Pear Crostata

As the lucky recipient of some re-gifted pears (thanks Cindy), I was able to try out a new recipe this weekend.  This tasty treat comes from the Joy of Cooking cookbook.  If you're in France it would be called a Galette, in Italy a Crostata.  I was feeling Italian, so mine was the latter.  Either way, it's a very simple fruit dessert that is delicious.   

To begin with, I peeled and sliced my pears.

To the sliced pears, I added a little sugar, flour and cinnamon.

The night before, I had made a recipe of perfect pie crust and it was waiting for me in the refrigerator.  After ten minutes at room temperature, it was ready to roll.   Have I told you how perfect this pie crust is?  I know, I know... I have, and you're probably getting tired of hearing my seemingly endless praise of this pie crust recipe, but really, after years of working with finicky pie crust, I can't get over how much I LOVE this one!

Crostata's are normally round.  Mine was "roundish".  With rustic desserts like this, each one looks different.  There's no pressure to create a dessert that looks "just so".  I like that!

Once I had my shape, I spread apricot jam on the pastry, stopping about an inch from the edge.

I spread the pear mixture on top of the jam.

I folded the border over the fruit to form a rim.

This is what it looked like after baking for about 40 minutes.

So easy.  So seasonal.  So fruity.  So delicious!

I will be making this again.

Fruit Crostata

Prepare pastry dough for a single crust pie

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven.  Preheat oven to to

375 degrees.  Roll the dough into a round.  Lift the dough onto a 

large baking sheet.  Leaving a one inch border at the edges, spread

evenly over the dough:

1/4 cup jam (if you were making a  berry crostata, such as strawberries or raspberries,

 you would use raspberry jam)

Toss together fruit, 2 T. sugar and 4 t. plain flour.  Distribute

the fruit over the jam.  Fold over the dough to form a border.

Bake until the crust is golden brown and the fruit juices have

thickened - 30 to 40 minutes.  Serve warm.