April 20 and April 22, 2009 -Tarts

It's been a crazy week, so I'm combining two posts into one. On Monday, we had pizza for dinner. The margherita was definitely my favorite, but there were some interesting combinations. Last night's dinner was by far the best yet: Halibut, mussels, oysters, potatoes, asparagus, and Caesar salad. Delicious and refreshing!





We were scheduled to work on tarts on Monday of this week and then bake pies, but an unexpected San Francisco heat wave shook things up a bit. Tarts can be made with a few different crusts, and the one we were primarily working with -- the sucree -- needs to be kept cold at all times. It was 90 degrees outside and even hotter in the kitchen with the ovens on, so working with and rolling out the dough was incredibly difficult. We kept having to stick dough in the freezer to cool it down every few minutes and it was softening so quickly. While most people ended up with at least one crust baked by the end of the night, only 5 out of 14 had a tart on the display table by 10 (not even our usual presentation time of 9:30). I had two mini chocolate tarts out of the oven, but they were too hot to serve, so all I ended up with was an empty crust to taste.

The crusts were tasty, and the completed tarts were both beautiful and delcious, but most of us left the kitchen exhausted and frustrated. Determined that everyone should have a chance to make a beautiful tart, our teacher Christa extended the lesson to Wednesday and put pies on hold. Fortunately, we were blessed with tart-compliant moderate San Francisco weather. Not only was working with the sucree in the heat torture, but working in the full chef uniform in the heat was pretty hellish too.

Some people had dough or pre-baked crusts left over from Monday night. The only thing I had saved was some chocolate filling, so I had to start over on the sucree. Even in cooler weather, the dough has to be chilled regularly. Making it, chilling it, rolling it, messing it up, re-chilling it, re-rolling it, chilling it again, then baking it took up a lot of my time. I have to admit, I'm still a little irritated with sucree. Though I did end up with one large chocolate tart and two small exotic fruit tarts made with Frangipane. Both were delicious and the crust came out perfectly flakey, so was well worth the time taken (I'm learning lessons in patience here).

So will I be making tarts again? Absolutely! I think tarts are one of the most gorgeous pastries out there...and I love the use of fresh fruit in desserts. It's fun to arrange, and adds so much color and flavor. The simple fresh fruit tart was my favorite, so please enjoy!

The Delicious Recipe of the Day: Fresh Fruit Tart
(Mary Risley)


For the pastry

• 1 2/3 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 7 Tbsp cold butter
• 2 Tbsp vegetable shortening
• Cold Water

For the filling

• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 Tbsp flour
• 4 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 cups scalded milk
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp Kirsch or Cognac

For the glaze

• 1 cup red currant jelly or apricot preserves
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp Kirsch or Cognac
• Fruit

To make the pastry, in a bowl put the flour, the 1 Tbsp sugar, and salt. Cut in the cold fat. Add 3 to 5 Tbsp cold water. Bring together with the fingers of one hand and fraisage gently on a wooden board. Chill 1/2 hour covered in wax paper. Roll out and bake with a filling of parchment with pie weights in a 375 oven, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove the beans, prick with a fork and bake another 10-12 minutes until fully cooked. Cool on rack.


Make the custard filling: in a bowl beat the egg yolks until sticky, gradually add the sugar and beat until thick. Beat in the flours then gradually pour in the scalded milk, beating. Pour this mixture into a saucepan and bring to boil over moderate heat, stirring with whisk. When boiling, cook 2-3 minutes more over low heat. Remove Cognac. Dot with butter and and cool.


To make glaze: heat the jelly or preserves with the sugar and Kirsch or Cognac. Brush a thinn layer of this on the cooled shell. Spread over half and inch of pastry cream, cover with fruit, and paint with glaze. The fruits can be strawberries, grapes, bananas, raspberries, or poached peaches, apricots, plums, or pears.