Cooking

Sonya Verlaque
FCC Culinary Arts Program

(7/2022) Local farms are bursting with sweet berries and fruits in July. This provides the perfect opportunity to get the best tasting, antioxidants bursting foods for ourselves, our friends and families. With backyard gatherings and summer potlucks, a beautiful, crisp and cool fruit tart is a wonderful way to use your berry harvest. It can be made a day a head of time, and can be done as one large tart or miniature tarts for individual service.

Fruit tarts start with a sweet short crust pastry dough, but you can also purchase a sweet pie crust if you are short on time.

Sweet Tart Dough

Ingredients:

• Granulated sugar 4oz Butter, soft 8oz
• Egg, 1
• All Purpose Flour 12 oz Salt 3/4 tsp
• Egg white - for egg wash

Preparation: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the 1 egg. Sift together the flour and salt and then slowly to add the butter and egg mixture until just combined. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for one hour. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface into an circle about 1/4 inch thick.

Carefully lay the dough into tart or pie pan and press the dough so it fits tightly and press the edges up the side of the pan. Press the dough into every edge and nook of the pan. Shave off the excess hanging dough with a knife. Put the tart in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to relax and set. Place the tart on a cookie sheet and with a fork poke holes in the base of the tart shell.

Line the tart with aluminum foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights or beans. Bake for 30 minutes at 375F. Remove from oven, remove the foil and weights. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat the crust with the beaten egg white. Return to the oven and continue to back for another 8 minutes until the tart is golden in color. Let cool. Yields one 10" tart.

Pastry Cream

Ingredients:

• 500 ml (2 cups) Full Cream / Whole Milk 1tsp of vanilla extract
• 4 Egg Yolks room temperature
• 45g (3 tbsp) granulated sugar
• 30 g (1/4 cup) Cornstarch
• 30 g (2 tbsp) Unsalted Butter

Preparation: Heat the milk and half of the sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat until just before a simmer. While heating, in a separate bowl, whisk together the raining sugar, cornstarch, whole eggs and egg yolks. Temper the hot milk into the egg mixture, and then return the mixture back into the pot. Whisk and cook the mixture until the pastry cream thickens. Remove from heat, stir in the butter and vanilla, mix until the butter is melted. Pour the cooked pastry cream into a shallow pan and place plastic wrap directly on top to keep a skin from forming and refrigerate until needed.

Fruit Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs Apricot Jam
• 1 tsp of very hot water

Preparation: Whisk the jam and water quickly to dissolve the jam into the water and mix until smooth. This is used to brush over the fruit on the top of the tart.

For assembly of the tart, about 2 to 2 1/2 cups of berries will be needed to top the fruit tart. Large berries, like strawberries should be cut up, but blue berries and blackberries can be kept whole. Kiwi are also nice as they give added color to the top of the tart.

Take your cooled tart shell and fill with vanilla pastry cream and smooth to make level, top with your fruit, then brush with the Fruit glaze and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For an alternate filling for your tart shell, a refreshing lemon curd that can be topped with whipped cream or a meringue. In this recipe, a Bain Marie is used which is a method of indirect cooking. A saucepan of boiling water is used to heat the ingredients in a bowl on top of the saucepan.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients:

• Yield 2 cups
• Gelatin (one sheet or 1tsp powder with 1 Tbsp of cold water)
• Eggs 2 each
• Granulated sugar 4 1/2 oz (2/3 C)
• Lemon Juice 2 3/4 oz
• Lemon Zest 2 each
• Butter 10 1/2 Tbsp

Preparation: Bloom the sheet gelatin in ice water or if using powdered gelatin, mix with one Tablespoon of very cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, lemon juice and zest. Keep the mixture over a Bain Marie until it reaches a temperature of 180F. Take off the heat and whisk in the butter and gelatin. Blend the curd with an immersion blender until smooth, however you can also go directly to straining it to insure it is smooth. Pour the curd into your prepared pre-baked tart shell. Chill for several hours or overnight until it is fully set. Then you can place whipped cream or a meringue on top, or even just sift powdered sugar before serving.

On a hot day, with cool deserts it is also nice to have a refreshing summer drink. This Berry Lemonade is refreshing and delicious, and is kid friendly - and they feel like they are getting something really special, feel free to add an ounce of bourbon, if desired, for a grown up drink.

Berry Lemonade

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sliced strawberries, stem removed
• 1 cup blueberries
• 6-8 Lemons (1 1/2 cup of fresh-squeezed juice)
• 1/2 cup local honey
• 4-5 cups of water
• Ice

Preparation: Heat one cup of water in the microwave and then add in the honey to dissolve. Then in a large pitcher or container add fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and 4-5 cups of water to a mix until combined. Add the berries to a blender and puree the berries for 3-4 seconds and then add them to the lemonade. Stir Well. Serve with ice and add some whole berries and lemon slices to the pitcher.