Photo: stu_spivack / Flickr

This ricotta and berry tart recipe makes use of a gluten-free short pastry base. The recipe comes from Love Green Food by Larissa Green, a book about cooking and eating with consciousness. The recommended pastry is made with high-protein quinoa flour, rice flour, ghee and an egg. The ricotta and berry tart filling is made with cream, egg and berries, besides ricotta cheese. Replace the gluten-free short pastry with an ordinary flour based pastry, should you prefer.

Ingredients for the pastry

You will need half a cup of guinoa flour, half a cup of rice flour, 2 tablespoons of ghee and an egg at room temperature to make a 21 cm tart base.

Ingredients for the filling

The filling requires 200 ml of cream, 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 ½ cups of fresh berries and 4 tablespoons of ricotta cheese. Mix the cream, egg and honey together in a mixing bowl.

Prepare the gluten-free short pastry base

Place the ghee and the egg into a mixing bowl and beat until they are well combined. Sift in the flour while mixing the ingredients together with a fork. Once combined, use your hands to create a smooth ball shape. Wrap the gluten-free short pastry with cling film and let it rest for half an hour.

Dust your work surface with flour and roll the pastry into a circular shape that is 3 mm thick. Grease a 21 cm tart tin and dust it with quinoa flour. Gently place the pastry over the tart tin and carefully press it down into the tin. Press out any air bubbles and repair torn areas with leftover pastry. Refrigerate the pastry for 15 minutes.

Prepare the filling and bake

Once it is rested, bake the pastry base in a pre-heated oven at 170 degrees Celsius until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove it from the oven and turn up the temperature to 180 degrees Celsius.

Spread the ricotta cheese over the base. Spread the berries over the ricotta cheese and then pour in the cream mixture. Bake the tart for a quarter of an hour or until the egg custard has set.

Tags: baking, desserts, recipes