lindt and Camille Bloch, among others, have such a product.
INGREDIENTS
Serves 6
½ quantity Sweet plain pastry
½ quantity Italian sponge cake
1 lb small apricots
¼ cup Marsachino liqueur / Kirsch liqueur
¼ cup finely chopped almonds
⅓ cup superfine sugar
1 egg yolk
For Sweet plain pastry
1 cups all-purpose flour
1/6 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1lemon, grated zest (optional)
¼ cup butter, chopped
1 egg yolk
For the Italian sponge cake (Pan Di Spagna)
3eggs
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoons grated lemon zest
½ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup potato flour, sifted
pinch of salt
For the pan
butter, as needed
flour, as needed
1. To prepare the pastry, combine the flour with the sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon zest, if using.
2. Add the butter and work it in with your fingertips until the mixture is fine and crumbly – the same texture as bread crumbs.
3. Transfer to a clean work surface and shape into a mound. Make a well in the center, add the egg yolks, and work them into the flour.
4. Knead the pastry briefly until it is smooth and elastic. Do not knead for too long, as this will make it though and chewy. Wrap in foil and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
5. Preheated oven at 325ºF.
6. To prepare the sponge cake. Place the eggs and sugar in the top part of a double boiler (or in a small saucepan placed in a larger pan of simmering water over heat) and whisk until frothy.
7. Remove from heat, add the lemon zest and continue to whisk until cooled.
8. Fold in the flours and salt carefully so that the egg mixture does not collapse.
9. Butter and grease a 10-inch springform pan and fill with the sponge mixture. Bake for 40 minutes.
10. Meanwhile, rinse the apricots under cold running water and dry well.
11. Remove the pits and cut them in half.
12. Break off a piece of pastry about the size of a tennis ball and reserve.
13. Roll the rest of pastry out so that it is large enough to line a fairly shallow 10-inch pie pan (greased with butter and dusted with flour).
14. Leave a narrow border of the pastry hanging over the sides.
15. Prick well with a fork.
16. Slice the sponge cake and place pieces over the pastry.
17. Drizzle with the liqueur and sprinkle with the almonds.
18. Arrange the apricot halves, cut side down, on top.
19. Sprinkle with the sugar.
20. Roll out the remaining pastry into a square sheet.
21. Use a fluted pastry wheel to cut it into ¼-inch wide strips.
22. Place these strips over the apricots in a lattice pattern.
23. Fold the overhanging pastry border over the ends of the lattice to form a rolled edging.
24. Beat the egg yolk with a fork and brush the top of the pie with it.
25. Bake in a preheated oven at 375ºF for 35 – 40 minutes.
26. Serve warm.
Tips:
The recipe for Italian sponge cake is used as the basis of many other cakes and desserts. It is relatively simple to make and will keep for up to a week in an airtight container. It also freezes well. If potato flour is not available, increase the quantity of all-purpose flour by ¼ cup.
**From “The Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”**
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