P
Italian · Roma
Crostata di Ricotta e Visciole alla Romana-Ebraica Classica
Rome's Jewish quarter's most beloved dessert — a pasta frolla tart with a base of ricotta filling and a top of sour cherry (visciola) jam, with a lattice top. The combination of rich, neutral ricotta and intensely sour-sweet Visciola Romana jam creates a balance found in no other tart in Italian pastry. This is not a ricotta tart with jam on top — the jam must be below the lattice but above the ricotta, so each slice contains lattice-pastry, jam, ricotta, and pastry base in the correct sequence.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the pasta frolla
400 g
Italian 00 flour
Your own market
200 g
unsalted butter
cold, cut into small cubes
Your own market
100 g
icing sugar
Your own market
2
eggs
Your own market
For the ricotta filling
500 g
ricotta di pecora
freshly made; strained through cheesecloth for 24 hours
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
lemon
zest only, finely grated
Your own market
For the filling and assembly
300 g
visciole jam
Prunus cerasus — Roman sour wild cherry jam, not standard sweet cherry jam
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To finish
1 tsp
icing sugar
for dusting at service only
Your own market
II
The Method
1
Begin 24 hours before baking. Line a colander with cheesecloth, turn the ricotta di pecora into it, fold the cloth over the top and set over a bowl in the refrigerator. The ricotta must lose all free moisture before it enters the tart; a palm pressed lightly against the cloth should feel resistance, not seep.
2
Make the pasta frolla. Combine the 00 flour and icing sugar in a bowl. Add the cold butter cubes and work them into the flour with fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse, uneven crumbs — some pea-sized pieces of butter should remain visible. Add the eggs and bring the dough together with minimal pressure until it just coheres. Flatten into a disc, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. The dough must feel firm and slightly resistant when pressed.
From the canon — Pasta frolla — Italian short pastry, used for crostata (jam tarts), pastiera (Neapolitan Easter tart), and pastry shells across the Italian tradition — diffe… Pasta Frolla: Italian Short Pastry →
3
Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Divide the chilled dough: two-thirds for the base, one-third reserved in the refrigerator for the lattice. Roll the larger portion on a lightly floured surface to approximately 4 mm thickness and line a 24 cm tart tin. Trim the edges. Line the pastry with paper, fill with baking weights, and blind-bake for 10 minutes. The surface should appear set and dry, no longer raw-looking and matte.
4
Remove the weights and paper and allow the blind-baked base to cool completely in the tin. The base must be cool to the touch at the centre before filling; residual heat will begin to melt the ricotta and migrate moisture into the pastry.
5
Prepare the ricotta filling. Turn the strained ricotta di pecora into a bowl and fold in the finely grated lemon zest. The mixture should hold its shape when lifted with a spoon — dense, not pourable. Spread the ricotta evenly across the cooled pastry base in a smooth, level layer.
6
This is where the dish lives or dies. Spread the visciole jam in an even layer directly over the ricotta — not beneath it, not over the lattice. The jam must sit above the ricotta and below the lattice so that every slice, when cut, presents pastry base, ricotta, and jam in unbroken sequence. Use the back of a spoon and work gently to avoid disturbing the ricotta beneath. The jam layer should be fully opaque and continuous, with no ricotta visible through it.
7
Retrieve the reserved dough from the refrigerator. Roll it cold to 4 mm thickness and cut into strips approximately 1.5 cm wide. Lay the strips across the tart in a lattice pattern, pressing the ends firmly against the tart rim. Cold strips hold their shape; do not allow them to warm before applying. The lattice should be taut and even.
8
Bake at 175 °C for 30–35 minutes. The tart is ready when the lattice is uniformly golden and the ricotta, visible between the strips, is set at the edges but retains a faint, slow trembling at the very centre when the tin is gently moved. Do not bake beyond this point; an over-baked ricotta will be grainy and dry.
9
Remove from the oven and rest at room temperature for a full 2 hours before unmoulding or cutting. The pastry resets and the ricotta firms to the correct slicing consistency during this period. The tart should feel stable and no longer warm when a hand is held close to the surface.
10
Dust with icing sugar immediately before serving — not before, as the sugar will absorb moisture and dull on a rested tart. Each portion should show the four layers in cross-section: lattice, jam, ricotta, base.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Ricotta di pecora from a Roman-Lazio caseificio, made that morning and strained for a full 24 hours; artisan visciole jam produced from Prunus cerasus harvested on the Roman hills — small-batch, intensely sour, minimally sweetened.
02
Estate — High-quality sheep's-milk ricotta from a named Italian producer, strained as above; imported Italian visciole jam from an established Roman or Lazio producer.
03
Market — Fresh cow's-milk ricotta, strained for 24 hours; the best available sour cherry jam — Amarena or Morello, with the highest acid content on the shelf.
04
House — Supermarket whole-milk ricotta, strained as long as possible; sour cherry jam in preference to any sweet cherry jam — the sourness is the minimum requirement.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Strained ricotta holds its shape firmly under a spoon and feels dense, not wet, when pressed through the cheesecloth — it is ready to fill.
◇Touch. Pasta frolla dough is firm and slightly resistant when pressed after chilling — it will roll without sticking or tearing.
◇Sight. Blind-baked base surface appears set and dry, no longer raw-matte — weights and paper may be removed.
◇Touch. Blind-baked base is cool at the centre before filling — no residual warmth that would soften the ricotta.
◇Touch. Lattice strips feel cold and firm when lifted from the refrigerator — they will hold their form when applied over the jam.
◇Sight. After 30–35 minutes at 175 °C, the lattice is uniformly golden and the ricotta trembles faintly and slowly only at the very centre — the tart is done.
◇Touch. After 2 hours of resting, the tart feels stable and no longer warm — it is ready to unmould and cut cleanly.
◇Where it lives or dies. The jam must be spread over the ricotta and under the lattice — not beneath the ricotta, not over the pastry top — so that every slice presents the layers in the correct sequence: lattice, jam, ricotta, base.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Sparkling wine
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The whole pairingPillar VII
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