Culinary Alchemy: A Little Slice of Italy - Pancetta & Leek Ricotta Tart

My friend Dajana, in Italy, has some fantastic recipes. I have a special love for Italian cuisine, so when Dajana told me about this Pancetta-Leek-Ricotta Tart on BakeSpace, I was all over it. I had a problem though, my tart pan was much too big. And while the Tart was delicious!! It was a little thin, and ended up a little over done. It tasted SO good that it didn’t really matter to me, I ate the whole thing anyway.. :)

While out running errands on Saturday, I came across an 8.5 inch tart pan for only 3.99, so I bought it. This is a much better size than the 11 inch tart pan I had used before. Oh yes, I made it again, as soon as I got home. Trust me… It’s THAT GOOD!!

I did have to change it a little, I was out of Bacon and all I had was regular Pancetta, so I added Alder smoked salt to the filling in an attempt to give it a little bit of a smokey flavor. I made 2 additions as well, You see, Danielle was talking about her crispy Panko breaded chicken earlier on BakeSpace, so I decided to sprinkle some Panko on top of the tart for a little bit of a crunch, and I had a small amount of cremini mushrooms in my refrigerator that really needed to be uses, so I added them this time.

I don’t think the addition of mushrooms really improved the flavor in anyway, but I felt better about using them than just throwing them out on Monday. I hate wasting food. The Panko did provide and interesting textured crust without adding a whole lot of extra flavor or muddling with the deliciousness that is this tart. Seriously, you gotta try it.

I am going to give out my recipe for pate brisèe, but if you are not big on making your own pastry dough, by all means grab a box of ready-made pie crust in the refrigerator section, or use a 9 inch prefabricated “pie crust in a tin” from the freezer section, whichever you prefer.

I have already cut everything in half, this will make one 9-13 inch pie shell, I know the measurements look a little complicated, but as I said, I already cut it in half, thus what was 1/4 cup is now 2 TB

1 1/4 cups + 2 TB AP Flour
2 TB cake flour
1/2 cup un-salted butter, VERY cold, and cut into very thin slices
3/4 tsp Kosher salt
Approximately 1/4 – 1/3 cup very cold water (This will vary)

Slice your butter fairly thin, then place in the freezer.

Mix the flours and salt with a whisk together very lightly.

Add slices of butter and work the butter through the flour with your finger tips or a pastry cutter.

If butter becomes too warm in your hands, place bowl back in refrigerator. You still want to be able to see butter in the flour.

Add the ice-cold water and mix very fast with your hand just enough that the dough coheres.

Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour to let the gluten relax a little.

For the Tart Filling:
1 TB Olive Oil100 g (3.5 oz) Pancetta Affumicata (Smoked Pancetta or American Bacon) I just used 4 oz1 leek (see below)200 g (7 oz) Ricotta (13 TB or a little over 3/4 cup by Volume)2 eggs20 g fresh dill (chopped) (5 TB by volume or a heaping 1/4 cup)30 g Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 1/4 cup volume)Smoked Salt(Optional) 2 oz Sliced Mushrooms(Optional) Zest of 1 Lemon(Optional) 1/4 cup Panko(Optional) Additional 2 TB grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
Before I get started, I want to mention Leeks. I buy my leeks at Trader Joe's, even though they are technically more expensive per lb, however, I get more leek... Check this out. $2.69 at Trader Joe's (top) or $1.89 per lb in the Mega Mart (bottom). I get more leek for my money, even when the Mega Mart leek is cleaned up, I get about 1/2 the amount (white part only of course, cause the green parts are bitter) that I get with a Trader Joe's leek. Just some food for thought. If you are purchasing grocery store leeks, you may want to pick up 2 instead of 1.