Cooked strawberries have a soft sweetness almost like cotton candy. Rosemary, on the other hand, is fresh and sharp. Strawberries and Rosemary together make for a complex and surprising flavor, a flavor that we capitalize on in this recipe. Enjoy this sweet, herby pastry.
Ingredients
Pastry
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ pound (2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter, diced
4 tablespoons ice water
Filling
4 cups strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and halved (quarter the big ones)
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2–4 drops Rosemary oil
Egg wash
1 egg
1–3 teaspoons water
Instructions
- For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 12–15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough becomes a solid mass.
- Gather up the dough and form into two one inch-thick disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to two days.
- Preheat the oven to 450° F. Mix berries with sugar, cornstarch, jam, salt, and Rosemary oil. Let sit for about 20 minutes for flavors to combine.
- Meanwhile, flour a rolling pin and roll each pastry into a on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to a baking sheet. Make the egg wash whisking together the egg and water.
- Fill the crusts with the berry mixture. Sprinkle fresh rosemary on top if desired. Gently gather and pleat the overhanging crust to enclose the dough into rustic circle. Brush with egg wash.
- Bake the crostata for 30–60 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the filling bubbling. Allow to cool before serving.
Tip: Garnish with fresh rosemary if desired.