passover week 2023 - passover fig and berry crostata

passover week 2023 - passover fig and berry crostata

• 30 Mar 2023

This fig and berry crostata was to have been a caramelised apple galette but when I passed by the fruit shop and saw figs, I rapidly changed my mind. Earlier in the week I'd seen a photo of a fig and raspberry crostata on Gourmet Traveller and the crostata looked so pretty I wanted to see if I could make a Passover version.

I turned to my faithful Passover shortcrust pastry recipe, which was adapted from an Aran Goyoaga recipe, and managed to roll it out without too many dramas. I made a few small changes to the frangipane recipe to make it Passover friendly, then topped it with the sliced figs and some caster sugar. Just before I put the crostata in the oven, I realised the frangipane filling was still in the fridge unused, so I hastily dolloped some of the filling around the sliced figs. Disaster averted.

If you'd like to make this Passover fig and berry recipe, here's the recipe for you which makes a 23cm tart. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Passover fig and berry crostata 

Pastry 
1 scant cup (125g) superfine matzo meal
¼ cup (25g) almond meal
2 tbs tapioca or potato starch
1 tbs caster sugar
pinch sea salt
110g unsalted butter, cut into 1 cm pieces.
1 egg yolk
2-4 tablespoons iced water

Frangipane
50g unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
50g almond meal
1 tsp tapioca or potato starch
pinch sea salt 
1 egg lightly whisked.
20 ml orange juice

Filling
8 figs, sliced
120 gm raspberries or blackberries (about 1 punnet), plus extra to serve
1-2 tbs caster sugar

To finish
1 egg white
1 tbs vanilla sugar

To serve
Double cream or vanilla ice cream 

Pastry
Combine the first 5 ingredients in the food processor and pulse to aerate. Add the diced butter and pulse ten times until butter is the size of peas. Whisk together the egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of ice water. Add it to the dough and pulse until it comes together. Add more ice water if needed. Knead the dough a couple of times and wrap it in plastic wrap forming a flat disc. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Frangipane
Preheat oven to 190°C, conventional. Wipe out the bowl of the food processor, then process the butter until pale and fluffy. Combine the sugar, almond meal, potato starch and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the butter and mix until completely combined. Add the egg, mixing well to combine, then slowly add in the orange juice to form a soft paste.

Roll the dough on a sheet of baking paper to about 26cm in diameter (or about 5mm thick). Transfer the dough to a baking tray. Spread the frangipane over the prepared pastry, leaving a 3cm border. Lay the figs on top, cut-side up, sprinkle with 1-2 tbs of caster sugar, then fold in paper as support, pleating as you go. It’s ok if the dough cracks a bit – simply pinch it back together. Brush the pastry border with the beaten egg white then scatter the pastry border with the vanilla sugar. 

Place the tray on the centre rack of the oven and bake until the pastry is a light golden brown (25-30 minutes). Reduce oven to 170°C conventional, then scatter the figs with the berries and bake until golden brown, a further 20 minutes. Take the tray from the oven and transfer the crostata to a cooling rack. 

The crust is very tender when warm, so let it cool and settle before serving. Serve with extra berries and a dollop of cream or ice cream.

This is a very tasty treat, at it's best the day of baking and simply delicious topped with a dollop of cream.

See you all again tomorrow with the last bake for Passover week 2023.

Bye for now,

Jillian