In the Hands of a Chef (54 page)

MAKES ONE 11-INCH TART

2 large baking apples, such as Macoun

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 cups pumpkin purée

1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

One 11-inch tart shell made with Basic Pastry Dough (page 343) and prebaked in a tin with a removable bottom (see page 344)

4 Italian amaretti macaroons, roughly crumbled

Whipped cream or premium vanilla ice cream (optional)

DO AHEAD:
Make the dough and prebake the crust a couple of hours before assembling the tart. Allow time for all of the filling ingredients to come to room temperature before you use them, or the pumpkin custard won’t blend properly.

1.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2.
Peel and core the apples, then cut them into Mi-inch-thick slices. Toss the apple slices in a bowl with ¼ cup of the granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon of the cinnamon, ½ tablespoon of the lemon juice, and the melted butter.

3.
Beat the eggs and brown sugar together in a large bowl until the sugar is completely dissolved and the eggs are foamy. Add the pumpkin, cream, the remaining 1½ teaspoons cinnamon, the ground ginger, allspice, pepper, the grated ginger, salt, the remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and the vanilla and beat together until thoroughly mixed. Pour the pumpkin custard into the tart shell. Starting at
the outside of the tart, arrange the apple slices in overlapping concentric rings, covering the custard completely. Sprinkle the apples with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

4.
Bake until the custard is set and the apples are tender and caramelized, about 1 hour. Discreedy lift an apple near the center of the tart and insert a knife into the pumpkin custard. When the custard is set, the knife will emerge moist but clean. You can broil the tart briefly if the apples haven’t caramelized enough. Cool on a wire rack.

5.
When the tart is cool, remove the sides of the tart tin. Just before serving, sprinkle with the amaretti crumbs. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

NOTE:
Tart shells, with their exposed sides, seem much prettier to me than ordinary piecrusts, where the dessert often seems sunken into a pie plate. If you find piecrust easier, or you don’t have access to a tart tin with a removable metal ring, you can make this recipe in a prebaked 10-inch piecrust. Add a few minutes to the pie’s cooking time because of the greater depth of the custard.

H
eather Miller was my pastry
chef for many years, and when she married and moved out of town, I lost a great talent. She invented this revisionist version of a Southern classic for one of our winter menus. The addition of chocolate and cranberries are unexpected accents to this otherwise familiar flavor.

MAKE ONE 11-INCH TART

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups pecan halves, toasted (see page 16)

½ cup dried cranberries

One 11-inch tart shell made with Basic Pastry Dough (page 343) and prebaked in a tin with removable sides (see page 344)

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 ¼ cups packed dark brown sugar

¾ cup light corn syrup

¼ cup molasses

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup dark rum

½ teaspoon kosher salt

DO AHEAD:
Make the dough and prebake the crust a couple of hours before assembling the tart.

1.
Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2.
Distribute the chocolate, pecans, and cranberries evenly in the tart shell.

3.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl until foamy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until the sugar dissolves and everything is well blended. Pour the mixture into the tart shell.

4.
Bake until set, 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes on a wire rack.

5.
When the tart is cool, remove the sides of the tart tin and serve.

F
igs come into season in
August, at the end of our family vacation, when the start of school and return to work loom just around the corner. I associate figs with sun and water and the sadness of saying goodbye. With their honey-like flavor, fresh figs require little enhancement. This is a rustic French-style tart that uses mascarpone as the base of a mild custard rather than cream.

MAKES ONE 11-INCH TART

8 fresh figs (about 1½ ounces each), stems removed and cut in half lengthwise

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

8 ounces (1 cup) mascarpone

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

One 11-inch prebaked tart shell made with Basic Pastry Dough (page 343) and prebaked in a tin with removable sides (see page 344)

¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (see page 16)

2 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar, or as needed

DO AHEAD:
Make the dough and prebake the crust a couple of hours before assembling the tart.

1.
Toss the figs in a bowl with the orange zest and juice and allow to macerate for 30 minutes.

2.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

3.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl with the sugar until the sugar dissolves and the eggs are thick. Add the mascarpone, lemon juice, flour, and salt and mix well.

4.
Pour the custard into the tart shell. Remove the figs from the orange juice and drain well; discard or drink the juice. Arrange the figs cut side up in circles on top of the custard. Sprinkle with the hazelnuts.

5.
Bake the tart on the lowest oven shelf for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the custard is just set. It should still wiggle slightly in the middle. Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes.

6.
When the tart is cool, remove the sides of the pan, sift a light dusting of confectioners’ sugar over the tart, and serve.

I
’m a sucker for single-layer
butter cakes, especially ones with fruit and nuts. Over the years, I must have tried a hundred different recipes and could never remember which I liked or which I had problems with. Finally I decided to sit down and figure out a recipe I could depend on. This is a great midsummer cake when prune plums (the small narrow plums that are turned into—surprise!—prunes) are available, but you can alter the recipe according to the available fruit—figs, regular plums, or peaches—as long as your choice is soft and ripe.

All the ingredients should be at room temperature except for the butter, which should be a little cooler (about 65°F).

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

12 prune plums, cut in half and pitted

1¼ cups sugar

¼ cup brandy

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

¼ cup ground toasted walnuts (see page 16)

1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch Springform pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter and dust it with 1 tablespoon of the flour.

2.
Toss the prunes with 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the brandy; set aside.

3.
Cream the remaining 8 tablespoons butter in a large bowl with 1 cup of the sugar, the lemon zest, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Sift the remaining 1 cup flour, the baking powder, and salt together and beat into the creamed butter.

4.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until they start to foam. Do not overbeat, or the cake will be tough. Add the eggs and ground walnuts to the flour and butter mixture. Mix well.

5.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the plums on top in rings. Sprinkle with any remaining brandy-sugar syrup and the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

6.
Bake for 1 hour, or until the cake is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the cake (not the plums) comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the Springform pan and serving.

F
rom, the standpoint of technique,
this cake seems almost identical to the Prune Plum and Walnut Butter Cake (page 349), but the substitution of homemade lemon curd for fresh fruit completely transforms its character. The fruit topping in the previous recipe moves it in the direction of a tart; here the lemon curd, cake, and whipped cream begin to operate like a fresher version of trifle, the traditional English dessert of strained fruit folded into ladyfingers or stale cake, where the juice from the fruit (or some sherry) revives the cake.

If you’re in a hurry and can’t spare 1½ hours for the lemon curd to cool in the refrigerator, you can shave some time from the recipe by chilling a bowl in the freezer. Strain the warm curd into the chilled bowl—it will cool faster.

All the ingredients should be at room temperature except for the butter, which should be a little cooler (about 65°F).

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

LEMON CURD

Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

4 extra-large eggs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

CAKE

9 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup plus 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 extra-large eggs

½ cup ground toasted almonds (see page 16)

2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted (see page 16)

GARNISH

1 tablespoon almond liqueur (optional)

½ cup heavy cream (optional)

2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1.
Combine the lemon zest and juice in a nonreactive saucepan with the sugar and eggs and beat well. Add the butter and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens into curd. Be sure to keep scraping the bottom of the pan during the few minutes this takes; you don’t want the eggs to scramble before the curd forms. If you’re the nervous type, make the curd in a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water (the bottom of the bowl shouldn’t touch the water). The curd will just take a little longer to thicken, about 5 minutes. Strain the curd into a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface so a skin doesn’t form. Refrigerate until cool, at least 1½ hours.

2.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch Springform pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter and dust it with 1 tablespoon of the flour.

3.
Cream the remaining 8 tablespoons butter in a large bowl with 1 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy. Sift the remaining 1 cup flour, the baking powder, and salt together and stir into the creamed butter.

4.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until they start to foam. Do not overheat, or the cake will be tough. Add the eggs and ground almonds to the flour and butter mixture, mixing well.

5.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Drop 8 individual tablespoons of lemon curd evenly around the outside of the cake, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge. Try to place the curd so there is an even amount of cake batter between each dollop of curd. Drop 3 tablespoons curd in the center. Refrigerate any remaining curd for another use (hint: breakfast toast). Sprinkle the top of the cake with the sliced almonds and 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar, according to taste.

6.
Bake until the cake is toasty brown on top and a toothpick or knife inserted into the cake comes out clean (be sure not to insert it near the curd), about 40 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the sides of the springform pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.