Fresh Fruit Tart

This fresh fruit tart recipe produces a beautiful and delicious tart (as long as you cut the fruit nicely), and is perfect for a party because you can make everything the day ahead (or even two) and just assemble right before serving. I failed to get any pictures of the ones I made for glee club because they were devoured too quickly, but this picture is from the one Taylor and I made the weekend before to test the recipe out (see why you don't use blackberry jam for the glaze).

I mostly followed the recipe from Joy of Baking, and found it works well with a mixture of fruit (mango, strawberry, blackberry, pineapple, etc.), or as an all-berry tart (your choice of strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry). This recipe has quite a few steps and separate pieces, but it's very much worth making.

Fresh Fruit Tart

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

Sweet Pastry Crust:
     1 1/2 cups all purpose flour + more for dusting
     1/8 teaspoon salt
     1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature + more for coating pan
     1/4 cup granulated white sugar
     1 large egg

Pastry Cream:
     1 1/4 cups whole milk
     1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
     3 large egg yolks
     1/4 cup granulated white sugar
     2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
     2 tablespoons cornstarch
     1 1/2 tablespoons Malibu (optional)

Apricot Glaze: (optional - I used it, but I'm not sure it's necessary, especially if you're assembling close to the time you eat)
     1/2 cup apricot jam
     1 tablespoon water

Topping:
     3 cups fruit, washed and cut into nice-looking, small pieces

Equipment

Measuring cup and spoons

Hand mixer

Large mixing bowl

Plastic wrap

9 inch tart pan with removable bottom (a pie plate might be able to be used in a pinch)

Freezer

Oven and oven mitts

Fork

Medium heat-proof bowl

Whisk

Saucepan

Stove

Wooden spoon or silicone spatula

Knife and cutting board

Optional if using glaze: small saucepan/heatproof bowl, strainer, pastry brush

Instructions

Sweet Pastry Crust:

1. Place the butter in a mixing bowl and beat on medium-high speed until softened with hand mixer. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat just until incorporated.

2. Add the flour and salt all at once and mix at medium-low speed just until it comes together and forms a ball.

3. Turn dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a ball. Flatten into a disk and fold plastic wrap around it to cover. Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes or just until firm (or place in freezer for about 10-15 minutes.)

4. Lightly butter and flour, or spray with a non-stick vegetable/flour cooking spray, the tart pan.

5. Remove pastry from freezer and unwrap. Use your hands to flatten pastry dough into large circle, approximately the size of the tart pan. Place dough in pan and press into bottom and up sides of pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.

7. Remove plastic wrap from tart shell and lightly prick bottom of pastry crust with the tines of a fork (this will prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes). Bake crust for 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake the crust for about 15-20 minutes or until dry and lightly golden brown.

8. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before filling. Can be covered and stored for a few days.

Pastry Cream:

1. In a medium-sized heatproof bowl, whisk the sugar and egg yolks together. (Don't let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.)

2. Add the flour and cornstarch to the egg mixture, whisking mixing until you get a smooth paste.

3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla just to boiling (just until milk starts to foam up.)

4. Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture (Slowly is really important here), whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.) 

5. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat whisking constantly. The mixture will slowly thicken, and then will suddenly thicken a lot. Keep cooking until this point, where it thickens significantly to just beyond a pudding-like consistency. [Make sure to be watching carefully because it will quickly go from too thin to the right consistency to too thick.]

6. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the liqueur (if using). Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool to room temperature. If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Beat or whisk before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

Apricot Glaze:

Heat the apricot jam and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until liquid (melted). (Can also heat in the microwave.) Remove from heat and strain the jam through a fine strainer to remove any fruit lumps.

To Assemble Tart:

1. To remove the tart from the fluted sides of the pan, place your hand under the pan, touching only the removable bottom not the sides. Gently push the tart straight up, away from the sides. The fluted tart ring will fall away and slide down your arm. If you want to remove the bottom of the pan, run a knife or thin metal spatula between the crust and metal bottom, then slide the tart onto your platter.

2. If using the glaze, spread a thin layer of apricot glaze over the bottom and sides of the baked tart shell to prevent the crust from getting soggy. Let the glaze dry (about 20 minutes).

3. Spread the pastry cream onto the bottom of the tart shell. Place fruit randomly on top of cream or in concentric overlapping circles, starting at the outside edge.

4. After arranging the fruit, rewarm the glaze, if using, and gently brush a light coat on the fruit. If not serving immediately, refrigerate but bring to room temperature before serving.

This fruit tart is best eaten the same day as it is assembled. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Mango, Avocado, and Sesame-Seared Tuna Salad

My regular rule when I eat out is that I don't order anything I think I can make as well or better at home. I gravitate instead towards dishes with hard-to-find or very fresh ingredients, difficult preparation techniques, ethnic foods that I don't know how to make, or very involved recipes. A several fancy restaurants I've been to in the last few years have featured ceviche-like dishes with slices or cubes of raw tuna, often accompanied by avocados, mangos, and citrus fruits. Fearful of doing raw fish at home, I had not attempted to recreate this myself. But when the grocery store had beautiful, essentially sushi-grade, frozen tuna steaks on sale, I knew I had to buy them and give it a try. This delicious recipe is the result. While fancier than I would normally cook on a regular night, it's actually not that expensive if you're buying the raw ingredients, and is great if you want a nicer meal for a special occasion at home. Also, other than searing the tuna, it's really more assembly than cooking, and hard to screw up.

Mango, Avocado, and Sesame-Seared Tuna Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 mango (champagne/atauflo are my favorites)

1 avocado

1 cup cherry tomatoes

2 tuna steaks

1 Tbsp sesame oil

baby greens or other lettuce (optional)

toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Equipment

Knife and cutting board

Saucepan

Stove

Tongs

Instructions

1. Peel mango. Slice fruit from both sides of the pit and along the edges of the pit, then cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

2. Peel avocado, remove pit, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

3. Wash and chop cherry tomatoes in half. Toss tomatoes with mango and avocado to combine.

4. Wash and pat dry tuna steaks. Pour sesame oil into saucepan on stove over medium heat. Place tuna steaks in saucepan and cook until the bottom side has become opaque and begun to develop a golden crust on the edges but middle is still raw. Flip and cook on other side, again until opaque and with a slight golden color, but with the middle still pink along the sides (like in the photo below).

5. Using tongs, carefully rotate the tuna steak so it is standing on its short edges. Cook briefly on each edge until the sides are no longer raw (but the middle remains uncooked). [I love my tuna not really cooked, but if you want yours more cooked, then it's fine to cook longer until pink but not raw in the middle. Just don't cook it until gray throughout, you will ruin it.]

6. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes, then slice (see how lovely and raw it still is in the middle!).

7. Plate your greens and top with half the mango mixture or place the mango mixture in a bowl, and arrange the seared tuna on top. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds if desired.