Name: Torta di Granturco e Frutta (Italian Cornmeal Tart with Fruit)
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: 6 peppercorns (optional); 1 cup (all-purpose) flour; ⅔ cup sifted yellow cornmeal; 4 medium Bose or French butter pears, peeled, halved, and cored; or 25 medium or 13 very large fresh purple figs, pricked with a fork; Zest of 1 lemon, stripped off with vegetable peeler; ½ cup sugar; or 5 to 7 freestone peaches, peeled (see Note), halved, and pitted; 1 large egg yolk (optional); 6 whole cloves; or 25 dried Black Mission figs; 1½ teaspoons grated lemon zest; 1 tablespoon heavy cream (optional); 2 large egg yolks; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 tablespoon honey; 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small bits; ½ teaspoon salt; 4½ cups water; 1½ cups sugar; 1 teaspoon anise or fennel seeds; 1 cinnamon stick

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

The Mediterranean Kitchen

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 1998

About

This homespun tart is made with pears or dried figs in the winter and peaches or fresh figs in the summer. We usually accompany it with an ice cream that accents the flavor of the fruit. Vanilla, of course, is always right, but cinnamon, almond, hazelnut, or lemon works well too. A zabaglione ice cream might be the perfect garnish or simply a brandy-flavored whipped cream.

One of the greatest attributes of this tart, second only to its wonderful flavor, is its rustic appearance. The