Jewel

Tarte aux figues A.K.A. Fig Tart

Undertaking this complex tart was intimidating. But a long weekend was ahead of my husband and I, so, time was on our side. I just needed a bit of patience.

The original recipe is from the owner of Coeur en Fleur (meaning Like a Flower), a pastry and bakery shop in Yokohama, Japan - Masaru Okuda – He actually wanted to be a movie director but life threw him some curveballs along with lucky breaks so he is now a decorated pastry chef and author of several cookbooks.

This not-pre-baked tart lacks crispiness and I may do it differently next time. I didn’t follow his steps exactly because of missing material and ingredients but I believe I captured some sparkles.

Making of the Jewel

First step - Make pistachio paste (or use store bought paste)

• Pistachio nuts approximately 150g – shelled and soaked in warm water for 10 minutes.
  
• Olive oil 1-2 teaspoons

1. Drain the soaked water and dry nuts with paper towel. Squeeze nuts with your thumb and pointer finger, soft inner skin should slip right off.
2. Put nuts and olive oil in a food processer and stir until it becomes a gritty paste. Note: if you like smooth paste you may use mortar and pestle. 
3. Cover with plastic wrap. Keep it in the refrigerator until needed.
   

Second step – Make almond pistachio cream

• Butter 100g at room temperature
• Powdered sugar 100g divided in half
• Almond powder 100g
• Corn starch 10g
• 2 eggs beaten, at room temperature
• Pistachio paste 90g. See above

1. Sift together almond powder, 50g of powdered sugar and corn starch. Almond powder is tough to sift, use large mesh sieve for this. Set aside. 
2. Cream butter and rest of 50g of powdered sugar with whisk in a large bowl until well mixed; 2 minutes.
   
3. Add almond flour mixture in two stages to creamed butter, whisk well.
4. Add egg in 4-5 stages to butter mixture. Mix well each time. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
5. Add 90g of pistachio paste and mix well. Cover and put back in refrigerator until needed
   

Third step – Make Chocolate tart shell

Necessary equipment – thermometer

• Butter 85g at room temperature
• Powdered sugar 55g
• 1 Egg beaten
• Weak Power flour 150g Sift with cocoa powder three times
• Cocoa powder 20g

1. Cream butter in a large bowl slowly, whisk but not whip so that you don’t incorporate air into the butter. Add sugar and mix well.
2. Warm the egg in double boiler style to 35 C. (I used a metal bowl that sits on a size smaller pan with an inch of hot water - water should not touch the bottom of metal pan).
3. Add warmed egg in 4 to 5 stages to butter mixture. Mix well each time.
4. Add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture in 2 separate batches. Combine well with spatula until you no longer see the flour. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours or more.

Forth step – custard cream

• 400cc milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 Tablespoons cake flour or weak power flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 Tablespoon butter
• Vanilla

1. Put milk, egg yolks, flour and sugar in a large microwave bowl. Mix well.
2. Microwave for 5 minutes at 50% power. When it’s done mix well with whisk. Do this 2-3 times whisking each time until creamy but not runny custard.
3. Add butter and vanilla and mix well till butter has melted.
4. Strain through sieve for smoother texture. Place plastic wrap directly on top of custard and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Video instruction is here.

Fifth step – Fit shell in a tart ring

Necessary equipment – 18x1  inch tart ring ( I used 20x8 inch ring), cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Important tip – if you feel the dough is getting too soft put back in refrigerator.

1. Take out tart shell from refrigerator and  put on the hard surface sprinkled with little bit of flour.
2. Bang dough with side of wooden roller, change the direction several times, flatten to half inch thick.
3. Roll out and cut enough to cover diameter of ring plus inch larger perimeter of ring. Place the cut out dough on the prepared cookie sheet and rest for 30 minutes.
4. Fit dough in the ring and mold into an inch up the side of ring with your finger. Cut off excess with knife. Prick with a fork all over.

Sixth step –Construction and baking process

Necessary equipment's – pastry bags, 1/2 inch round tip

• 6-7 figs for filling plus 2-3 for decoration. Skinned and cut in wedges filling, slice thin for decoration

1. Take the almond pistachio cream out of refrigerator 10 minutes before this process. Heat oven to 320F. Put cream in the pastry bag with round tip.
2. Squeeze out half of the cream out to make a spiral fashion onto the unbaked chocolate tart shell.
   
3. Lay wedge cut figs on top of the almond cream.
4. Squeeze rest of cream on top of figs and spread out evenly with a spatula.
5. Bake for 1 hour. When it’s done, put it on the wire rack to cool then remove ring.
   

Final Polish – decoration 

• Syrup (50g of sugar, 50g of warm water mix well)
• Fruits
• Apricot napaju (1 Tablespoon of apricot jam, 2 tablespoon of warm water; mix well )
• Pastry brush

1. Brush surface of tart with syrup.
   
2. Put custard cream in the pastry bag with round tip and squeeze bag to create spiral design.
   
3. Decorate with fig and other desired fruits.
4. Brush fruits with apricot napaju so that fruits will shine like precious stones and prevent from drying out.

I did not have enough figs to decorate entire top though, I have some delicious late comer strawberries and seedless grapes from our garden. I decorated it having a image of a fancy necklace in mind.

I love, love tomatoes… The tomatoes in our garden are still quite green. It is now questionable that they ever get fully ripe before weather gets cold. Neighbor brought us beautiful tomatoes and summer squash from their garden. Nice! Several days later,  we spied heirloom tomatoes at town’s Thursday market. These were also fantastic! $2 per pound but the seller give us discount.Last Sunday at church, a lady member brought some tomatoes to share.

My tread mill was temporarily dead. I walked for 4 miles OUTSIDE. I conquered the hill (?)!I stopped for a free snack.I was tempted but I left alone those pears (?).Sign of Fall is starting to show already… Amazing alley of color! I almost started singing Armstrong but I was panting too much. Really prett……yeeek!

Open house for a young man leaving for two year missionary work. HIs destination – Cancun Mexico. Hola! I brought a Charles’s gluten free cake there. Buena Suerte (Good Luck!) Amigo!

My husband made a loaf of bread……for Organic Bee-Nut Butter, we bought it at Thursday market.Nut butt(er)! As I’m saying, not bad!

Tale of two desserts

Oh I love Dickens,,,. but this is nothing to do with a novel.

Tale One

Preface

On Monday this week I made this for our Family Evening Group. Every other Monday we (20 or so empty nesters) meet at an assigned home for scripture study, church history lesson,  game or whatever. Christmas is near so we had a White Elephant gift exchange pot luck party.  I was asked to bring a dessert. This complicated Italian dessert was a bit challenging but I’m kind of glad I did because no one else in dessert department brought something home made. Others brought very familiar C brand warehouse value pack cupcakes and pies. Nothing wrong with that, just didn’t make me feel special. My husband removes the frosting on those kind of cupcakes before consuming. The name of this chocolate pie is Crostata alla crema di cioccolata con pistacchi siciliani. That sounds very importante!  In English it is Chocolate custard tart with Sicilian pistachios

Chapter 1 - Dough

• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2  teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons shelled unsalted Sicilian pistachios*
• 1 3/4 sticks of chilled unsalted butter cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk

1. In a bowl - mix 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour and salt
2. In a food processer – put the remaining 1 tablespoon flour and nuts; finely grind using Pulse button. Combine in the bowl with flour mixture above.
3. In a electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment-combine butter and sugar. Mix on medium low speed until well combined, about 4 minutes. Add the whole egg, then egg yolk. Then add flour mixture in 2 steps, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.
4. Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Shape into flattened disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. Between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, roll out dough to an 11 inch round; remove and discard plastic. Fit dough into a 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom. Press dough into edges of pan, using knife to trim excess dough along top edge. Prick bottom of dough with fork all over. Chill in freezer for 10 minutes.
6. Line tart shell with foil or parchment paper, Leaving 1 inch overhang; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake in oven for 15 minutes at 350 F, remove the pie weights and parchment. Continue baking until crust is dry to touch – 15 minutes or so. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Chapter 2 – Chocolate custard

• 1/2 cup plus 1-1/2 tablespoons shelled unsalted Sicilian pistachios
• 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate roughly chopped
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate roughly chopped
• 1-1/4 cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1. In a food processer-pulse nuts until finely chopped then spread on baking sheet and lightly toast in oven (you may have to stir few times to prevent burning). Set aside 1-1/2 table spoons toasted nuts in small bowl for garnishing.
2. Combine bittersweet and semisweet chocolate in a medium bowl.
3. Combine remaining nuts , cream, milk and sugar in a small saucepan; bring mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and let stand for 20 minutes.
4. Strain milk mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Transfer back to saucepan and bring to a boil again (do not skip this process for smooth texture chocolate custard).
5. Pour about 1/3 of the hot milk mixture over the chocolate and very gently whisk together until chocolate is melted. Add remaining milk mixture and gently whisk to combine.
6. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Pour about 1/3 of the chocolate mixture over eggs and gently whisk just to combine. Then pour egg mixture over chocolate mixture, add salt and very gently whisk until smooth.

Climax

Fill crust with chocolate custard; put tart pan on a baking sheet. Carefully transfer to oven and bake at 275 F. until edges of custard are set but center is still jiggle about 35 minutes. Set pie on a wire rack to cool. sprinkle with reserved pistachios. Serve at room temperature.

 

Epilogue

Author’s notes

* Of course I did not use Sicilian pistachios, regular kind is fine. Due to lack of time, I also used a store bought crust. Happy ending nonetheless…

Tale 2

まえがき

On Tuesday night, I attend Church’s Relief Society Christmas Party- this is a women only gathering. “My favorite things” was the theme. You’re supposed to bring your favorite whatever thing for exchange gift. Brainstorming, what  should I bring, my husband announced that he is busy tonight and I can’t bring him to the party. OK, OK. My second favorite is oil painting but I can’t paint in one day, so my third favorite thing  to do is cooking. I made this cup cake using a Japanese cup cake cook book. Closely following this recipe, I only produced  8 cupcakes. I should have known. Next time I have to double the recipe.

 

第一章 – The base

• Unsalted butter 50g at room temperature
• Sugar 80g
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• Lemon rind -  about 1 teaspoon
• A pinch of salt
• Milk 60ml
• Flour 100g – sifted with 1 teaspoon of baking powder 

1. In a electric mixer, cream butter at medium speed. Add sugar.
2. Add salt, egg and lemon rind, mix until smooth.
3. Add half of milk and mix.
4. Add half of flour mixture a little at a time scraping the side of bowl once in a while.
5. Add the rest of the milk a little at a time. Then add rest of flour mixture a little at a time, mix well until smooth.
6. Spoon into cup cake pan lined with paper and bake at 340 F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden color, remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

第二章－ Lemon curd

• 2 large egg yolks
• Sugar 50g
• Butter 20g
• Lemon juice 30ml
• A pinch of salt

Put everything in a small sauce pan, cook while stirring with whisk, stop the cooking before full boil. Strain the curd if you like more smooth texture.

 

クライマックス

With a spoon, spread lemon curd on the cooled cake. Whip 200g of heavy cream with 1 table spoon sugar, 1 teaspoon of lemon extract if you have one until peak, Pipe on top of lemon curd.

 

あとがき

This cup cake and the made-in-Japan spatula were ‘My Favorite Things’ gift exchange items. The lady who got my gift ate it on the spot and loved it. Sweet success. Just need to remember to take pictures of the process next time.