Strawberry Crostata

Preheat your oven to 400 F.

Wash, hull and slice your strawberries, and toss them into a bowl. Add the sugar into the sliced strawberries and stir. Taste them. If they need more sugar, add another tablespoon. Add the cornstarch, lemon juice and vanilla extract to the strawberries. Stir to dissolve the cornstarch.

Roll out the pie crust into a 12-13″ diameter. It should be about 1/4″ thick, at the minimum. You can make it slightly thinner, if desired. Place the pie crust onto a large baking sheet that you’ve lined with parchment.

Pile the strawberries into the center of the dough circle, leaving about a 1½” border all the way around the edge. Gently fold the border around the strawberries to enclose the dough, pleating it to make a circle and leaving the berries in the center exposed.

Bake the crostata at 400 F for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven. Allow the crostata to cool for 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm, with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, or vanilla ice cream, if desired.