One of my culinary ‘discoveries’ during my recent trip to Rome was crostata di ricotta e visciole, a Sour Cherry and Ricotta Tart. I put the word in scare quotes because I didn’t discover anything new at all. This crostata is a classic dessert in the ebraico-romano tradition going back at least to the 18th century. In fact, some say it’s as much an icon of Roman Jewish cuisine as carciofi alla giudia.

These days you can find crostata di ricotta e visciole on menus all over town—I had my first taste in Testaccio—but to try to original you’ll need to head to one of the forni storici, or historic bakeries, like Boccione in the Jewish Ghetto, where you’ll find them on proud display in their storefront windows.

How I managed to miss this classic dish during all my years in Rome is anybody’s guess. It’s all the more embarrassing since for my first seven years or so in Rome I lived only a few blocks from the Ghetto. I suppose it has something to do with my lack of a sweet tooth. And I only discovered it this time because one of my dining companions ordered it for the table.

Crostata di ricotta e visciole has a two layered filing of sour cherry jam and a sweet ricotta cream, baked inside a crust of pasta frolla, or shortcrust pastry. Since it has a crust on top and bottom, you should properly call this classic dessert a torta. Strictly speaking, a crostata is open faced with only a bottom crust with, at most, a lattice top. But for whatever reason ‘crostata’ is the name that has, generally speaking, stuck.

Whatever you want to call it, it’s delicious. Even for someone without much of a sweet tooth like myself.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

For the crust:

• 400g (14 oz) 00 or pastry flour
• 150g (5 oz) sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 200 g (7 oz) softened butter (and/or lard)
• 4 egg yolks (or 3 whole eggs)
• Water or milk, q.b.

For the filling:

• 400g (14 oz) ricotta cheese, well drained
• 125g (4-1/2 oz) sugar
• 1 whole egg (optional)
• 1 jar of sour cherry jam (usually about 350g/12 oz)

Directions

Preparing the dough

In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer) add the flour, sugar and salt. Mix well.

Add the butter and mix again, incorporating until you have a sand-like mixture. Then add the eggs and mix to form a proper dough, adding, if need be, add a spoonful or two of milk or water.

Wrap the dough and plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Preparing the ricotta cream filling

In another mixing bowl, whisk the ricotta and sugar (and the egg, if using) vigorously until you have smooth cream. Set aside until needed.

Forming the bottom crust

When the dough has rested, take it out of the fridge. Divide it into two balls, with one ball slightly larger than the other.

Roll out the larger bowl into a round about 30cm (12. inches) in diameter..

Lay this round onto a 20cm (9 inch) tart dish or pie plate, making sure to cover the bottom and sides. If using a springform pan, this bottom round should come at least halfway up the sides. Trim off any excess. Puncture the bottom here and there with a prongs of a fork.

Filling the crostata

Slather the sour cherry jam to cover the bottom of the crust. Then pour over the ricotta cream and spread it out over the bottom with a spatula.

Forming the top crust

Now roll out the other ball of dough into a second round just wide enough to cover the tart dish or pie plate.

Lay this second it over the filling, Trim off any excess and then pinch it around the edges to seal the top and bottom crust together.

Baking and serving

Bake your crostata in a moderate (180C/350F) oven for about 45 minutes, until cooked through and nicely brown on top.

Let your crostata cool completely and rest for at least two hours.

Unmold your crostata on to a serving platter and serve, dusted with confectioner’s sugar if you like.

Notes

While the recipe is simple and pretty straightforward, it is important to work the pastry as quickly as possible to avoid developing the gluten in the flour, which can toughen the dough. A like all shortcrust, you need to roll it out while it’s still cold, or the dough will become unmanageably sticky. If this does happen, no worries. A short spell back in the fridge will set things right. I like to roll out the dough between two sheets of wax paper to prevent your rolling pin sticking to the dough. It’s also a great help in moving the crust on to the baking vessel.

Traditional recipes call for sheep’s milk ricotta, but cow’s milk will obviously have to do for most of us living outside Italy. For proper consistency, the ricotta needs to be well drained. Best quality ricotta, especially if it is hand dipped, is often sold well drained, but typically commercial ricotta can be quite watery. If so, let it drain in a sieve for an hour or so before using.

You can bake your crostata di ricotta e visciole in a pie plate, quiche dish, tart pan or springform mold. Since it is invariably served unmolded, a bottomless tart plate might be the easiest solution, provided the sides are high enough. A springform pan also makes unmolding easy, but their sides are generally too high, so you’ll need to trim the bottom crust around the sides just above the top of the filling. Or you can line a pie plate lined with parchment paper, which makes it easy to lift your crostata onto a serving platter.

Variations

This recipe is for the typical home style crostata di ricotta e visciole. If you go to a bakery in the Roman Ghetto, you will find their crostate look quite different. They make them with a round of pastry laid flat on a baking sheet, topped with the filling, then another pastry round draped on top. Then a ring of pastry goes around the whole thing to help hold the crostata together. Finally, the crostata is baked in the oven until it is cracking open and quite dark, almost burnt:

It’s an elaborate process probably best left to professionals. Hence this home style version baked in a dish or pan.

Crust

The pastry crust is sometime made with whole eggs rather than just the yolk, or a mix of whole eggs and yolk. Whole eggs produce a less rich, but more elastic and easily workable dough. Feel free to add some grated lemon zest to the crust if you like, a bit of vanilla extract, and/or cinnamon, a favorite spice in Roman Jewish cookery. In some recipes you add a pinch of baking powder to the dough for some lift.

If you like, for extra sheen, you can brush the top crust of your uncooked crostata with egg whisked together with a bit of milk.

Filling

If you can’t find sour cherry jam, then regular cherry preserves will work just fine. It won’t have that characteristic mild tang that sour cherries provide, but it will be quite tasty all the same.

You can also make your own confettura by simmering 350g (12 oz) of pitted sour cherries (fresh or canned) with 80g (3 oz) of sugar and a few drops of lemon juice for about 30 minutes, until thick. Let cool completely before using.

You can adding flavorings to your ricotta cream as well. Perhaps most common is a drizzle of sambuca but some vanilla extract wouldn’t be amiss either. Some recipes tell you to sieve the ricotta for a silky smooth consistency though being lazy I don’t bother. The egg is optional; add it if you like a firmer more Italian cheesecake like texture.

You will also find some fancy versions of this dish with a pastry cream filling either instead of or in addition to the ricotta cream. No doubt delicious, but definitely not traditional.

Making ahead

This is one dish that you not only can make ahead, but need to. Two hours is an absolute minimum. In fact, it’s much better the next day. The crust, which can be rather brittle especially if made with egg yolks only and without baking soda, will soften slightly overnight, while the filling will firm up a bit. Together this makes your crostata far more sliceable and your slices will hold together perfectly. Best of all, the rest allows the flavors come together wonderfully.

The origins of crostata di ricotta e visciole

As mentioned, the recipe for crostata di ricotta e visciole goes back centuries. A popular origin story has it that back in the day where the Popes ruled Rome, one of the various decrees that limited Jewish life in the city prohibited Jews from producing or selling dairy products. Well, as you may know, for Romans (Italians?) Jewish or not, rules are meant to be broken. So the local community invented this tart, with its ricotta filling hidden inside a pastry crust, as a way to get around the onerous rule.

Crostata di ricotta e visciole is traditionally prepared for the Jewish festival of Shavuot in mid June when dairy products are traditionally eaten. (This was, in fact, the origins of the Jewish-style cheesecake.) Shavuot also coincided with the sour cherry harvest in Italy. Today we enjoy this classic dessert year round using sour cherry preserves.