“I use this pastry with sweet and savoury cooking,” says Jaclyn Koludrovic. “And sometimes I make it with vegan butter.” The pastry and fruit mince can be made two days ahead. Crostata can be baked six hours ahead.
Ingredients
Fruit mince
Method
1.Whisk eggs and vinegar in a bowl until frothy. Sift combined flour, xanthan gum and 1 tsp salt into another bowl, then stir in sugar and almond meal. Rub butter into flour mixture until a fine crumb, then add egg mixture and combine to form a dough. Shape into a flat rectangle, cover and refrigerate to chill (1-2 hours).
2.For fruit mince, grate unpeeled apple and squeeze to remove excess moisture. Combine apple with remaining ingredients, except butter, in a bowl. Heat butter in a frying pan over low heat, add fruit mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated (20-25 minutes). Remove from heat, cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.
3.Preheat oven to 180°C. Roll pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper to a 45cm x 35cm rectangle, 3mm thick. Trim to make a 40cm x 20cm rectangle, reserving trimmings. Slide pastry, still on paper, onto a large baking tray and refrigerate to chill (20 minutes). Re-roll pastry trimmings between sheets of baking paper to 3mm thick and cut 34 stars with a 4cm star cutter. Spoon fruit mixture evenly over pastry leaving a 3cm-4cm border. Fold pastry edges over filling and brush with eggwhite. Decorate border with pastry stars, brush with more eggwhite, sprinkle with raw sugar and bake until golden (25 minutes).
4.Dust crostata with nutmeg and icing sugar. Brush fruit mixture with extra marmalade to glaze and serve with cream, ice-cream or brandy custard.
Xanthan gum is available from select supermarkets or online from
Notes