aj12754's Reviews
3 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 3Sort by: Title 
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Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen
By Gina DePalma, Mario Batali
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2007
I had enough of the polenta tart crust left over after making the cranberry tart (I have a 9 in pan and the recipe makes enough dough for a 10 in. tart pan --- and then some) to make six mini-tarts with the chocolate and polenta filling.
The filling has an almost brownie-like or almost flourless cake-like texture which I was not expecting -- I think I was expecting something creamier and lighter. It was delicious -- although very rich -- a little goes a long way. The flavor and texture contrast (crunchy vs. cakey) of the polenta crust and the chocolate filling was very nice. Served with an aged port. An indulgent way to end a meal.
The author suggests that this be eaten warm but we didn't get to them until they had completely cooled. Still delicious but tomorrow we will try rewarming the remaining tarts. And maybe adding some whipped cream.
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Cranberry Tart : page 153
I probably should preface this review by saying that I love cranberries. Every holiday season, I experiment with different recipes for cranberry sauces, relishes, chutneys and cakes. So it was inevitable that the first recipe I made from this book was the cranberry tart.
This is really delicious (although I had to cook mine a smidgen longer than the 40-45 minutes the recipe calls for -- possibly because I needed to use a mix of heavy and light cream rather than all heavy cream since I'd run out of the latter).
For me, the highlight is the wonderful polenta crust -- lovely flavor and texture and very easy to make and work with. Looking forward to trying it with both the chocolate filling from the book and the honey/pine nut version.
A really pretty tart from a beautiful book.
Turns out this recipe is also available online -- part of the NY Times review of the book when it was published.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/dining/142trex.html?ref=dining
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Polenta Tart Crust (Pasta di Polenta) : page 144
I loved the flavor and texture of this tart dough and if all doughs were as easy to work with as this one, I'd lose my fear of failed dough forever. The dough just handles beautifully and is delicious to boot.
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