Matthew Evans, once a Sydney food critic, moved to Tasmania and turned his hand to farming. You might have seen his TV series The Gourmet Farmer. From his book The Gourmet Farmer Deli Book (published by Murdoch Books) and courtesy of our friends at Eatlove, we share a ricotta tart poached from his friend Ross.  

Ross kindly gave up his ricotta tart recipe. It's almost like a shortcake mixture sandwiching lightly sweetened ricotta.

Ingredients (serves 8-10)

Pastry:
300g plain (all-purpose) flour
50g caster (superfine) sugar
3 tbsp of icing (confectioners') sugar, sifted, plus extra, for dusting
1 tbsp baking powder
a large pinch of pure sea salt
125g chilled and diced butter
2 free-range eggs
ground cinammon for dusting (optional)

Ricotta filling:
650g fresh ricotta
3 free-range egg yolks (or use 2 whole eggs if you want)
3 tbsp sifted icing (confectioners') sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon

Preparation
To make the pastry, put the flour, sugar, icing sugar, baking powder, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the eggs, and pulse to combine, then turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface and massage gently into a ball. Pull off one-third of the dough to use as the lid; the remainder will be the base. Roll into balls, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

To make the ricotta filling, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 26 cm loose-based tart (flan) tin, about 3 cm deep.

Roll out two-thirds of the dough (the large ball) into a circle large enough to line the base and side of the tin, about 5 mm thick. This dough is quite fragile so you need to work quickly - rolling the pastry out between sheets of baking paper is a good idea. If it is a hot day it may be necessary to transfer the pastry in the paper onto a large baking tray and firm it up in the refrigerator before lining the tin.

Gently press the ricotta filling evenly into the base and fold the pastry over the top a little. Roll out the remaining pastry into a circle large enough to fit the top, then lay it over the filling and pinch the edges together to seal, trimming any excess. Cook in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool in the tin before removing and serving at room temperature, dusted with extra icing sugar and the cinnamon, if desired.

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