Adventures in Pastry

For New Year’s Day I decided to make a fancy, five course dinner for my parents who were visiting from the Great White North. All of it (with one small exception) came out well, but I was especially pleased with the fruit tart that I made. It was my first time trying anything of the kind.

New Year's Fruit Tart

I cobbled together modified bits of several different recipes I found while trawling through the web and was worried it wouldn’t all work together.  Here’s the recipe I used in its final incarnation – try it, it’s nowhere near as hard as it looks!

Shell:
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 Tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Whisk yolk, cream, and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.

Place flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and mix. Cut in butter and mix together until resembles coarse meal. Pour in egg mixture; mix with your hands (don’t be shy!) until dough just comes together but is still sticky. Make a ball and press it into a 6 inch round between two sheets of wax paper. Chill for at least 1 hour.

When dough is chilled, remove from fridge and and let stand at room temp until just malleable. Roll out between lightly floured sheets of parchment to a 13 inch circle. Transfer dough to 9 inch pie pan (NOTE: You can and should use a tart pan with a removable bottom if you have one – I don’t!)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F with rack in middle position. Place pan on baking sheet, line with foil, and fill tart with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 30 minutes on baking sheet, rotating half-way through. Remove from the oven and carefully remove foil and weights. Bake another 5 to 8 minutes, until tart shell is deep golden brown. Set baking sheet on wire rack to cool shell completely.

Pastry Cream
- 2 cups half and half
- 1/2 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 3 Tbsp corn starch
- 4 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat the half and half, 6 Tbsp sugar, and the salt in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering, stirring occassionally. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and 2 Tbsp sugar in medium bowl until creamy, about 15 seconds. Whisk in corn starch until pale and thick, about 30 more seconds.

SLOWLY whisk simmering half and half mixture into egg yolks to temper. Too much at a time will cook your egg yolks. When it is all combines, return mixture to saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat, whisking , until a few bubbles burst on surface and the mixture is thickened to a pudding-like consistency. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla, and stir until butter is melted through and you have a homogeneous mixture. Pour into the pastry shell and chill until cold all through with plastic wrap or wax paper pressed to the surface to prevent a skin forming.

Fruit:

Any kind or combo is fine, whatever you prefer and think will look beautiful. I used 3 kiwis, 1/2 pt of blackberries, 1/2 pt of blueberries, and 1 pt of strawberries. Peaches, raspberries, pineapple, and tangerines are also great ideas.

Glaze:

- 3 tablespoons sugar

- 2 teaspoons cornstarch

- 1 tbs lemon juice

Whisk together glaze. Add more lemon juice if needed to dissolve the sugar. Remove cover from pastry and cream, and top with fruit as desired. Brush entire top with glaze, being careful to coat every exposed inch of fruit. This glaze will keep the fruit fresh and prevent it from turning brown for at least a day. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

~ by lycaon on January 13, 2009.