Tart with berries and lemon curd

11 years ago

I went to the Farmers' Market in Playa Vista this morning and bought a triple pack of berries that I would like to use on a tart. I've had the tart pans since I lived in Venice and have never used them. I got quart cartons each of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries and thought I would make a lemon curd to go under the berries, although my tart pans are only about 3/4 inch high. Here's a recipe from Ina Garten that I was thinking of using, but she did not put fruit on hers. I guess I will have to adjust the recipe to make it fit, but I have one 10" and three 4-1/2" pans. I can make extra crust and then I think the filling would be correct, but I am unsure of what to do with the berries. Do they go on raw, or should they be cooked in syrup? How do you make a glaze for them if they are raw? I would want to use jam or jelly, and I'm sure I can find some in my pantry, but it's not something I use often.

I was thinking of adapting my Cherry Cream Crunch recipe to accommodate berries instead of cherries, but I do not know whether this would be a good idea or not. I have all the ingredients - here is that recipe:

Cherry Cream Crunch
Cherry pie filling:*
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups fresh pitted cherries
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Crust:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup flaked or shredded coconut, unsweetened
1 cup granola (or oatmeal or rice flakes**)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Lemon filling:
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 can (15 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt

Cherry pie filling:
Combine sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, stir, add cherries, and let sit for at least 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Drain off and reserve cherry syrup.

Combine a small amount of syrup to cornstarch to make a paste, then stir cornstarch paste back into syrup. Pour mixture into a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Stir in the drained cherries. Cool before using.

Crust:
Cream butter in a large mixing bowl; gradually add brown sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Sift flour, salt and cinnamon; add to butter mixture. Stir in coconut, granola, and walnuts. Press 2-1/2 cups of crumb mixture into bottom of ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

Lemon filling:
Prepare the lemon filling by combining the slightly beaten eggs, sweetened condensed milk, grated lemon rind, fresh lemon juice and salt. Stir until mixture thickens. Remove crust from the oven and spread with lemon filling. Spoon the cherry pie filling over the lemon filling and then sprinkle with the remaining crumb mixture. Return to oven and bake at 375 degrees 15 to 18 minutes or until delicately browned. Chill before serving. May be served topped with whipped cream. Serves 9 to 12.

*You can substitute 1 can (1 lb 4 oz.) of canned cherry pie filling
**If using oatmeal or rice flakes instead of granola, increase brown sugar to 1/2 cup.

-----------

What would you do to make a tart with the berries that I have? Would you make Ina's lemon curd (or some variation of that), or do you have a different preference. I want something custardy under the fruit, and I was unsure which custard recipe to use.

I also bought some very nice lettuce, celery, and dill at the Farmers' Market, but I did not see any tomatoes, even though I have ripening tomatoes in my yard. We had lunch there also even though it was quite cold for sitting outside (58 degrees) and no heating. Fortunately, it is very sunny and clear today with no wind, and so we were able to endure the temperature. Actually, it felt warm in the sun because I was wearing a navy blue sweat jacket.

Lars

Comments (21)

rosesinny
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You can do it a number of ways. You can put some of them into the curd when you put it into the oven and bake it that way. If you like the starchy kind of texture you get when you cook the cherries with the cornstarch, you can do that too. Alternatively, you can put them on the cooled pie once it's baked and then brush them with an apricot glaze, which will look nice and then you don't have to cook the fresh berries.
Lars
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Which crust do you think would better for the berries - the standard pie crust or the granola one. I'm probably going to make Ina's pie crust. I am considering Emeril's lemon curd recipe with raw fruit on top. I have cream I can whip for on top, if I do not use it for a quiche tomorrow.

Lars
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Here are two recipes of varying richness. They say "Loganberry Curd" but of course can be used with any similar berry (i.e. blackberry/boysenberry). Both make approximately 2 cups, which is about right to fill a 9-inch tart. I also have a separate Blackberry Curd recipe which includes apples. I haven't made that one as I don't find the idea of diluting the berries with apples appealing, but I will post if someone wants to try it. Any of these curds can be varied depending upon the sweetness of the fruit. Less or more lemon and sugar. These are old recipes. I am sorry to say I don't remember the source. Title: Loganberry Curd Ingredients: 3 x Half-Pint Baskets Of Loganberries 1/2 cup Sugar, approximately 4 tbl Unsalted Butter 1 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice, to taste 2 x Eggs 2 x Egg Yolks Method: Puree the Loganberries and put them through a fine strainer to remove the seeds. Measure 1 1/2 cups puree, heat it in a non-corroding saucepan, and stir in the sugar and butter. Taste and add the lemon juice to taste. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks just enough to mix them, then stir in some of the hot puree to warm them. Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick - it should reach a temperature of 170 degrees F. Chill. Makes about 2 cups. Title: Loganberry Curd Ingredients: 3 cup Loganberries 1/4 cup Lemon Juice 1/4 cup Sugar, * see note 1 cup Unsalted Butter 3 x Egg Yolks Method: * If the berries are not sweet enough Puree the Loganberries, combine them with the lemon juice and sugar, if needed. Place in saucepan, simmer about 5 minutes, and strain through a mesh sieve. Place the strained Loganberries in a blender or food processor. Melt the butter in a saucepan until it is just bubbly. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the butter. Return the mixture to a saucepan. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks. Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of the Loganberry mixture to the egg yolks and blend well. Pour the egg yolk and Loganberry mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the Loganberry mixture. Over very low heat, stir until the mixture thickens, about 10 or 15 minutes. Cool and refrigerate. Loganberry curd will keep up to 10 days in the refrigerator. Makes about 1 pint. Carol
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The following lemon curd recipe is part of Sol's recipe for meringue daisies. It is tart and very good. It is different from the ones above in that it uses only the egg yolk which is convenient when making it to go with meringues or an egg white based cake. Lemon Curd 4 large egg yolks Â½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar 3 fluid ounces lemon juice 4 tbsp (2 oz) unsalted butter, softened Pinch of salt 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest In a heavy noncorrodible saucepan, beat the yolks and sugar until blended. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, but still liquid enough to pour. DonÂt allow the mixture to boil or it will curdle. When the curd has thickened, pour through a strainer. Cool, and store in airtight container in the fridge. The curd will continue to thicken in the refrigerator.
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I'm a bit late to comment for this time, but the recipe with 1 cup of lemon juice is more likely to make your teeth hurt (too sweet) than make your toes curl. Compared to the first recipe, the amount of egg is scaled up about in proportion to the lemon juice (1 egg plus 1 yolk per 1/4 cup of lemon juice vs. 3 yolks in the first recipe) and the butter is scaled up a little less (3 tbsp per 1/4 cup of juice instead of 4 tbsp). It's lower fat with a whole egg instead of two of the yolks and less butter so it may feel less rich. There is a lot higher ratio of sugar than I've ever used in lemon curd and no zest so the sweetness may be overwhelming and the lemon flavor less deep. By volume, the ratio of sugar to lemon juice is 2.3 to 1. In the first recipe, it's 1.5 to 1. That's also about the ratio in a recipe I've used from Sol. In lindac's recipe it's 1:1 which is still probably not too tart. Lemon Curd from Sol's Meringue Daisy's recipe: Lemon Curd 4 large egg yolks 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar 3 fluid ounces lemon juice 4tbsp (2 oz) unsalted butter, softened Pinch of salt 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest In a heavy non-corrodible saucepan, beat the yolks and sugar until blended. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, but still liquid enough to pour. Don't allow the mixture to boil or it will curdle. When the curd has thickened, pour through a strainer. Cool, and store in airtight container in the fridge. The curd will continue to thicken in the refrigerator
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So, I did make a rhubarb meringue tart, and it turned out really great. Everyone enjoyed it. I ended up following the recipe I found at the Nothing-in-the-house blog. I would make this again, but with some adjustments. I would not make it with the pecan crust. IMO, the pecan and rhubarb flavors were too competitive. A plain shortbread crust would be my preference for next time. The filling was good. Next time, I might reduce the sugar a bit. My preference would be for the filling to be more on the tart side. I would also add a little lemon juice or zest to brighten the flavor. There was a typo in the crust recipe, as there were no sugar in the ingredients list, but it was mentioned in the instructions, so I just used 1/4 cup sugar. But as I said before, I would substitute a plain crust. Recipe is here: link to blog is below ********************************************* Rhubarb Meringue Tart with a Pecan Shortbread Crust Ingredients For crust: 1 c. pecans, roasted 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour 2 tsp. baking powder 9 Tblsp. butter 1 egg 1 egg yolk 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used vanilla-bourbon) zest of one small orange (I used a clementine) For filling: 3 c. fresh rhubarb, diced 1/4 c. + about 1/2 c. water 1 1/4 c. sugar 1/4 c. cornstarch 1/4 tsp. salt 5 egg yolks (save whites for meringue) 3 Tblsp. butter, cut into chunks For meringue: 5 egg whites 1 tsp. cream of tartar 1/4 c. sugar Directions For crust: 1. Combine roasted pecans, flour, sugar, and baking powder in a food processor and pulse until pecans are finely ground. Add cold butter chunks to the pecan mixture and process until mix is the size of small peas. Add egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and orange zest and pulse just until dough begins to form. Remove pastry dough from the food processor and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for at least one hour and up to 1 day. 2. After at least one hour, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease and flour the bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Remove the dough from the fridge. I rolled out the dough first(which was a little difficult, as it was crumbly), but you can also just press it into the bottom and sides of the tart pan. The bottom crust should be slightly thicker than the sides. Place crust in the freezer for about 10 minutes, then line with parchment paper and pie weights. Bake for about 20 minutes or until crust is dark brown. Remove pie weights and bake for 5 more minutes. Take from oven and let cool. For filling: 1. Combine diced rhubarb and 1/4 c. water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let cook until rhubarb is soft and begins to break down. With an immersion blender (or a stand blender), purée until smooth and set aside to cool slightly. Once cooled, add enough water to bring purée to 1 1/2 c. (this should be about 1/2 c. of water). 2. Add sugar, salt, and cornstarch to the purée mixture and cook over medium heat until it begins to thicken. Add in egg yolks, whisking after each addition. Continue to cook until mixture coats the back of a spoon, or reads 185 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Let cool to room temperature. Once cooled, pour filling into pie crust, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about 2 hours. For meringue: 1. Once filling has chilled for 2 hours, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, mix egg whites and cream of tartar on high until egg whites begin to form medium peaks. Continue to beat eggs, gradually adding in sugar. Continue to beat eggs until they are glossy and can form stiff peaks. Spread over rhubarb filling, making sure the meringue seals the edge of the pie. Use the back of a spoon to curl meringue decoratively. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until egg whites begin to brown. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Here is a link that might be useful: Rhubarb Meringue Tart with a Pecan Shortbread Crust
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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Lars, I was in Westchester, LA a week ago. I asked my friend to take me to the farmers market, it was on a Wednesday, when we got there, there was no farmers market. I was disappointed.

dcarch
beachlily z9a
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
We just had strawberry shortcake with fresh, tasty berries from the farmer's market. YUMMMMM!
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I think that Cherry Crunch sounds delicious! I'm going to make that one day. I have made Ann T's white chocolate, raspberry tart, here is a picture of the one I made, but the recipe is on her blog. I know you don't eat much dairy, but I like the styling of her tart and the berries were cooked in the filling. My pan is 10" x 3/4".
mabeldingeldine_gw
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I love this simple tart recipe, originally from Martha. I frequently sub different fruit and it works fine.

Rustic Cherry-Almond Tart
Makes 1 9-inch tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (17 1/4 oz.) thawed
5 T unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 c plus 4 t sugar
1/2 c blanched almond flour (I usually make my own unblanched in the food processor)
1 large whole egg
1/2 t pure almond extract
1 large egg yolk
1 T heavy cream
1 lb red cherries, stemmed and pitted

Heat oven to 425�. On lightly floured parchment paper, roll out puff pastry to 1/8' thick. Cut a 12 inch circle; roll the edges to form a 10' crust. Transfer the parchment paper and crust to a baking sheet and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

In a bowl, mix the softened butter, 1/3 c sugar, almond flour, whole egg, and almond extract until well combined.

In a separate bowl, beat together the egg yolk and heavy cream. Prick the chilled crust all over with a fork. Brush the cream/yolk mixture on the surface and edges of the crust. Spread the almond mixture evenly over the crust, and chill for another 15 minutes.

Spread the cherries over the tart. Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining 4 teaspoons of sugar over the tart. Bake an additional 5-10 minutes until the crust edges are a deep golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Beautiful pie, Bumblebeez!

dcarch
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thank you dc! But I only copied what Ann did, it's not original to me.
Lars
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Dcarch, the Westchester farmers' market is from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Wednesdays, and so if you got there after 1:00 PM, it was too late. The Culver City market is one of the best and is on Tuesday from 2:00 to 7:00 PM. Kevin can go there during his lunch hour, but it's a busy market. The ones in Hollywood and Santa Monica are also good and are on week-ends, but are also crowded. The one in Playa Vista was nice because it was so small, easy to park, and there was still plenty to buy, although I would have liked to have bought some tomatoes.

I want to make the tart in my tart pans, and so I might adapt a recipe Nancy posted some time ago. I had a problem reading it before because the fractions got garbled by the code, but I was able to straighten that out when I found the source recipe, which she listed as Tapawingo.

I would like to make Ann's tart, but I don't have white chocolate, and I'd like to make this with what I have on hand now.

Thanks for the recipes - I'm making a collection for future use!

Lars
Islay_Corbel
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I think it depends on how sweet your fruit is. If it's lovely, then the lemon curd would be nice. If it's a little tart, then a creme patissiere would be much nicer. Either way, I think te fruit should be raw.
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Lars, so that's what happened. We went there after lunch. It upset my plan for making dinner that day.

We passed by a marina not too far and look at funny boat names. I like Miss Demeanor. :-)

Returning home a neighbor's kid was selling lemonade and gave me a ton of fresh lemons from her yard. So many dishes that evening were lemon based.

dcarch
rosesinny
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
publik - as far as the crust goes, I'd make a p�te sucr�e if baking the curd in the oven or p�te bris�e if using the curd the way you were discussing.
Lars
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Roses, I have pretty much decided to make the pate sucree that you recommend - I think that is what Ina Garten has in her recipe, and I will use a lemon curd on top of that.

Yesterday I had to do some emergency gardening to protect my orchids, and while I was at the nursery, I bought some pea gravel to use as pie weights, but I had to sort the gravel (I sifted it through a pizza screen to remove smaller gravel pieces), and then I washed it several times. Anyway, this took up more time than I expected, but I am now ready to bake the crust!

Lars
Lars
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I finally made the tart this evening, but we had already eaten some of the blackberries - they were very good and sweet. I combined Ina Garten's recipe with a recipe from Anne Burrell at the same web site because neither one seemed exactly right, and Ina's recipe got some reviews that said that Anne's recipe was better. I could tell from the recipes that the lemon curd was not going to fit in my 10" tart pan as they said it would, and so I ended up having to eat some of the excess lemon curd that I made by itself from the pan.

The tart is chilling in the fridge in the garage, and so we have not cut it yet - Kevin says he cannot eat anything sugary late at night, as it will keep him up - I do not have that problem but am willing to wait to cut it because it does need more time to chill. If I like it, I'm going to have to write a new recipe for it because it needs further revisions in proportions. The gravel worked very well as pie weights, however.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit tart photos
Nancy
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That is a beautiful thing, it looks so very perfect. Impossible for it not to taste great. Yum. It is early morning here, but I have no time restrictions on desserts, wish I had a slice of it here.
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That's a beautiful tart and those blackberries do look perfect. Excess lemon filling is not a bad thing!
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
It's a thing of beauty, but it will be gone in a minute.

dcarch
triciae
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Lars, that looks so yummy to me right now! It's nearly lunch time and I'd love to just have a big slice of your tart rather than the sandwich we're planning. :)

/tricia
ann_t
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Lars, that is one beautiful tart. I saw it earlier on FB.

~Ann
Lars
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the compliments - I wasn't being that careful when I put the berries on - if I hadn't been so tired and if it hadn't been so late, I would have arranged them better, but I felt that they're just going to get eaten anyway.

If it tastes good, I'll post the recipe for how I made it with the adjustments I had to make. I already know that I like the lemon curd part of it.

I don't go on FB that much, but I do communicate with different people there - mostly family and local friends.

Lars
Lars
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I just had some of the tart with some friends at work - they loved it, but I think it needs some revision. First of all, the lemon curd was too sweet, but I think this is because I used Meyer lemons, and I will adjust for that in the future. The other problem was that the edge crust was a bit hard - still tasty and good to eat, but a bit difficult to cut. I think the problem here is that I started the crust at 425 degrees for 11 minutes with the aluminum foil and pie weights and then returned it to the oven for 17 minutes with the oven turned down to 350 degrees. The recipe that called for a 425 oven expected me to put the curd in the crust for the second baking, but I decided not to do that because I knew it was not going to fit, and I had already adjusted the curd recipe so that it would not require baking after being cooked on the stovetop. Also, I took the shortcut of not chilling the dough as long as the recipe called for, but I don't think this would have caused the crust to come out hard. Anyway, no one complained about the crust being hard, and so maybe I just need to serve it with a knife in addition to a fork - the forks were plastic, which didn't help.

I pretty much followed Anne Burrell's recipe, except that I used four eggs plus one egg white in the curd plus one tablespoon of cornstarch to help it set without baking. I did refer to Ina's recipe as well, especially the part about pricking the inside of the shell after removing the pie weights. Actually, I forgot to do that before the second baking, but I pricked it after baking to deflate it.

One tip of my own that I added was to add the lemon zest to the curd just before cooking it, and I stirred it in with a spoon instead of a whisk.

Let me know what suggestions you have regarding the crust.

Thanks!

Lars

Tart with berries and lemon curd

Comments (21)

rosesinny

Lars
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