Monday, June 23, 2008

New Tart Pan

For a while now I've been coveting a tart pan that I saw on Cuisine TV. It's a standard pan with a removable bottom, but it's long and narrow.

The new tart pan.
It didn't come with the tart in it.

While in Paris with Cheryl last month, I went to three kitchen stores over near les Halles to find one. I struck out at la Bovida and Mora, but Dehillerin didn't let me down. They had two kinds, one classic and one non-stick. I chose the non-stick pan and the price was right!

A close-up of pan and tart.

So, once back home, I had to test it out! Ken and CHM picked up some beautiful apricots while out one day. Naturally, I made an apricot tart. The pan worked wonderfully. The tart was tasty, too!

****** UPDATE

Susan, from Susan in France, asked for the recipe, so here it is:

First, make your favorite pâte brisée, or pie crust. Mine is here. Blind-bake it for about 15-20 minutes in a 190ºC oven.

Use enough apricots to cover the surface of your crust when they're cut in half. An easy way to figure out how many to use is to place the whole apricots in a single layer in the pie pan (before you make the crust) and fill it up just halfway.

Pit, peel, and halve the apricots. I do this by plunging them, about 4 or 5 at a time, into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, then into cold water to cool. The skins come right off and you can proceed from there.

Arrange the apricot halves in your blind-baked crust. For this tart, I sprinkled the crust with ground almonds before putting the fruit in - a step that's entirely optional. Make a custard by combining:

1 egg, lightly beaten
75 g granulated sugar
250 ml milk (combine milk and crème fraiche for a richer custard)

Beat the sugar into the egg first, then add the milk/cream little by little. Pour the custard into the pan so that it surrounds the fruit and bake in a pre-heated 200ºC oven for 20-25 minutes until the custard is set and lightly browned.

During the last five minutes of baking, paint the fruit with an apricot or other fruit glaze.

Let the tart cool before cutting and serving.

17 comments:

  1. Two words: OH YUM!
    I've gotta return to France. The tart is "to die for."
    (Hope this doesn't get posted twice... somehow I am doing the time warp again.)

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  2. Oh my gosh...you should post the recipe too! That looks fantastic! I seemed to paralyzed in the kitchen since I moved here and can only cook 5 things that I keep rotating. Guess it's the Auchan shock; I have a hard time finding things since I'm not fluent (yet).

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  3. Walt - I have serious tart pan envy.
    Susan

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  4. I've got that tart pan envy also, Susan. I've been looking for the kind Walt uses for his asparagus and ham tarts. I found one in Nashville but it was too expensive. Guess I'll put it on my list for our next trip to France.

    Miam, miam- your tart looks really yummy.

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  5. How divine. That tart looks seriously lovely and I bet it was equally tasty.

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  6. The apricots on our tree are almost ripe. Hmmm, what shall I make?

    Is your tart a sort of clafouti?

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  7. What a beautiful tart!!

    And isn't it great to finally get something that you've been coveting? Gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling.

    BettyAnn

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  8. cheryl, it was good!

    susan #1, ok. Look for the recipe in a future post.

    susan #2, hmmmm. There's a cure for that!

    evelyn, a trip to France is always a good idea.

    susan #3, you'd win that bet!

    chris, the custard is much lighter than a clafoutis - there's no flour in it.

    bettyann, I was very happy to find it and realize that it was not an expensive item.

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  9. susan #1, I just updated the post with the recipe so it's all in one place. Enjoy!

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  10. Looks fantastic! I've made similar tarts using a round pan - but I've never peeled the apricots. Is the peel a texture, taste, or aesthetic issue?

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  11. Thanks for posting the recipe!! Man...looks like ALL the blogging Susan's are digging your blog. How odd...but very cool. Maybe it's in the name, all Susan's love food I guess!

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  12. Oh, thanks so much for the recipe- it may be easier than it looks. I'm going to try it with some Alabama peaches and the almond dusting is going to make it special I think.

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  13. syd, for me it's more a texture thing. But you don't have to peel them at all if don't want to.

    susan, you're welcome!

    evelyn, it is easy. Let me know how you like it.

    victor, the apricots were at a perfect ripeness for this kind of thing, so it was really nice. Tasted as good as it looks.

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  14. gorgeous, thanks for the recipe.

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  15. I've got to get back to your blog more often, if for nothing else, the recipes alone. My JJ makes great tarts but never apricot, I'll try to surprise him with this one. I love the rectangulaire pan.

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