Grape Ricotta Crostata

If you’re a fan of grapes and Italian desserts, you’re going to love this recipe. If you have never had a crostata before, you’re in for a treat. It is my absolute favorite pastry. A crostata is an Italian pie or tart that is typically made with jam. This one is filled with a grape jam made with 3 simple ingredients.

I added a layer of ricotta filling to up the richness, but if you want to keep things simple, you can leave out the ricotta layer altogether. I’ll leave it up to you. Either way, this crostata is going to be delicious.

I’m super excited to be collaborating with Fruits from Chile on this recipe. I used fresh red Chilean grapes to make a quick and easy grape jam for the crostata. It is absolutely divine. You can find these freshly imported grapes at grocery stores across BC now.

I had a little fun with the pastry and created a grape design, but I would typically go with a simple lattice pastry top. You’ll notice that the ricotta custard is more yellow in the photo below; I used an extra egg yolk when I was recipe testing. Scroll down for the recipe.

Enjoy!

5 from 1 vote
Grape Ricotta Crostata
Prep Time
55 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Resting time
1 hr
 

An Italian tart made with grape jam and ricotta

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: crostata, grape tart, jam crostata, ricotta crostata, ricotta tart, ricotta-grape crostata, tarte de raisins
Servings: 12
Author: Rosa
Ingredients
Filling
  • 475 grams ricotta, drained (see notes)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 lemon (zest only)
  • 1/3 cup grape jam (recipe below, see notes)
  • 2 cups red grapes, halved, for topping
Grape Jam
  • 2 cups red grapes, halved
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • the juice of half a lemon
Crostata Pastry
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, and more for rolling
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 lemon (zest only)
Instructions
Ricotta Filling
  1. Put the ricotta in a sieve and place the sieve over a bowl. Let it hang out in the fridge for a couple of hours, or overnight. You can put something like a small bowl on top of the ricotta to weigh it down to speed up the process. Alternatively, you could use cheesecloth to drain the ricotta.

  2. Put the drained ricotta, sugar, egg and lemon zest in a large bowl.

  3. Stir until smooth.

  4. Refrigerated until ready to use.

Grape Jam
  1. Put the grapes, sugar and lemon juice in a large saucepan.

  2. Simmer on medium/low heat for 10 minutes, stirring continuously. You'll notice that the grapes will release a lot of liquid.

  3. When the liquid has reduced by half, take the pan off the heat. Allow it to cool.

  4. Pour the cooled mixture into a food processor and blend for a minute. Return the grape mixture to the pan and simmer on low heat for a couple more minutes or until you have achieved a runny jam-like consistency. Alternatively, you could use an immersion blender or a wooden spoon to muddle the grapes.

  5. Take the pan off the heat. Allow the jam to cool. It will firm up a little more as it cools. Pour the jam into a small jar and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

Crostata pastry
  1. Put all of the dry ingredients into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.

  2. Pour the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Then add the sugar, eggs, lemon zest and butter to the bowl. Mix until the dough comes together.

  3. Shape the dough into a ball.

  4. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

  5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  6. Generously flour a large cutting board. Take the ball of dough out of the refrigerator. Place it on the floured cutting board. Cut off 1/3 of the dough and reserve it for the top of the tart. Flour the top of the dough and roll it out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Use the rolling pin to transfer the dough to a 9 inch tart pan. Remove the excess dough.

  7. Roll out the remaining dough on a floured cutting board for the top of the tart. Use a knife or pastry wheel to cut the dough into 3/4 inch stips. It is important that the pastry strips for the top of the tart are also 1/2 of an inch thick so that the top of the tart cooks at the same rate as the bottom of the tart.

  8. Add a thin layer of grape jam (1/3 cup) to the bottom of the tart shell. (You can add more if you're not adding the ricotta layer).

  9. Then add the ricotta filling. Be sure not to fill the tart shell to the top. Leave a little space as the tart will puff up a little.

  10. Gently top the filling with the halved grapes, cut side down.

  11. Bake for 40 minutes or until the pastry is a golden brown. If you rolled out the pastry to less than 1/2 an inch, it may be ready sooner, so check it at 35 minutes. The cook time will also depend on your oven and the size of your tart pan.

Recipe Notes
  • If you don’t have a tart pan, you could also use a springform pan.
  • If you wanted to simplify this recipe, you could leave out the ricotta filling altogether and just make a grape jam crostata. In this case, use all of the homemade grape jam, approximately 3/4 cup.
  • Draining the ricotta is very important because it will result in a thicker/creamier texture.

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