Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Home Sweet Home:Summer Fruit Tart

It was nice to wake up in my own bed this morning after 11 nights away.

After so many days of work, I did  manage to fit in two days of fun in Paris over the weekend before heading home. Saturday was Bastille Day, which is French National Day, a patriotic holiday marked by parades and fireworks. This fruit tart - made for the 4th of July - is my tribute to my mini trip, and liberty and equality for all.

For the last few summers, I've been looking for a simple, reliable fruit tart recipe to deal with my weekly farmers' marked binges. I don't want anything fussy or complicated or that will take hours to make. Summer is for simple food and great produce.

Those of you reading for some time may remember one of my more notable flops: the Zombie Pie. Further attempts were no better than the original. So, I moved on.

But here is this summer's version: the Fruit Cream Tart.  Much prettier than the Zombie Pie, no? King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, you have redeemed yourself!

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I used a basic Pate Sucree tart crust, which is quick and easy to make. But you could also use a pie crust - home made or store bought. The filling is even less challenging with a very interchangeable list of ingredients.

Fruit Cream Pie (or Tart)

1 1/2 c buttermilk, milk (any %) or cream
3 large eggs
3 tbsp flour
1/2 - 1c sugar to taste
1/4 tsp spice of your choice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, allspice...) optional
3 cups whole berries or other fruit cut into small dice

Roll out your pie crust and put in a 9" pie pan. Beat eggs and buttermilk together. Beat in flour, sugar and spice. Arrange fruit in the bottom of pie pan. Top with milk mixture. Bake 425 for 15 min on bottom rack. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for additional 35-50min. until a spot 2 inches from the crust is set. Cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

As usual, I made a number of changes. First, I used a 10 1/2" tart pan instead of a pie pan. I cut the entire recipe back by 1/3 (so used just 2/3 of the recipe as written). I used a mix of blueberries and strawberries. Instead of a spice, I used about 1/2 tsp of vanilla. Since I was making a shallower tart, I cut back the baking time to 12 minutes at 425 and then 25 minutes at 350.

Voila! The tart was lovely and delicious and refreshing!


Much prettier than Zombie Pie! Yay!

Anyway, it's great to be home. Regular posting shall resume shortly!

3 comments:

Karin said...

It looks yummy! The strawberries look so lush, I can hardly believe they've been cooked. We have a couple of blue berry bushes, so we should try this one. Thanks!

T. Sedai said...

That looks amazingly good. I am so making one after I am done training for nationals.

Clio said...

You have your own blueberry bushes? Wow! I'd be positively dangerous if I grew my own!