I love getting inspired by a good farmer’s market. Fruits of all colours, honey from local bees, fresh cider…
or alcoholic cider in this case.
Crêpes. Crêpes filled with delicious goodness for lunch, not just dessert.
That last part wasn’t really as much about farmer’s markets in general, but it’s part of my farmer’s market and it’s very important.
To me.
Moving on…
It’s the time of year for my local farmer’s market to have raspberries. Deeply coloured raspberries, glinting in the sun like baskets of rubies. How does one deny such a find?
You don’t. Not on your crêpes or in your baking. You give in, and you enjoy.
Once I had my treasure home, it was easy to figure out what needed to be done. Raspberries this fresh deserved to stay as they were, no macerating in sugar, no baking under a crust… just sitting tall and fresh. In a tart.
On a bed of lemon curd.
Well… maybe lemon curd. See, if we remember from before, from-scratch lemon curd and I don’t get along very well. However, I had a the better half of a bag of lemons left over from the pound cake. I had to do something with them.
And lemon and raspberry go so very well together (not to mention it’s another favourite of Trevor’s). Perhaps this would be the venue for me to overcome my unfortunate experiences with thin, liquidy lemon curd. I was scared. Revisiting a failed experience in the baking world can be tough, especially when you’re not entirely sure what went wrong the last time. I think that I just needed to cook the lemon curd longer… but maybe it was the eggs. Did I temper them properly? Or did I put in too much lemon juice? Or…
But it’s okay, you’ll figure it out.
I finally did.
So with that piece of the puzzle in place, the tart was ready for those plump raspberries. Maybe brushed with a little syrup to tie the whole thing together.
There we go.
Fresh Raspberry Tart with Lemon Filling
Recipe from Diana’s Desserts
I used the pastry recipe provided on the website for this tart, but I think in the future I would prefer to use a pâte sucrée or cookie crust. With all the tartness from the lemon and raspberries, a sweeter, crumbly crust would be more up my alley.
Pastry
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 6 to 8 tbsp. ice water
Lemon Curd
- Grated zest and juice of 4 large lemons
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 6 large eggs
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup red currant jelly
- 1 1/2 tbsp. kirsch (clear cherry flavored brandy) or water (I used water because I had no kirsch and didn’t really feel like buying a whole bottle for one recipe)
- 4 cups fresh raspberries, washed, drained and gently blotted dry with paper towels (I ended up having to use 5 cups, so don’t be too stingy when purchasing your raspberries)
Directions
- Pastry: In a bowl, stir together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, using a fork, beat the egg with the vanilla and 2 tbsp. of the ice water. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the egg and about 2 more tbsp. ice water. Mix lightly with the flour, adding more ice water as needed until the mixture holds together. Pat into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, make the Lemon Curd: In a heavy non-aluminum saucepan over high heat, combine the lemon zest and juice, sugar and butter. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. In a bowl, using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat together the eggs and salt until fluffy. Slowly beat in the hot lemon mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 4 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd. Refrigerate until cool.
- On a floured work surface, roll out the pastry into a round about 13 inches in diameter. Transfer to an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom (lightly spray sides and bottom of pan with nonstick cooking spray, such as Pam, if desired), trim the edges to make them flush with the pan rim, and prick the bottom in several places with a fork. Press a piece of aluminum foil, shiny side down, onto the crust and freeze for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat an oven to 400°F/200°C.
- Bake the foil-lined pastry shell for 8 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until lightly browned, about 6 minutes more. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the jelly with the kirsch (or water, if using). Remove the sides from the tart pan, then slide the pastry shell off the base onto a serving plate. Spoon about 2 cups of the cooled lemon curd into the shell (store in refrigerator any remaining lemon curd for another use). Arrange raspberries in concentric circles on top of the lemon curd. Brush the raspberries with the melted jelly. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes, before serving.
Makes 8-10 servings.
Amandeleine 