Musicians Tart Recipes

MUSICIAN'S TART

Steps:

• For crust:
• Mix first 3 ingredients in processor. Add butter and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Blend in yolk and vanilla using on/off turns. Blend in enough cream by teaspoonfuls to form dough that begins to clump together. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough between sheets of waxed paper to 12-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Trim edges. Freeze crust 15 minutes. Line with foil. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until sides are set, about 10 minutes. Remove foil and beans; bake crust until golden, about 20 minutes more. Cool completely on rack.
• For fruit filling:
• Combine all ingredients in heavy medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 minute. Purée mixture in processor to thick paste. Cool completely.
• For nut topping:
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook first 3 ingredients in heavy large saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to boil. Boil vigorously 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add nuts and cream.
• Spread fruit filling in crust; smooth top. Set tart on cookie sheet. Spoon nut topping over. Bake until filling bubbles, about 20 minutes. Transfer tart to rack and cool 10 minutes. Using oven mitts, loosen tart pan sides but do not remove. Cool tart completely in pan. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.) Remove pan sides. Cut tart into wedges.

MUSICIAN'S TART

Steps:

• FILLING.
• Combine all filling ingredients in medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer 1 minute.
• Puree mixture in processor to thick paste (can wait til cools a bit). Cool completely.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• NUT TOPPING.
• Cook first 3 ingredients in heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
• Increase heat, bring to boil. Boil vigorously 1 minute.
• Remove from heat; mix in nuts and (pareve) cream.
• ASSEMBLY.
• Spread fruit filling into bottom of cooled, baked pie/tart shell.
• Set tart pan on cookie sheet. Spoon nut topping over filling.
• Bake until filling bubbles, about 20 minutes Remove from oven and cool on rack for about 10 minutes
• Loosen tart pan from sides (if using pan with removable sides) but do not remove.
• Cool completely in pan.
• Can be prepared one day ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Remove pan sides; cut into wedges.

MANCHESTER TART

Steps:

• If you are making your own pastry dough, aerate the flour by sifting it together with the salt and sugar into a large bowl. Add butter in pieces and rub it in with your fingertips until you reach a texture similar to fine bread crumbs. (Try to keep your hands cool). Add cold water gradually, mixing only enough water as you need to make the dough form. Form the dough into a disk (for ease of handling), and place it in a bowl covered with plastic or a clean damp towel, and allow to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. When rested, roll the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin, to a thickness of about 1/8-inch and line a well buttered 9 1/2-inch flan pan with a removable bottom. Trim away any excess pastry hanging over the edge of the pan. Place pastry shell into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Line the base of the chilled pastry shell with parchment paper. Then fill with ceramic pastry weights (or dried beans) and place on a baking tray in the oven and partially bake ("blind bake") for 25 minutes. Remove the weights/beans, prick the base of pastry to prevent bubbling-up of base, and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes to dry out the base. Remove pastry shell from oven and allow to cool. Also allow oven to cool to 350 degrees F.
• While the pastry shell is cooling, prepare the sponge cake batter:
• Heat the milk over low heat. Add the butter and let it melt into the milk. Set the pot aside temporarily. Beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl with an electric beater until it is about triple in volume and is the consistency of soft whipped cream. Return the pot with the milk to the stovetop and heat until hot. Sift cake flour and baking powder together several times to aerate. Sift the 1/3 of the flour and baking powder into the bowl of beaten eggs and sugar, and fold together. Repeat for each remaining third of the flour mixture, folding together after the addition of each third. Then, add the hot milk and butter all at once and fold in.
• For the filling and topping: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread the jam over the base of the cooled pastry shell and pour the cake batter over the top of the layer of jam. Then sprinkle the surface of the cake batter with coconut. Bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the surface springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Then while wearing oven mitts, push base of tin upwards from bottom to release tart from sides of pan. You may want to use a spatula to also slide the tart off the base onto your serving plate; however, if it starts to break apart, the nearly invisible base of the flan pan enables you to use it for service with little consequence to your presentation.

ANNA'S TOMATO TART

Steps:

• Place the flour and 1 teaspoon of salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the butter and pulse 12 to 15 times, until the butter is the size of peas. Add the egg yolks and pulse a few times to combine. With the motor running, add the ice water through the feed tube and pulse until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and roll it into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Meanwhile, place the tomatoes in a large bowl. Put the parsley, basil, garlic, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until finely minced. With the processor running, pour the olive oil down the feed tube and process until combined. Pour the mixture over the tomatoes and toss gently. Set aside.
• On a well-floured board, roll the dough out to an 11-by-17-inch rectangle and transfer it to the prepared sheet pan. Don?t worry if it doesn?t fit exactly; you want it to cover most of the bottom of the pan, but it can be a little rough on the sides. Place a second sheet pan directly on the pastry (be sure both sheet pans have flat bottoms) and bake for 15 minutes. (You can also line the pastry with foil and fill it with dried beans.) Remove the top sheet pan (or the beans and foil). Using a dinner fork, pierce the pastry in many places. Bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Check the pastry during baking; pierce any spots that bubble up. Allow the crust to cool for 15 minutes.
• Lower the oven to 375 degrees F. Brush the mustard on the crust with a pastry brush. Sprinkle a thick even layer of Gruyère on the pastry, reserving 1/2 cup for the top, and sprinkle with the 1/2 cup of Parmesan. Place overlapping tomatoes in rows on top. If there is a little garlic and herb mixture in the bowl, sprinkle it over the tomatoes, but if there is liquid in the bowl, strain it through a very-fine-mesh strainer, discard the liquid, and sprinkle the garlic and herb mixture on the tomatoes. Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of Gruyère and the remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool slightly, cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.