Strawberry Sumac Fregolotta

This simple and summery strawberry sumac fregolotta is an easy Italian shortbread tart, filled with sticky, homemade strawberry jam.

I’ve been taking the last few days off of Instagram and it has been luxurious. It took me a while to realize, but I’ve been stuck in a creative rut. The realities of the pandemic have finally reached my kitchen. A lot of the inspiration that I draw from food friends and restaurants has run out and I’ve been feeling like I’m grasping for recipe ideas from nowhere. On top of that, spending hours a day on Instagram with a screen that constantly refreshes new recipes and photos wasn't helping. My brain felt like it was both too loud and too quiet at the same time. The last few days have been peaceful. I’ve been working on some backend blog stuff, trying out spontaneous recipes, and playing with my camera so that I’m prepared to get you all sorts of new recipes this summer.

One of the places that where I’ve found inspiration during this restaurant-less spell has been my cookbook shelf. I’ve been going back to old favorites, like my used, beat-up copy of Chez Panisse Desserts, published in 1985. There are no pictures, only pencil illustrations of fruit, and it’s a treasure trove of produce-inspired pastries. (It’s also apparently selling for $240 on Amazon so I will be taking my copy to the grave with me.) The other book I’ve been enjoying lately is Thalia Ho’s Wild Sweetness. I’ve been baking my way through it’s pages over the last month or so and it’s where the inspiration for this tart came from.

What is a fregolotta?

A fregolotta is an Italian tart, made from a coarse, shortbread-like crust. The name comes from “fregole”, the Venetian word for crumbs and the same shortbread dough that gets pressed into the bottom of the pan, also gets scattered across the top haphazardly. Often, the crust incorporates some sort of nut or grain, like semolina or polenta or almonds. In this rendition, the crust is made from ground sunflower seeds, cornmeal, flour, sugar, egg yolks, and butter. This Italian jam tart can be filled with any jam you like, but since we are smack in the middle of strawberry season (and they are my very favorite fruit), I couldn’t resist cooking fresh strawberries down with a little sugar and bright, tart sumac to create a sticky, sweet jam filling. In practical notes, if your jam seems a little too liquid-y, just scoop out the berries and reserve some of the strawberry sauce for drizzling on ice cream later.

strawberry sumac fregolotta

strawberry sumac fregolotta

Yield

makes one 9" tart pan

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

20 Min

Cook time

45 Min

Total time

1 H & 4 M

Print

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Strawberry Sumac Fregolotta

This Italian pastry is made of a shortbread-style crumble crust filled with sticky strawberry sumac jam.

Ingredients

for the strawberry sumac filling

• 1 lb strawberries, trimmed and quartered
• 1/2 lb granulated sugar
• Juice of 1/2 of a large lemon
• 1 tbsp ground sumac

for the crust

• 1 1/4 cup + 1 tsp (160 g) all purpose flour
• 120 g ground sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup (40 g) cornmeal
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp (115 g) granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp (200 g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Instructions

1. Stir together all filling ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until strawberries have broken down and the mixture has thickened. Transfer to a bowl and chill until room temperature.
2. While the filling is cooling, place sunflower seeds in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt and pulse once or twice just to combine.
3. Add the butter to the food processor and pulse until butter has broken up and is pea-sized. Add the yolks and pulse until mixed in and dough just begins to come together.
4. Press 2/3 of the dough in an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of a tart pan. Spoon the strawberry filling* (see notes) into the tart pan and crumble the remaining 1/3 of the dough over the top of the tart.
5. Place the tart pan on a parchment-lined baking sheet at bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes, until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Let cool completely before slicing.

Notes:

If the strawberry filling seems like it has a lot of liquid, fish the strawberry pieces out of the jam and don’t add all of the leftover juice to the fregolotta. Keep the juice for topping on ice cream!

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Lemon Olive Oil Loaf with Pluot Basil Jam

It’s been a minute since I’ve shared a new recipe on here. I spent the last month taking a little break, pursuing a couple of other projects and taking a much-needed social media breather, but I’m back, baby! And I’m bringing this sweet little lemon olive oil loaf with me. At the restaurant this past month, we’ve been racking our brains to create brunch items that are fairly low-maintenance to make, but delicious and interesting. With sweeter dishes like waffles and French toast on the regular menu, brunch dessert isn’t a huge seller and it’s been kind of a bummer to create something new each week and have it not sell well. But, on the bright side, it’s gotten my little creative recipe development wheels spinning, brainstorming slightly sweet bites that are great in the morning with a cup of a coffee or as an afternoon pick me up—this guy fits the bill.

This lemon olive oil loaf is slightly sweet, very tangy, and super moist. It only needs a bowl and a whisk and uses ingredients you probably already have on hand. You can also sub the lemon zest for pretty much any other flavor you’re in the mood for…orange or lime zest, chamomile tea, chai spices…it’s ultra versatile and ultra delicious. One little note—this cake has a high moisture content (from the olive oil and yogurt) and will take a little longer to bake through. It’s going to be deeply golden on top, but if you feel like your cake is getting a little too dark while the insides still need more time, you can tent it with aluminum foil to help keep some of that browning at bay.

Pluots are the prettiest little purplish fruits, a cross between plums and apricots, and they make for a bright fuchsia jam which I am 100% on board with. If you can’t find pluots, you can totally use plums or peaches or apricots, all would work beautifully with this little loaf.

Lemon Olive Oil Loaf with Pluot Basil Jam

Yield: one 9x5” loaf and about 1 cup of jam

Ingredients

for the jam

1 lb (about 4) pluots, sliced 

4-5 basil leaves

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp water

1/4 tsp salt

for the cake

1 cup (130 g) olive oil

2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (85 g) honey

3/4 cup whole milk yogurt

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla 

Zest of one lemon

for the glaze

1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar

2 tbsp whole milk yogurt

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp honey

Procedure 

to make the pluot basil jam:

1. Place sliced pluots, sugar, water, basil and salt in a medium saucepan and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until pluots are soft and sauce is thickened to syrup consistency. Remove from heat and let cool completely. 

to make the lemon olive oil cake: 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside. 

2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. 

3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, honey and eggs until light, fluffy, paste forms, about 2 minutes. 

4. Add yogurt, heavy cream, vanilla, and lemon zest and whisk to combine. Slowly stream in olive oil, whisking continually. When all of the olive oil has been added, continue whisking for one more minute. 

5. Add dry ingredients to the liquid mixture and whisk until just combined and no flour streaks remain. 

6. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until deeply golden brown and a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool slightly and then remove from pan. 

to make the glaze:

1. Sift powdered sugar into a small bowl. Add yogurt, lemon juice, and honey and whisk until smooth. Add a splash of heavy cream if the glaze is too thick or a tablespoon of powdered sugar if it is too thin. Pour over cooled cake and serve with pluot basil jam. 

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