medtran49
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It's from the Food and Wine magazine October 2018 issue.
This could be made vegetarian by simply omitting the Italian sausage or replacing it with something like crimini or portabello mushrooms, though I would dry saute them first by themselves so they give off their excess liquid. I would also increase the fresh oregano, fennel seeds and red pepper flakes some as well
DOUGH
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/4 ounces), plus more for work surface
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter (6 ounces), cut into pieces
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup ice water
FILLING
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces mild Italian sausage links, casings removed
1 tsp fennel seeds, coarsely crushed
1 (12-ounce) delicata or acorn squash, halved, seeded, and thinly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1-1/2 cups whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbsp honey, plus about 2 Tbsp more for drizzling
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)
Fresh oregano leaves
Crushed red pepper (optional)
1. Place a baking stone or steel, or a heavy low-rimmed baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place a piece of parchment paper at least 14 inches wide on a large low-rimmed or no-rim baking sheet, set aside.
3. Mix AP flour, buckwheat flour, and kosher salt in a food processor. Add butter pieces and pulse until there are no larger than pea size pieces, 4-6 times. Add ice water and process just until dough is a shaggy mass, about 6 seconds.
4. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface; gather dough, and pat into a smooth ball. Roll out dough to a 15-inch circle, rotating dough occasionally to make sure it isn’t sticking and dusting with additional flour as needed. Loosely roll dough circle onto rolling pin; unroll onto prepared baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 20 minutes.
5. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add sausage and crushed fennel seeds. As it is cooking, break up sausage with a wooden spoon, and cook about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat; add a few grinds of black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; stir until well combined. Add squash slices and gently mix. Set aside.
6. Mix ricotta, Parmigiano, oregano, honey, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt in a medium bowl.
7. Remove chilled dough from refrigerator. Spread ricotta mixture over dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Scatter squash and sausage mixture in an even layer over ricotta mixture. I did this by placing squash slices evenly around, then scattered some sausage, then a few more squash slices, then rest of sausage. Fold edges of dough over filling, overlapping every 4 inches or so to create an evenly pleated crust. Brush crust lightly with some of the beaten egg, and sprinkle generously with flaky sea salt.
8. Slide crostata on parchment paper onto hot stone/steel/baking sheet. Bake in the hot oven until nicely browned and crisp, 35 to 45 minutes, turning after 20 minutes, and checking last 10 minutes, tenting with foil if sausage on top is getting too brown. Remove from oven, and immediately drizzle generously with honey. Scatter oregano leaves over filling, and, if desired, sprinkle with red pepper. Cut crostata into wedges and serve.
NOTES: I cut down the ricotta from 2 cups in the original recipe because we both thought there was a little too much, and added the Parm to give it a little saltiness and umami. The bottom crust, while done, was still kind of soft, so I believe that problem will be solved with the addition of a preheated baking stone/steel/baking sheet. I also reduced the minimum bake time from 40 minutes because of this, but just guessing on this.
I used an electric meat slicer to slice the squash, but you could probably use an electric knife or a mandolin, but I would consider slicing quarters instead of halves. You could also hand slice it with a chef's knife but it might take a bit longer.
Don't let the dough sit past the 20 minutes in the refrigerator. It gets really firm and you will have to wait for it to warm up some before you fold and pleat it without it cracking/breaking.
For the drizzling honey, I measured out about 4 Tbsp and sat it on the stovetop so it would get warm from the radiating oven heat and would drizzle better. I ended up pouring about half of it back in the honey container as I thought 2 Tbsp was enough since I didn't want the crostata to be too sweet.
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