Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Queen of Tarts

I saw this tart on the cover of April's Gourmet Magazine and knew I had to make it. I even finally bought a tart pan with a removeable bottom. I predict many quiches and elegant pies in my future. Additionally, I think I may have solved my previous pie crust issues. Thus in the epic battle of me-versus-tart, I am the victor. I am the Queen of Tarts.
Strawberry Tart: from Gourmet Crust:
1 1/4 cups flour 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 7 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 egg yolk 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons cold water Filling:
1 1/2 pound strawberries 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice 1/2 cup amaretto 1 pound mascarpone cheese 1/4 cup confectioners sugar 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon lemon zest 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pre-heat oven to 375. For crust, blend flour, 3 tablespoons of sugar, salt and butter in a large mixing bowl with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolk, vanilla, lemon juice and water. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until a dough is formed. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead a couple times. Form a flat, 5-inch circle with your hands. Place circle of dough into 9-inch tart pan and press with your fingers until dough covers the bottom and sides of the tart pan. With fork, stab little holes into the bottom of the crust.
Cover crust with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or uncooked rice (guess which I chose). Bake for 20 minutes and remove tart from oven and remove foil and rice. Replace in oven and bake for another 20 minutes until golden. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.
While tart crust is cooling, make the filling. Slice strawberries and place in bowl with 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon or so of lemon juice. Let sit for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the juice from the strawberries to collect in the bottom of the bowl.
Meanwhile, mix together mascarpone, powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla in a medium bowl. Once tart crust has cooled, spread mascarpone evenly onto the crust.
Go back to the strawberries. Using a strainer, pour the strawberries and their juice over a medium frying pan. Once drained, arrange the strawberries on top of the tart. Going back to the skillet, add 1/2 cup of amaretto liqueur to the strawberry juice mixture. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until it has reduced by half or has thickened to a syrup. Remove from heat and pour over tart. Refrigerate before serving. This is best eaten the day of.

7 comments:

Craig Henry said...

"Queen of Tarts"... brilliant, you never cease to amaze me.

"Sunshine" said...

Good to meet you, Lainey. I stumbled on your blog just this morning while looking for an almond amaretto biscotti recipe on Google. Skimmed through some other recipes you've posted, and they look quite good! I am actually thinking of making your biscotti recipe later today because it's the best-looking recipe (ie: most flavorful-sounding) that I've found. I'm not sure if I have almond extract or not, so we'll see. I'll let you know how it turns out when I try it.

Lainey Seyler said...

good choice of recipes, sunshine. that one is easy and so so so fantastic.

as i recall, i could only find imitation almond extract. it was pretty cheap and did the trick. i don't know why i didn't note that in the post.

"Sunshine" said...

Cool. So I tried the recipe last night, and as expected, it's awesome! The only variations I made were substituting bread flour for the all-purpose (simply, I didn't realize we were so low on all-purpose when I started), and I also experimented with melted chocolate on the bottoms of some. It's good both ways.

I think I spread the dough out a little too thin (but this is my first go at biscotti, so... what can you expect) Next time, I'll probably make it a little thicker top to bottom and not so long, but yes, great recipe, and thanks so much for sharing. I'm going to put you in my blogroll so I can see what other yummy recipes you come up with!

Unknown said...

Careful with those 'removable-bottom' pans. I had a cheesecake once that ended up on the floor because someone didn't understand the concept. :)

Great looking tart!

Lainey Seyler said...

haha, duly noted. i did have a near miss though...

Jess said...

that tart is so beautiful. maybe someday i'll decide to actually work towards conquering my fear of crusts.