Spring Treats: Lemon Curd Tart with Fresh Berries

Well, spring has sprung in New Jersey, and the weather has been nice enough that I have spent all my time working in the garden and not blogging!  This year, we are expanding our vegetable and herb gardens and have constructed three 4x6 wooden raised beds in our backyard for our little experiment.  So we have been weeding, leveling, sanding, nailing, composting, shoveling and tilling our little hearts out over the last month.  Now, with Mother's Day just around the corner and the last of winter's frost hopefully behind us, we are almost ready to plant. 

With the beginning of spring always comes a craving for fresh flowers and produce.  Those anemic bunches of fresh herbs at the grocery store pale in comparison to the lush basil plants you can bring home.  Fruit that tasted flat all winter, suddenly melts in your mouth with sun-kissed sweetness.  Farmer's markets begin to open and lighter seasonal fare is what is on the menu.

So when I was asked to bring a dessert for an Easter Brunch, I knew it was time to bust out a fruit tart.  The berries are just starting to taste like they should - even if they aren't local (we'll have to wait another month or so for Jersey Fresh blueberries) - and this was the perfect way to celebrate the beginning of Spring.  While this may appear time consuming, with too many separate components, the labor can easily be divided over a number of days if necessary.  Make the pastry dough one day.  Make the lemon curd the next.  Roll out and bake the dough yet another day, and assemble the day of.  Investing a few minutes here are there makes this a relatively stress free dessert that is guaranteed to get lots of ooohs and ahhhs!  Not sure what to do with 10 egg whites?  Stay tuned for a recipe for Chocolate Angel Food Cake!  Enjoy!

Lemon Curd Tart with Fresh Berries



Pastry:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
6 tbs cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Lemon Curd:

10 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
zest of 4 lemons, grated
12 tbs unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)

2 pints of strawberries, stem end of each cut flat
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup strawberry jam

Special Equipments: A 9-inch Tart Pan, preferably with a removable bottom, like this

Make the pastry dough.  Sift the flour and confectioners' sugar into the work bowl of a food processor and add the cold butter cubes.  Place the work bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes - cold butter makes for a flaky pastry crust!  In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk with the vanilla, 1 tbs of ice water and a pinch of salt.  Place this bowl in the fridge.  When the ten minutes are up, pulse the mixture in the food processor until the mixture begins to resemble oatmeal or bread crumbs.  Add the egg yolk mixture and process.  If you need more liquid, slowly add more ice water one teaspoon at a time.  Stop just as the dough looks like it is about to clump, not once it has.  When it looks about right, take it out and press it together to form a fat disc.  Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. 

Make the lemon curd.  In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, vigorously whisk the sugar and egg yolks for about 1 minute.  Add the lemon juice and zest and continue whisking for about a minute more.  Set the pan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened to about the consistency of pudding (about 15 minutes).  If you have the heat too high, you will scramble the eggs - so keep it low and be patient!  Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.  Let cool, stirring occasionally, before transferring to an airtight container and refrigerating.  This makes about 2 cups - which should be more than enough to fill the tart.  Extra lemon curd can keep in a sterilized, airtight container for about a month.

Roll out the pastry.  Unwrap the disk of dough and roll out on a floured work surface - you want it to be about a 13-inch round.  Fold the dough over your rolling pin and gently carry the dough over the tart pan.  Carefully press the dough into the pan, letting it hang slightly over the rim.  Then, take your rolling pin and roll it over the edges to cut off the pastry at the top.  You can either proceed to blind bake it now, or cover it with plastic and refrigerate until later.

Bake the pastry.  When you want to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a baking sheet in it to warm.  Line the pastry with tin foil and fill with dried beans (to weigh the pastry down when baking).  Bake on the hot sheet for 15 minutes.  Take the pastry out of the oven, remove the beans and foil, and cut the foil into strips.  Fold a couple of foil strips on the edges of the crust so they do not burn.  Reduce the oven to 350 degrees and put the tart pan back in the oven (without the baking sheet) and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until it begins to color lightly.  Sweetened pastry dough burns more easily, so watch it!  Let the pastry cool completely.

Assemble.  When the pastry is cooled, spoon roughly 1 1/2 cups of the chilled lemon curd into the pastry shell and spread until smooth and even.  Stand the strawberries in the curd and sprinkle the blue berries over them.  In a microwave safe bowl, warm the jam to thin it.  Then, with a pastry brush, paint the berries with the warmed jam.  This will give the berries a nice shine.  Chill until the tart sets - at least 1 hour, or up to 6 hours.  Release from the tart pan and serve chilled.