Recipe: Lobster Tail Pastry (repost)

This recipe was posted last week by Thomas of Maryland 3-19-2004. Yeah Thomas!!!!!

In reply to: ISO: pastry called the lobster tail

Found this recipe. As it states you can use store bought puff pastry sheets and just add your own filling, (perhaps a custard-like one or the ricotta cheese one they suggest) I can't quite figure out how to form the pastry -- does one cut strips into the pastry then fold them over in a lace like pattern?

This letter and the accompanying recipe first appeared in the column Cassandra Can You Tell Me? in the Italian Journal of Food and Wine.

Sfogllatella (lobstertail) Italian Pastry
Source: Immigrant's Kitchen Italian by Cassandra Vivian

Sfogliatella, as you well know Vincenzina, is a fan or shell-shaped pastry. It is heavy because it is filled with semolina, ricotta, candied fruit, and nuts. It is Neapolitan in origin, so how your Calabrian family was introduced to them is a bit of a mystery.

What is not a mystery is that sfogliatelli originated in the Middle East. Yes, the Arabs brought the art to Europe and it became the millefeuille of France, the strudel of Austria, the millefoglie of Sicily, and the sfogliatelli of Naples. The original recipes used a rendered pork fat called strutto, but today the fat is replaced with butter.

We have given the pastry recipe too! But, one can buy perfectly good frozen puff pastry in any super market or specialty store if the puff appears a bit overwhelming.

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 lard or better, melted

Combine flours, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well. Add butter, cutting it into the dough until blended. Slowly add water. Knead until firm. Form into a ball, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Filling
1 cup milk
1/4 cup semolina flour
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of either
candied orange peel
lemon zest
candied fruit of choice
pinch of cinnamon
confectioners sugar
parchment paper, optional

Place a saucepan over medium heat. Add milk. Bring to a boil and slowly add semolina flour. Stir constantly so as to avoid lumps. Simmer three to four minutes, remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool.

After five minutes add ricotta (which has been passed through a sieve), egg, sugar, candied fruit, and sugar to semolina. Beat well. Set aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Divided it into two equal parts. Place on a dusted pastry board and roll with a rolling pin into an 18 inch square. It will become very, very, thin.

Brush the thin pastry with butter. Begin at one end and roll it like a jelly roll. Cut the roll into a number of 3-4 inch pieces. Pick up one piece of the dough in your hand. 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. Set it in 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. Preheat over to 425 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the shells on the paper and bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Let the pastry cool on the cookie sheet for five minutes. It will harden a bit. Then place on a rack. When ready to serve and completely cool, sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

Copied by Tom Shunick - A Westminster Receptarist - March 17, 2004