When I got into blogging, one of the first bloggers I followed was Italian/American blogger and cook book author, Elizabeth Minchilli. She’s based out of Rome and sometimes at her lovely home in Umbria. Over the years her blog has grown and now she does culinary tours all over Italy. She is the reason I have a love affair with Italy. (My trip there in 2016 may have helped a bit as well).
Recently, while reading one of her blog posts, she had mentioned this ricotta, cherry jam, and balsamico tart that she had made in the past and I thought it sounded amazing, so I just had to make it. I think the combination of cherry and balsamic vinegar sounds like a great match. Mix that with some ricotta cheese to soften the tartness and you’ve got perfection.
This tart doesn’t take a whole lot of time to make and it’s fairly simple to put together. The tart dough is a bit crumbly so instead of rolling it out, I just pressed it into the tart pan, making sure it was smooth and even before putting the filling in. For the lattice top, I did add a minor amount of water to the dough so it would stick together better and then I rolled it out. The final product was all I hoped it would be. Sweet, tart, and creamy.
RICOTTA, CHERRY JAM, AND BALSAMICO TART
Ingredients:
- 300g or 2 1/2 cups flour
- 150g or 2/3 cup butter, room temperature
- 100g or 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 250g or 1 cup whole milk ricotta
- 100g or 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 200g or 1 cup sour cherry jam
- 1 Tablespoon Aceto Balsamico di Modena
- Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale
Directions:
- For the Dough: Put the flour, butter, 1/2 cup sugar, lemon zest and egg yolk in a bowl and mix, using your hands, until it comes together.
- Let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime prepare your filling:
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
- Beat the sugar and ricotta till very smooth.
- Stir the Balsamico into the jam.
- Line a tart pan with a removable rim with parchment paper.
- Roll out or press 2/3 of the dough into the tart pan. Don’t worry if it breaks, the dough is very forgiving. Just patch it together.
- Spoon out the jam onto the crust. Then carefully spread out the ricotta on top of that, using the back of a spoon to smooth it out.
- Using the leftover dough, roll out and make strips (add a small amount of water to the dough just until it sticks together if you need to) and top in a lattice pattern.
- Brush dough with egg yolk and bake in oven at 350F/180C for about 40 minutes. Let cool before serving.
- When ready to serve, place a slice on individual plates and drizzle with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale.
Recipe adapted from Elizabeth Minchilli
Disholicious 