Carrot Crostata Recipe | Leite’s Culinaria Leave a comment
This carrot crostata is a stunner—luxuriantly smooth, creamy, and punched up with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve it as a side dish, appetizer, or brunch with a tossed salad.
Carrots are essential to Italian cooking. Minced finely with celery, onion, and parsley, they make what is known as a “battuto.” When sauteed in olive oil, this mixture becomes a “soffritto,” and forms the base of countless Italian dishes. In my cookbooks, I have sought to raise the carrot’s profile beyond its role as a foundation vegetable by featuring it in numerous recipes. This recipe is a little labor-intensive by today’s standards but is, without a doubt, worth the time and the effort.—Domenica Machetti
Carrot Crostata FAQs
A blind-baked crust will often shrink or slump because of the fat content and the fact that it’s empty doesn’t help either. Crimping your edges a little higher helps to maintain some height but the most important thing you can do is use pie weights (or dried beans or even sugar). Make sure that you’re using enough to fill the crust—that way, the sides get the support they need to keep from slumping and shrinking.
You’re going to be slicing the carrots for both the purée and the coins for the top. Keep in mind that the size of the slices will affect the cooking time. For the purée, just be sure that they’re cut uniformly, so they cook evenly. For the top of the crostata, 1/4 inch slices are a good size. Remember that they’ll shrink as they cook and really thin slices will burn around the edges.
Carrot Crostata
Make the tart filling
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Select half of the carrots—choose the least attractive ones—and slice them into thick coins. Reserve the remaining carrots for the spiral surface of the tart. Place the cut carrots in a large saucepan with the onion and just enough broth to cover (you should have some broth left). Bring the broth to a simmer over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and gently cook the carrots for 30 minutes. Uncover and cook for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the carrots are very tender and almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Let cool for 10 minutes.
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Dump the cooked carrots and any liquid remaining in the pan into a blender and purée until smooth, adding an extra splash of broth if necessary to loosen the mixture just enough to puree it. Pour the purée into a skillet or sauté pan placed over medium-low heat. Cook briefly, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the purée is thick and any liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in the egg yolks and Parmigiano cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper.
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Cut the reserved carrots into thin, uniform coins. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet or wide sauté pan over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted, add the carrots and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Cook the carrots over medium-low to low heat for about 30 minutes, or until they’re just tender, moistening them from time to time with a splash of broth to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and let the carrots sit until cool enough to touch.
Assemble the tart
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Spread the carrot purée over the baked tart crust. Arrange the carrot coins on top of the purée in slightly overlapping concentric circles, beginning at the outer edge of the tart and ending at the very center. Gently brush the top of the tart with any liquid remaining in the pan in which the carrot coins were sautéed and then dot the surface of the tart with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into small pieces.
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Bake the tart for about 20 minutes, until the filling is heated through and the top is very lightly browned. Move the tart pan to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the tart ring and place the tart on a serving platter. Serve warm. This tart is best the day it’s made, although it may be baked several hours in advance and kept at room temperature. Just before serving, reheat it in a 350°F (175°C) oven until warmed through.
Serving: 1servingCalories: 388kcal (19%)Carbohydrates: 34g (11%)Protein: 9g (18%)Fat: 25g (38%)Saturated Fat: 15g (94%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 108mg (36%)Sodium: 870mg (38%)Potassium: 556mg (16%)Fiber: 5g (21%)Sugar: 9g (10%)Vitamin A: 27044IU (541%)Vitamin C: 10mg (12%)Calcium: 216mg (22%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
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Originally published December 13, 2008
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