It’s been a difficult week here at the casa. What started
out with a lot of excitement ended in a stark reality check. MM and I had been
on the search for a great dog, and we found one who melted our hearts.
A meet-and-greet and a homevisit later, Archie came to stay.
Sadly, Archie isn’t quite cut out for apartment living, and
we quickly came to the realization that our trio wasn’t the right fit. So
today, we are saying goodbye to Archie. I hope you get a life full of ear
scratches, big fields, and people to lovingly keep you company, little buddy. We’ll
miss you.
On a lighter note, let’s get back to cooking. This tart is
delicious. Did I say delicious? I think I meant to say “fight over the last
piece you're the last man standing” scrumptious. You can use any type of
seasonal berries, but make sure you note how long the dough must chill in the
refrigerator before cooking. I forgot to do that, and had to delay my baking
for a bit as a result.
Bonus: the tart dough recipe makes enough for three crusts.
You can certainly cut the recipe in half to minimize leftovers. Orrrr you can
do yourself a favor and make that extra dough. I’ll be posting a recipe this
weekend for an easy way to use the leftovers for breakfast and become the most
popular person in your household.
Summer Berry Tart
Tart Dough (makes enough for three 9-inch tart
crusts)
Ingredients:
2 ½ unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Lightly packed ½ cup ground blanched almonds
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
1. Place
the butter in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and
process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until creamy. Add the
confectioners’ sugar and process to blend well. Add the ground almonds, salt,
and vanilla and continue to process until smooth, scraping the bowl as
necessary. Lightly stir the eggs together with a fork and, with the machine
running, add them to the work bowl; process for a few seconds to blend.
Finally, add the flour and pulse until the mixture just starts to come
together. When the dough forms moist curds and clubs and then starts to form a ball,
stop! — you don’t want to overwork it. The dough will be very soft, and that’s
just as it should be.
2. Gather
the dough into a ball and divide it into 3 pieces. Gently press each piece into
a disk and wrap each disk in plastic. Allow the dough to rest in the
refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or for up to 2 days, before rolling and
baking. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to a month.)
3. To
roll and bake tart crusts: For each tart, butter the right-sized tart pan and
place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you are making more than one
tart, work with one piece of dough at a time.
4. Depending
on how thin you’d like your dough, you can either roll out your dough or press
it using your fingers. The easiest way to roll out your dough is to place the
disk between two pieces of parchment paper, and then use a rolling pin to
flatten the dough. If you use your fingers, gently begin pressing the center of
the dough outwards towards the edge of the pan. As this warms the dough a bit,
put the dough back in the refrigerator for a few minutes before baking.
5. When
you are ready to bake the crust(s), preheat the oven to 350°F. To avoid bubbles
in the crust, line each crust with a circle of parchment paper or foil and fill
with dried beans or rice.
6. Bake
the crust (or crusts) for 20 to 25 minutes, or just until very lightly colored.
If the crust needs to be fully baked, remove the parchment and beans and bake
the crust for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to a rack to
cool.
Pastry Cream
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
Directions:
1. Bring
the milk to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cover the pan, turn
off the heat, and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Working
in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, whisk the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch
together until thick and pale. Whisking all the while, very slowly drizzle a
quarter of the hot milk onto the yolks. Then, still whisking, pour the rest of
the liquid in a steady stream over the tempered yolks.
3. Put
the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously and without stop, bring the
mixture to the boil. Keep the mixture at the boil, whisking energetically, for
1 to 2 minutes until cream has formed, then remove the pan from the heat and
scrape the pastry cream into a clean bowl. Allow the pastry cream to cool on
the counter for about 3 minutes.
4. Cut
the butter into chunks and stir the chunks into the hot pastry cream along with
the vanilla extract, continuing to stir until the butter is melted and
incorporated. At this point, the cream needs to be thoroughly chilled. You can
either set the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water
and, to ensure even cooling, stir the cream from time to time, or refrigerate
the cream, in which case you should press a piece of plastic wrap against the
surface to create an airtight seal.
Finishing the tart
Shortly before you are ready to serve the tart, spread the
pastry cream in the bottom of the baked tart shell and arrange the berries over
the top. I used strawberries and blueberries, but feel free to experiment with
any berry that’s in season!
