Monday, March 16, 2009

Boston Lobster Tail Pastry

Aaaahhhh...!!! I would go to Boston again just for these Lobster Tail pastry a.k.a. Sfoglatella. The one I ate was from Quincy market and it was hugeeee because i had to take a 3 hour break in between finishing this most yummy pastry in the world.


Ingredients
Pastry
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup margarine
Filling
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup semolina flour
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon, zest of
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
1. Combine flours, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well. Add butter, cutting it into the dough until blended. Slowly add water.
2. Knead until firm.
3. Form into a ball, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
4. Place a saucepan over medium heat. Add milk.
5. Bring to a boil and slowly add semolina flour. Stir constantly so as to avoid lumps.
6. Simmer three to four minutes, remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool.
7. After five minutes add ricotta (which has been passed through a sieve), egg, sugar, candied fruit, and sugar to semolina. Beat well. Set aside.
8. Remove dough from refrigerator. Divided it into two equal parts.
9. Place on a dusted pastry board and roll with a rolling pin into an 18 inch square.
10. It will become very, very, thin. Brush the thin pastry with butter.
11. Begin at one end and roll it like a jelly roll. Cut the roll into a number of 3-4 inch pieces.
12. Pick up one piece of the dough in your hand.
13. Press your thumb in the center of the pastry and push it down to form a hole like a cup. Fill the cup with 2 tablespoons of filling. Fold the cup until the open edges touch. Gently press the edges together to seal the pastry.
14. Set it inches front of you. Gently pull out the sides of the front to form a shell. Brush the top with beaten egg yolk. Repeat above until all pastry and filling are used.
15. Preheat over to 425 degrees.
16. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
17. Place the shells on the paper and bake for 15 minutes or until brown.
18. Let the pastry cool on the cookie sheet for five minutes. It will harden a bit. Then place on a rack.
19. When ready to serve and completely cool, sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

Recipe Via Recipezaar