Fruit and Custard Tart

There's been a time or two in the history of my blog that I've lamented my lack of tart pan ownership.  I shall lament no more.  Thanks to my local Goodwill, I own not one, but two!  And I was able to create such yumminess as this.

 I found the recipe at a site called Organic Tuscany Cookbook, where they also refer to it as crostata di frutta.  I think if you say it that way before you eat it, half of the fat and calories are removed. 

I actually had a lot of fun working the dough...

 mount "egg"-suvius

  

....in fact I think the dough enjoyed it too.

Had a little difficulty getting the darned thing on my plate.  No difficulty at all getting it into my face. 

  

Recipe time:

For the rich shortcrust
500g (1 lb) plain (all-purpose) flour
300g (10 oz) butter
200g (7 oz) sugar
4 egg yolks
Zest of 1 untreated lemon
For the custard
125 g (4 oz) sugar
500 ml (1 pint) milk
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons flour
1 fresh vanilla pod (I just used a bit of vanilla extract)
250 ml (1/2 pint) whipping cream
Fruit to cover (that will not go black) e.g. strawberries, kiwi, figs, raspberries etc.
 

For the rich shortcrust
Line an ovenproof tart dish with baking paper.
On a wooden work surface, mix together the flour, sugar and butter, cut into little pieces. Rub the butter into the flour and sugar, until it is completely worked in. Work lightly so that the butter does not melt.
Make a mound out of this mixture and make a well in the center. Add the eggs yolks and lemon zest (careful not to grate the bitter pith in too!)
Work the ingredients together, first with a fork, then with your hands, until you have a smooth, soft pastry dough.
Wrap the pastry dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes (ideally 2 hours, especially in warm weather).

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F.
When the pastry has rested in the refrigerator, roll out to the size of the tart dish, cover with more baking paper and weigh down with dry beans, rice, or another, smaller, baking dish. This will prevent the pastry rising. You should try and achieve a 1 cm (half-inch) thickness. If you have pastry left over, use to make delicious cookies!
Bake at 160°C/320°F for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is golden. u Remove the beans etc and baking paper and allow to cool.

For the custard
Split open the vanilla pod and place in a saucepan with the milk. Bring to the boil gently.
In a large bowl, vigorously beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the result is light in colour and frothy.
Add the flour and beat well.
Add the milk gradually, (remove the vanilla pod, scraping the seeds back into the milk) beating constantly with a whisk.
Slowly reheat, stirring constantly only in one direction until quite thick. The custard will thicken even more once it cools. Allow to cool, covering with clingfilm/saran wrap to avoid a skin forming.

To assemble
Fold whipped cream into the cooled custard. Fill the base with this and decorate with fruit.
This pie is best enjoyed at room temperature soon after it has been made, i.e. not refrigerated.
 

Just for kicks and giggles, here's a picture of a really odd dish I made yesterday.

I won't blather on about my excess of butternut squash (but there's a lot of them).  In my search for something different to do with them, I ran across Giada's recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna. 

Yeah.

Shoulda known right then to stop before I started.

In all fairness, it wasn't bad.  It was just...strange. 

Think sweet potato pie meets cheesy noodles. My daughter kept saying "it tastes like pie!"  And coming out of the oven it smelled quite heavenly.  Just not something I think we want to eat for dinner again.