ACCORDING to MOI: The King of Hearts Liked It. Make Dad a Raspberry Tart!

Monday, June 21, 2010

The King of Hearts Liked It. Make Dad a Raspberry Tart!

This may seem like a simple jump in the pool to most of you ladies, but for moi, I did not get the cooking gene. I am surrounded by excellent cooks and am usually very jealous of their ability to whip up anything and everything and have it turn out AMAZING (All-Caps, even). I am usually loathesomely jealous of the girl who can be the absolute center of the party and have everyone cooing because she was able to put flour, sugar and water together and have everyone weak at the knees. I am the worst cook. You can ask my husband. There is little I can not mess up.

What am I good at making? Drinks, usually. & salads. I'm like Cher's character from Mermaids. Do y'all remember that movie? That was the one with Winona Ryder in her young, pre-shoplifting, angst ridden years; Christina Ritchie before Addams Family; and Cher as their mother, for the limited point in time when she put down the box of Ogilvie and had the cutest retro hair-do. Anyhoo. My point about the movie is that Cher's character can't cook. She only makes finger foods and ka-bobs everything. I hate to admit this, but I usually fulfill that role. It's agony.

But this week, peeps, Costco turned my world upside down and put me on a path to try something new. They offered raspberries in the mega Costco-sized container for $3.77! $3.77 is an amazing deal in Hawaii for 3 cups of raspberries. So my idea was to enlist the aid of my Sister in Law and get to work on a simple raspberry tart. Yes, peeps, this is 101 for most of you but seemed like Mount Everest to me!

Our starting point was the Joy of Baking (it came up first in the web search) recipe. It looked simple enough to not intimidate this remedial baker. Here was the starting point:

Pate Brisee (Short Crust Pastry):
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon
(2 grams) salt
1 tablespoon (14 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) pieces
1/8 to 1/4 cup (30 - 60 ml) ice water

Filling:
2 cups fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons (30 grams) granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon (15 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Pate Brisee: In a food processor, place the flour, salt, and sugar and process until combined. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal (about 15 seconds). Pour 1/8 cup (30 ml) water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube until the pastry just holds together when pinched. Add remaining water, if necessary. Do not process more than about 30 seconds.
Turn the pastry out onto your work surface, gather it into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour to chill the butter and allow the gluten in the flour to relax.
Once the pastry has chilled, remove from refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into an 11 inch (28 cm) round. To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards to get uniform thickness). Transfer the pastry to a parchment paper lined baking sheet
and sprinkle the pastry with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Leaving about a 1 1/2 inch (4 cm) border all around, cover the pastry with the raspberries, stem ends down. I like to start at the outside edge and work toward the center of the pastry in concentric circles, making sure the raspberries are placed close together. (If possible, use raspberries that are of uniform size.) Gently fold the edges of the pastry up and over the filling, pleating as necessary, being careful not to squash the raspberries. Brush the edges of the pastry with melted butter, and then sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the raspberries and crust.