Rhubarb-Raspberry GF Crostata

I went through my Ramadan fasting days without eating sugar - I did have dates of course, and some honey, but I didn't eat sweets or ice cream or baked goods (mainly to have more ease for my fast, because sugar creates for me a vaccuous hunger). It seemed fun then to make some kind of special thing for Eid, especially since my rhubarb plant has been particularly robust, sunning itself these days, with some fat stalks. I also had some raspberries in the freezer, and just enough GF flour mix to make this crostata. I used to love pastry making - so this was a fun revisit to using a rolling pin.

In the early days of my food blogging, when I still ate gluten, I made a zucchini gallette (which does look decidedly more stunning - glutenous flour really can do that for you!) It turns out crostatas and gallettes are really Italian and French words for the same thing: a pie pastry folded over itself in a casual, rustic sort of way. Freedom from the pie pan! I could have rolled mine out a little bigger, I grew impatient, and had a smaller, thicker crust and some leftover filling.

The original recipe is from a low fodmaps website, which is a particular anti-inflammatory way of eating that seems to help with several chronic health conditions. It was the only GF crostata recipe I came across, though I could have made one up, I suppose. This recipe was not at all sweet, so I increased the sweetener to half cup (from 1/3 cup), and I modified it a bit because I had frozen berries and added my tapioca starch directly (no added water), which seemed to do the right thickening trick. I ate my crostata with heavy cream and a little maple syrup on top, which was very tasty.

Crostata crust:

1 large egg, cold
3 tablespoons ice water
1/4 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar/sweetener
1/2 (Scant) teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

 

1. Place the flour, sugar, xanthan gum and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade attachment and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse on and off until the butter is cut into very tiny pieces; the mixture should ultimately be a consistent meal texture, like coarse corn meal. 

2. Sprinkle wet mixture over the dry and pulse on and off until dough is evenly moistened, then process on “ON” until dough begins to form in a ball above the blade. Put dough ball in fridge until ready to roll out.

Filling:
1 1/4 pounds (about 4 cups) rhubarb, trimmed, cut into 1/2-1" pieces
6 ounces raspberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup sweetener: sugar, coconut sugar, honey, etc
2 T cornstarch (I used tapioca flour)

1. Stir rhubarb, raspberries and sweetener together in a non-reactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until juices begin to exude. Continue simmering until fruit is nice and juicy and a bit tender but not yet soft, about 3 to 5 minutes total.

2. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Boil for 1 minute, stirring well to combine, then remove from heat. Scrape into a bowl and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice to release heat.

3. Position oven rack in upper third of oven. Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.

Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to a large freeform round about 15-inches across. Scrape chilled filling into center of dough, leaving a broad 4-inch (10 cm) border. Flip the edges of the dough up and over the filling, leaving the center open. Slip parchment onto a baking sheet pan. Brush dough with a little beaten egg or milk, if desired, and bake for about 40 to 50 minutes, until pastry is golden brown. Cool pan on rack for 10 minutes. Serve crostata warm or at room temperature. 

 

Bonus rhubarb cordial recipe (courtesy of Hilary): I also made a half batch of this cordial (gin/rhubarb/orange peel), which requires a month or so of sitting before it is ready to drink with some grand marnier and soda water. If it is good I'll post about it later!