A Lemon Ricotta Crostata You Don’t Want To Miss!

I absolutely LOVE this recipe and I know you will too! It’s actually quite easy and one of Southern Italy’s favorite Lemon desserts and for good reason!

RECIPE:
For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp of Granulated Sugar
1/4 tsp of Salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) of Unsalted Butter, Cold, cut into pieces
1 Egg
3 Tbsp of Cold Water

For the Custard:
2 1/2 cups of Whole Milk
4 Tbsp of Granulated Sugar
4 Egg Yolks
Zest of 1 Whole Lemon Plus 1 Tbsp of Juice
3 Tbsp of Flour
1 Tbsp of Cornstarch
Vanilla Extract

For the Ricotta Cream:
1 cup of Fresh Ricotta
2 Tbsp of Granulated Sugar

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We’re making a gorgeous, delicious, really easy lemon ricotta rostata that you will absolutely love. This is the Italian version of a lemon tart, and it is sensational. Let me run you through what you’ll need to make the crust, which is like my go-to pie crust pretty much, and it works well every single time. Today, I’m making it in a food processor. You can also just mix this make this in a standing mixture with a petal attachment or by hand. I’m using the processor. Nice and easy. In there, I’m going to add my flour along with a pinch of salt. I’m also going to add some unsalted butter that’s really nice and cold still. And I’m going to go ahead and pulse this until the butter is distributed amongst ash. I also want to add the sugar. Two tablespoons of sugar until the butter is distributed really well throughout those dry ingredients. And the size kind of resembles a size of small peas. But keep an eye on it. You don’t want to take it too far. So, just pulse it. Not sure you can see that, but you see the butter is nice and small. And it’ll continue to break down a little bit as we add in the wet ingredients. And for that, you’re just going to need one whole egg. And you’re going to need some really cold ice water. Between 2 and 3 tablespoons. Usually, it’s sort of like 2 and 1/2 tablespoons. So, I’m going to go ahead and just hit it with about 2 and 1/2. And I’m going to pulse that until it comes together. But, it’s not going to come together perfectly because otherwise you’ll be overmixing it. So, just I’ll show you. You see how that still looks crumbly, but when you grab it and you pinch it together and it holds, that’s when you know you’re in the right spot. And you can actually still see all the cold pieces of butter, which are going to be the reason why your pie crust is really nice and flaky and gorgeous. Lightly dust your work surface because we’re going to pull this together by hand. I don’t want to add too much flour because I don’t want to have to add more moisture. And then all you do is you just gather it with your hands. You see all those little tiny tiny pieces? Those are all pieces of butter and they are going to be so delicious and flaky and gorgeous in your end result. And try to work quickly because you don’t want the warmth of your counter and most importantly the warmth of your hands to melt that butter. But look at that. came together into a nice little disc. That looks gorgeous. I can see the butter all throughout. And now what I’m going to do is I’m going to cover this, or I should say wrap this in some plastic wrap. And I’m going to pop it into the fridge for about 45 minutes. And in the meantime, we are going to make our custard, which is easy, simple, my favorite custard that I make all the time. And this time, it’s going to be for this lemon tart. Now we’re going to make the custard crema basticher. Okay. And it’s going to start off with some milk in a saucepan. We’re going to be using lemon a few different ways. We’re going to need the zest twice. The first time we’re going to take some of the zest about I would say the zest of a half of a lemon. I want just to peel. You see how there’s it’s just the peel, barely any white. That’s what I want. So I’m just going to take a few strips of that. I would say the about half, you know, lemon half lemons work. You know what I mean? the other lemon zest we’ll use in here, which I’ll show you. And now I’m going to just gently bring this to temperature and bring that to a simmer. I don’t want to boil it. I want it to come to a simmer. Now, what I have in this large bowl are some egg yolks. To the egg yolks, I’m going to go ahead and add in my granulated sugar. And then I’m going to take the remaining zest of the lemon. And then this time, I’m going to grate it. And I’m gonna grate it right in here with the lemon and with the egg yolks. And while that comes to a simmer, I’m just going to go ahead and whisk these together just until they become a little more light and pale in color. And then your thickener is a mixture of allpurpose flour, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt. And everything together is going to be phenomenal. You also need a little bit of lemon juice, a little bit of vanilla. I’m just going to babysit this. I want this to come to temperature gently. If you have a vanilla pod or a vanilla bean, it would be great to add it to your milk as it warms up so that it really infuses. I don’t have those. I’m just going to use my homemade vanilla extract. So, I’ll use that towards the end. Or you can also use a little bit of vanelina or vanilla powder if you are in Italy. I’m going to add in my thickener. And it’s going to get really thick. Okay, not super thick, but you know, but this is what you are looking for. So, I’m just going to go ahead and set this aside for now until that mixture of milk and the lemon is up to temperature. It’s almost there. Maybe another minute or so, but I don’t want to rush it because I don’t want that to come to a boil. I can see some small bubbles forming around the edges. is I’m just going to take some of this hot milk and I’m going to stream it and whisk it into the egg yolk mixtures. And the reason why we do that is so that when we do add this mixture to the pot, they don’t shock the eggs the egg yolks don’t get shocked and then curdle cuz we don’t want, you know, scrambled egg yolks cuz that I don’t know about you, but that does not sound pleasant. Doesn’t sound pleasant to me. Maybe it sounds pleasant to you, but it does not sound pleasant to me. And now that this is pretty much combined, I’m going to go ahead and add all of this to my pan. Now, this is going to thicken up almost immediately. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that your custard is ready, cuz watch what’s going to happen in just the next, I don’t know, 30 seconds or so. Watch how thick this is going to get. But don’t let this fool you into thinking that it is ready, because it is absolutely not ready. Once this begins to thicken, you’re going to go ahead and cook this for five minutes. And you’re going to have to whisk. Oopsies. You see how it’s thickening up so quickly? Look at that. And you’re going to have to continuously whisk so that it doesn’t burn for I would say about 5 minutes. I put a timer on for 5 minutes and it’s perfect every time. And you’re just going to whisk it the whole time until it’s ready. See, now you’re going to think right now this is ready. Oh, it’s thick. It’s ready. It is not ready. Your flour is not cooked yet. Your egg yolks aren’t cooked yet. And you’re just going to have to have patience whisking the entire time. You can also switch to a heat proof spatula or wooden spoon. I’m just going to put my timer on. Gentle heat for 5 minutes. 5 minutes are up. Custard is ready. We’re going to add a couple more things to that. We’re going to add a little splash of vanilla. I always like to add it towards the end so that the flavor doesn’t cook out. A splash of vanilla and about a tablespoon or so of fresh lemon juice. This kind of just zings it up a little bit and brings a little acidity to the party. Give that a little mix. It already smells so so good. You can take the the lemon peels, you know, you can take them out now or you can take them out, you know, after it’s cold. It’s totally up to you. I kind of tend to do a mix of both if I’m honest with you. Like, if I can see them as I’m whisking in or mixing in the vanilla and whatnot, then I’ll take them out. If not, I do it later. As long as you take them out before you bake it because you don’t want to cut into a lemon piece, big piece of lemon peel cuz it can be bitter. And this already smells fantastic. Looks fantastic. You can pass this through a fine sie if you want. if you feel like you may have curdled your eggs. I feel pretty good. I feel pretty safe that I haven’t. So, I’m just going to go ahead and add this straight in to a large bowl. [Applause] And very quickly, you’re going to cover this with plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic wrap is touching the custard itself, so that it doesn’t form any weird film on top of the custard as it cools. And I’m going to let this cool on the counter for a little bit before popping it into the fridge to cook. Not completely, but it needs to be pretty cool. And by the time this is done, the pie crust will be ready. And then we’ll add a couple more things to this. And then we assemble and we bake. And it’s sensational. Custard has cooled. And now what I have here is a little package with something special. I’ve got some ricotta. Now, because this is not homemade ricotta, you know how when you buy the tub of it, it tends to be a little looser. So, I want to drain out excess moisture so that my pie sets properly. And what I like to do if I’m using storebought riotta is put some of it through a strainer, like in a strainer over a cheesecloth or you can use coffee filters. That works really well. Cover it and you can just leave it. I like to leave it overnight because then I make my pie the next morning. I let it cool all afternoon and it’s ready to be served at dinner time. Um, and it gives you the right consistency. So once you have your ricotta ready, you are ready to assemble your custard if you will. Let me just go grab one more ingredient that I forgot to my nicely thickened and drained ricotta. I’m going to add just a couple tablespoons of sugar. And I’m going to mix that all together to combine. And you’re essentially making crema. And this right here could be the filling if you add in different kinds of dried fruits and chocolate chips. You can fill cannoli with it. You name it. But kamar is a base for a lot a lot of desserts in Italy. It’s another one that we had when we were in Naples. It’s so good and it’s filled with riot cream. Now you’re just going to unite the two. You can see the custard has set really nicely. And if you want your custard to be more yellow, like say you want it to be super super vibrant in color, you can always add a few drops of food coloring. But, you know, I don’t tend to really care about that. But it also just depends on what eggs you use. If I use storebought eggs, nine times out of 10, my custard is not as yellow. But if I use my eggs from my backyard chickens, it tends to be a little richer in color. Time to roll out the pie crust. Now, I did leave mine in the fridge for a little over an hour just because I wanted my custard to cool further. So, you just want to make sure you take it out of the fridge about 5 minutes before you’re ready to roll it. And look at all of that butter dispersed throughout. That’s just going to give you the most fantastic, the most flaky and deliciousness. Just you wait. I also have my oven preheating to 350°. And I’m just going to roll this out to about like a 12 in circle. My pie plan, my pie plate that I’m using, or my pie pan, I should say, my round cake pan, that’s the one, is 9 in. But I want this to be a little bit longer. Get it in your pan. This is my 9 in metal cake pan. You can also do this in something like a pie plate. Make sure it’s 9 in. I just tend to think that it cooks better in metal, but that’s up to you. And just take your time and just fit it into that pan because the more you stretch it, the more it’s just going to shrink back in itself as it bakes. So just guide it so that it’s sitting in there nicely. Pierce the bottom like so. So nothing puffs up. I like to do a little bit on the sides as well. Now you’re going to take your filling, which is delicious, might I add. Delicious. Put that in here. Oh, smells so good. Beautiful. and it’ll fit perfectly in this. Leave nothing behind or maybe do. That way you got yourself a little cooks treat. And then I like to make it nice and even. And now this is what I do. I’m going to take a sharp little knife. I’m going to cut off all the excess. And this is what I’m going to use for the topping. I find that it just makes my job easier. But you can also just roll out 3/4 in one little disc for your base and then the rest for your topping. But I do this. Look, I let it work with me. See how these are nice big pieces? I go like that and like that. Usually that’s about all you need. And then look, a little bit of flour. Not much. Not a lot. roll this out because I do want those to be a little bit thinner on the top. I try to make them all nice and even. And then look, I just cut strips. They don’t have to be perfect. We don’t do anything perfect around here because I don’t have the time, nor do I have the patience. And I’ll repeat the process all over. But then I just take that and you go there like so. Cut off any excess like that. And then what I like to do is I don’t know how fancy this is, but I like to take the top and I just like to fold it down on itself like that. And then I come in here with the fork and I kind of just Crimp it like that all around. Look at how gorgeous that is. Going to go into my preheated oven. I have it preheated to 375. I think I said 350 earlier. 375. And it’s going to go in there for about 30 minutes. I want everything to be really golden. And if when you bring it out, it’ll be really puffy. But then as it cools, it settles. And then I let it cool to room temperature before popping it into the fridge to cool completely. So, for me personally, I like to make this late morning and then I have time to serve it after dinner or late afternoon and it’s perfection. So, I’m gonna pop it in there. But because I love you so much and because we love this pie so much, I have one already ready. So, let me go grab that while I pop this into the oven. This beauty is nice and set. I should have taken it out at 30 minutes, not 35, but that’s okay. teeny teeny teeny teeny tiny bit overcooked. But it’s Wait till you see this. And most importantly, wait till you taste it because when you taste it, you’re going to be like, “What in the velvety goodness is that?” And then I’m going to say, “Look at that texture.” Can you see the custard? It is perfection. My mouth is watering. Look at this. Look at the texture. It’s kind of in in between a custard and like a cheesecake. Do you know what I mean? I I know you know what I mean. I know you get it. Look at that. You have to make this now, if not sooner. It is so good. And believe it or not, you’re not going to believe me. It’s not overly sweet. It’s not overly sweet. That little teeny tiny tang of the lemon juice makes it really bright. The lemon zest gives you all of that essential oil from the lemon. The pastry is light and it’s beautifully crumbly. It’s perfection. Absolute perfection. Lauratheitchen.com for the vint recipe. Hope you enjoy spending time with me and I will see you in the next one. Bye-bye. Please make it. [Music]