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MINI PLUM & PISTACHIO CORNMEAL CROSTATA WITH LEMON VERBENA WHIPPED CREAM.

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Ingredients
  

cornmeal vanilla bean pastry

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup cornmeal or corn flour
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons raw sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground vanilla bean
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter chilled and cut into small cubes, 1 ½ sticks
  • 2 tablespoons ice water

filling

  • 4-5 small plums (I used satsuma but any will do)
  • ¼ cup finely chopped unsalted pistachio meats
  • ¼ cup raw sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons of lemon-verbena infused whipping cream from below

whipped cream

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/3 cup loosely packed lemon verbena leaves fresh or dried
  • 2 teaspoon honey

Instructions
 

  • Heat whipping cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
  • Pack lemon verbena leaves into a cloth tea bag or cheesecloth. Once steam rises from whipping cream, add tea bag and immerse in whipping cream. Continue to heat cream just until it almost simmers. Then remove from heat. Steep at least one hour, or longer for a stronger flavor. When done steeping, squeeze liquid out from bag and pour infused cream into a small bowl. Place in fridge to chill, with plastic wrap covering the surface.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal or corn flour, salt, vanilla bean, and sugar. Add cubed chilled butter and use a fork to work the dough together until the butter is in roughly pea-sized chunks. Add two tablespoons ice water and use your hands to work the dough together, just until smooth. Pockets of butter are fine. Do not overwork! Once it’s together as a cohesive whole, flatten into a thick disk and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge to chill at least an hour.
  • Slice plums to ¼-inch thickness and set aside.
  • Whisk 1 egg with 2 teaspoons infused whipping cream for your egg wash, and set aside in fridge.
  • After 1 hour, remove dough from fridge and divide into 5 even pieces. Cover a large baking sheet in parchment paper. Roll out each piece to a ¼-inch thickness and place on the baking sheet.
  • Brush the surface of each disk of dough with your egg wash. Sprinkle a circle in the center of each with chopped pistachios and a bit of raw sugar. Leave a 1 ½-inch perimeter.
  • Arrange the plum slices in a circle in the middle of each crostata, overlapping slightly. Then fold the edges of dough in. Sprinkle the plums with a tad more raw sugar.
  • Brush the exposed dough with the egg wash, and place baking sheet in the fridge to chill at least 30 minutes.
  • 110 minutes before you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400º. When ready, bake crostatas 20-30 minutes, until they’re golden brown and caramelized on the bottom.
  • 1While they bake, remove infused whipping cream from the fridge and transfer to a large bowl. Add 2 teaspoons honey. Use an electric mixer to whip cream until soft peaks form. Chill until ready to serve.
  • 1Remove crostatas from oven and transfer to a cooling rack by sliding parchment paper onto rack directly from baking sheet. Cool 10-15 minutes, then serve with lemon verbena whipped cream and an extra sprinkle of pistachios.