fig crostata.

In addition to my hand-picked batch of apples and peaches from our morning at the orchard, I ended up with a pint of beautiful fresh figs from the farmstand there. I admired them every time I opened the fridge, nibbled a few...and then realized that this leisurely approach meant I needed to use the rest of them quickly. This realization coincided with our weekly Mad Men viewing - perfect, I thought. I'll share them. I'll make a fig tart!

Well, sort of. After Epicurious turned up rather disappointing selections, I settled on this Giada De Laurentiis recipe for a fig and almond tart. I don't often remember to try her recipes, and this is really more a crostata than a tart, but it looked like an appealing experiment.

Appealing indeed! This turned out quite well. I did make some changes, including swapping out Giada's crust for the Orangette recipe that has become my standby. The result was very pretty to look at - much like Jon Hamm.


Fig Crostata
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis; crust from Orangette

Crust:
4 tbsp. ice water, plus more as needed
3/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
9 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Filling:
3 1/2 oz. almond paste
1/3 c. mascarpone cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. honey
around 10-12 small fresh figs, stems and bases trimmed off, sliced into 3 discs each
scant 1/4 c. apricot jam (*I warmed mine with some water to thin it, then strained it to make it smooth)


Make crust:
1. In small bowl, combine ice water and vinegar.

2. In food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal; there should be no pieces of butter larger than a small pea.

3. With the processor running, slowly add water-vinegar mixture, processing just until moist clumps form. If you pick up a handful of the dough and squeeze it, it should hold together. If the dough seems dry, add more ice water by the teaspoon, pulsing each time.

4. Turn out the dough onto a board or clean countertop, gathering and pressing it into a disk about 1 1/2" thick. Wrap in plastic and then press a bit more, massaging away any cracks around the edges so that you have a smooth disk. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (Dough can be kept in refrigerator for 4 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw in refrigerator overnight before using.)

Make filling:
5. In food processor, combine almond paste, mascarpone, vanilla, and honey. Blend until smooth.

Assemble crostata:
6. On parchment or wax paper, roll out dough into an 11" circle. (You may need to let the dough sit at room temperature a few minutes so that it's soft enough to work with.) Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet.

7. Spread the almond/mascarpone filling over the dough, leaving a 2"-3" border. Arrange sliced figs on top of almond filling, overlapping slightly. Spread/drizzle a light layer of jam on top. (I didn't use the entire amount.)

8. Fold the dough border over the filling to form an 8" round, pleating the edges gently and pinching any cracks in the dough.

9. Bake until golden, about 40 mins. Cool on baking sheet for 10 more mins., then remove tart and finish cooling on wire rack.

Viola looks disdainfully at our dessert spread: fig crostata, apple cake (C.), and lemon thyme shortbread (M.).