The other day I got a calendar from an italian company called Dalallo. The calendar had wonderful recipes and the pictures made drool. One recipe really caught my eye and I wanted to try it right away. The recipe was for Savory Spinach and Tomato Crostata, which is an italian pie. Since I wanted to make it right away there was a problem, I did not have all the ingredients so I got creative and made some substitutions. My crostata still turn out delicious. I love it when I experiment in the kitchen and good results come about.
The ingredients I did not have was mascarpone, ricotta cheese, and I only had half of the parmesan cheese. I made some yogurt cheese(strained some homemade yogurt overnight) to use in place of the mascarpone and ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese for the parmesan cheese. Here is my post on making yogurt and straining the yogurt--
Homemade yogurt. I strained about 5 cups yogurt overnight to get 2 and a half cups yogurt cheese.
Here is the original recipe
Savory Spinach and Tomato Crostata from Delallo.com and here is mine with the substitutions. While mine does not look the same as theirs, the taste is awesome. My friend said it tasted like Spanakopita with a pizza crust. I brought it to a party and everyone loved it.
Savory Spinach And Tomato Crostata
Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup yogurt cheese
1 stick cold butter, cut into pea-sized pieces
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Pinch salt
2 eggs
Filling:
2 cups yogurt cheese
1 cup mozzarella Cheese
2 eggs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (10-ounce) bag frozen spinach leaves( cooked,cooled and thoroughly drained)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 egg
Directions:
To prepare dough, mix the first six ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles the texture of Parmesan cheese. Add 2 eggs and pulse until dough comes together. Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and chill for an hour up to 24 hours.
Remove dough from the refrigerator to bring to room temperature.
To prepare the filling, combine all ingredients except egg in a bowl and mix well. Set aside
Roll out dough on a floured surface, about 1/8-inch in thickness. I found the pie hard to transfer after making so I reccomend rolling the dough on parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet that you can bake on. You can make a circle or rectangle. I made mine the size of a baking sheet. Place filling in the center, evenly, allowing for a 3-4-inch border. Use this extra to fold up dough around the edges, forming a pie. In a small bowl, whisk one egg with a tablespoon of water to create an egg wash. Brush crust lightly with egg wash.
Arrange the Crostata on a large non-stick baking sheet. Bake at 375˚F for about 45-60 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is set. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.
I am so glad I took a chance and made substitutions as it tasted wonderful. I will try the original version from
http://www.delallo.com another day just to see how it differs from mine. My next recipe to try yogurt cheese in is lasagna. Maybe next time mine will look like the one pictured on Delallo.com. Have you ever made changes to a recipe and have good results?
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