Strawberry Rhubarb Crostata

This is the peak season for strawberries and rhubarb – two of my favorite spring treats. Except for maybe a freshly-picked tomato, there’s nothing like a fresh strawberry. If you have the chance to pick your own strawberries or get some from your local farmer’s market, go for it!

I also love rhubarb. The tart, tangy-ness (is that even a word?) combined with the sweetness of the strawberries is a match made in heaven. One of my favorite desserts to make with this combination is a crostata. Crostatas are what you’d get if a pie and a tart got together and had a baby.

Here’s my recipe for a quick and easy Strawberry Rhubarb Crostata.

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut the berries in half. Quarter large berries. Place in a medium size bowl. Peel and slice the rhubarb into 1/2″ pieces and add to the bowl.

Stir in the flour, sugar and cinnamon. The rhubarb is pretty tart and I like mine on the tangy side. If you like things a little sweeter, increase the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup.

True confession: I buy my pie crust. But if you want to make your own, go for it! Place the pie crust on a rimmed baking sheet and pour the fruit into the middle of the crust on the baking sheet.

Now this is the part that makes it a crostata. Carefully fold the crust up and around the fruit. It doesn’t have to be pretty.

Place in the middle rack in the oven and bake for an hour and 15 minutes. Rotate once about halfway through for more even cooking. Apparently I wasn’t careful enough when I folded the crust around the fruit and some of the juice baked out onto the baking sheet.

I’m not a ‘fancy’ cook so I just spooned up the sauce on the baking sheet and drizzled it on the crostata and on the ice cream I served with it.

All that’s missing from this picture is a spoon!

Making a crostata is really easy to do. The hard part is waiting for it to bake so you can eat it! You can trust me on that!