appreciate the calm

When life is calm, feel gratitude. Appreciate silence and appreciate sleep. Appreciate people walking slow if they are doing so to stay longer by your side. Appreciate being lost and the time it takes to find your way back.  Slow the heck down, busy self, is what I am trying to say. 

A couple of weeks ago, my mom’s friend Mary Anne Davis sent us an outdoor pizza oven as a house-warming gift and please let me tell you how phenomenal I find this lil’ item. I want to cook everything on it. Why stop at pizza?

Strawberry/Green apple Crostata

Dough:

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

½ cold water (pour ½ cup cold water into ice immediately prior to using)

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Pulse the flour, salt, and sugar together in a food processor. Add the butter pieces and pulse until rough chunks form.

Combine water and ice, and cider vinegar in a large mixing cup. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons at a time over the flour mixture and pulse until the dough comes together, adding more of the liquid as you go. Do not overmix the dough, so scrape together the remainder bits of dough with your hands at the end (be so careful of the blade, I say from experience).

Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap tightly with saran wrap. Chill dough overnight (can be chilled up to 3 days).

Filling:

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and quartered

1 small granny smith apple

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 dashes Angostura bitters

¼ cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon arrowroot

1 dash black pepper, freshly ground

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Egg wash (whisk 1 tablespoon water with 1 egg)

Turbinado sugar for finishing

Sprinkle white sugar over strawberries, stir, and allow to macerate for about 30 minutes.

Peel the apple and grate on the large holes of a box grater. Drain strawberries of excess liquid and combine with grated apple. Sprinkly on the balsamic vinegar and bitters and allow to sit for 10 more minutes.

In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, arrowroot, black pepper, and salt. Gently fold the sugar mixture into the strawberry mixture.

When dough is properly chilled, roll out into a rough circle, about 1/8^th inch thick. Pour strawberry mixture into the center of the dough and gently fold edges around the mixture.

Brush all exposed edges of dough with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Okay, here we diverge. If you are using my pizza oven: preheat oven to 700 degrees. Cook for 4 minutes then rotate 180 degrees and cook 4 more minutes. Remove, allow to cool, and serve with Bluebell. Be a rockstar.

If you are using a convention oven (which would also be fabulous), preheat to 400. Place crostata on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cook for 15-20 minutes, then rotate and cook for another 10-1 minutes (watch for crust to brown). Again, serve with vanilla bluebell, because why would you not?