Crostata, Crostini, Oh My.

This past week Jeannine enjoyed a Crostata from the ex-chef home-ec teacher at CPSC.  Jeannine thinks she called it a Crostini, but we are pretty sure it was really a savory Crostata.  What’s the diff?  Well it appears that a Crostini is basically something built on some sort of toasted bread, and a Crostata is a dough based mini open- faced pastry thingy, usually sweet, but sometimes savory.

We did some googling of recipes and combined some things into what you see below.  This recipe has great potential for variation on the filling side, so feel free to experiment.  We plan to.

Dough (makes 2 individual servings):

• 1.5 cups bread flour (like King Arthur)
• 3 Tbs butter (room temp)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

Pulse dough ingredients in a food processer until dough pulls together .  Make into 2 equal balls and roll out on floured surface.  Place on parchment covered baking sheets.  Put filling in middle, roll/fold up edges about 1/2+ inches and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes until crust is golden brown.  Let rest for about 15 minutes and devour.

Filling (Arne’s version) makes ONE of the two Crostata’s:

• 1/4 cup ricotta
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan, mozzarella, fotina, romano mix, or similar.
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh spinach
• 1 oz small diced prosciutto
• 1 medium leek, white and light green parts thinly sliced
• 1-2 mushrooms sliced

Mix first three ingredients above and put on rolled out crust.  Sauté last three ingredients until leeks are soft and place on top of prior ingredients before baking.  Variation would be to sauté/caramelize leeks, then add prosciutto.