Crostata di Ricotta (Italian Ricotta Cheesecake Tart)

A lemon-scented shortcrust shell filled with drained whole-milk ricotta, sugar, egg yolks, orange zest, a pinch of cinnamon and dark chocolate chips, closed with a second sheet of pastry and baked low on the rack at 350°F for 70 minutes until deep golden.

Why it works the kitchen science

Step by step

1. Step 1

   Set the ricotta in a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and let it drain in the refrigerator about 2 hours, longer if it is very wet.

2. Step 2

   Make the pastry: pulse the flour and cold butter in a food processor for a few seconds into sandy crumbs. Tip them onto the counter, add the powdered sugar, make a well, add the 2 yolks and the lemon zest and knead quickly into a smooth dough. Wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

3. Step 3

   Make the filling: blend the other 2 yolks, the sugar, orange zest and cinnamon, then add the drained ricotta and blend until it is a smooth cream.

4. Step 4

   Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack in the lowest position, and butter and flour a 9-inch tart pan. Cut the dough into two pieces, one twice the size of the other. Roll the larger piece between sheets of parchment to about 1/8 inch thick, line the pan, patch any tears with scraps, roll the pin over the rim to trim it and prick the base with a fork.

5. Step 5

   Spread the ricotta cream in the shell and scatter the chocolate chips over it. Roll the smaller piece into a round, lay it on top, roll the pin over the edge to trim and seal, and cut several slits in the top with a knife.

6. Step 6

   Set the tart on a sheet pan on the lowest rack and bake 70 minutes, running the knife through the slits again halfway through. It is done when the pastry is deep golden, the filling barely wobbles when you nudge the pan, and an instant-read thermometer pushed through a slit into the center reads at least 160°F.

7. Step 7

   Cool completely on a rack before slicing. Refrigerate leftovers, covered, up to 2 to 3 days, as Giallo Zafferano says.

Tips

• Giallo Zafferano suggests milk or white chocolate in place of the dark chips, or raisins soaked in water or rum.
• The pastry can be made a day ahead; leftover scraps freeze well for cookies.
• For Rome's crostata ricotta e visciole, Giallo Zafferano layers pastry cream and sour cherries cooked with sugar under sweetened sheep's milk ricotta; jarred sour cherries, drained, are the closest US stand-in (our suggestion).
• Bake it on the lowest rack so the bottom crust cooks through under the wet filling.

The rules people argue about

What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.

• Cheesecake was served to athletes at the first Olympic Games in 776 BC. Folklore: Wikipedia says cheesecake is "traditionally" linked to ancient Greece this way; no record from the games is given.
• The first cheesecake cookbooks were Greek. Documented as Wikipedia's account: Athenaeus reports that Callimachus named four lost treatises on making cheesecakes.
• Cato wrote down a Roman cheesecake. Documented as Wikipedia's account: his libum is cheese, flour and an egg baked over bay leaves.
• Cheesecake is an English invention. Disputed: the chef Heston Blumenthal argues it is; the food historian Janet Clarkson doubts it (Wikipedia).
• The ricotta and sour cherry crostata is Roman Jewish. Documented as Giallo Zafferano's account: the original recipe belongs to the Jewish tradition and entered Roman cooking.
• Cheesecake is a cake. Disputed: Wikipedia says it is usually not classed as a true cake; baked versions are called a torte, custard pie, flan or tart.