Rhubarb Meringue Tart

Off on holiday to France tomorrow, so thought I'd post a French recipe. Will be back posting in 2 weeks.


At the weekend I picked just enough rhubarb to make some kind of dessert. Wanted something different, and browsing through some old French cookery magazines, I found a recipe for a meringue tart with a difference, as it has a custard layer on the rhubarb before you add the meringue topping. Sounded like a great idea.
I love rhubarb, but we haven't a very big garden so I have to make good use of what we can grow!


It uses a 27cm tart tin, which is quite big.

So, you need:

350g of shortcrust pastry
1 kg rhubarb
1 egg and 2 yolks
20cl of cream
1 tbspn vanilla sugar
150 g of caster sugar (50g for marinating the rhubarb and about 100g or a bit less in the custard]
1 tbspn cornflour

For the  meringue :
 2 egg whites
50g caster sugar per egg

Preheat oven 220C/gas 8

Make the pastry and chill.
Cut the rhubarb stems into 2cm pieces, taking the strings off when necessary. Cover with the 50g of sugar and leave for an hour to macerate.
Drain the rhubarb in a sieve to get rid of some of the liquid..
Grease the tart tin and roll out the pastry to fit. Prick the bottom with a fork then add the rhubarb.
In a bowl, beat together the whole egg, yolks, cream, vanilla sugar, 100g of caster sugar [or less if you haven't got a sweet tooth] and the cornflour.
Pour this over the rhubarb and bake for 30 mins.
While it's cooking, beat the egg whites into peaks, then add the caster sugar a bit at a time - using 50g per egg gives a meringue which is dry and will harden. Use less sugar if you want a soft meringue.

When the tart is cooked, lower the oven temperature to 140C/gas1 or even lower if you can.

Pipe or spoon the meringue over the tart and put in the oven to dry out gently for about an hour. Test gently with your finger to see if it's dried.

We love meringue, so I used more than the 2 egg whites in the recipe - I used the whites from 3 large eggs to make a nice thick layer and piped it using a large nozzle.
 The acidity of the rhubarb was great with the sweet meringue and the custard layer gave it another texture. Could use this idea with other fruit - maybe apple, or plums, but I think it's the contrast between the rhubarb and the meringue which makes this tart so good.

ps I inherited several cake servers from my Mum, so decided to use one of them in the photo - it's my favourite one.

       

Asparagus Tart

I'm making the most of the British asparagus season [hence the clafoutis in my previous post] so decided to make a tart. I wanted the asparagus to be the main feature, so no tomatoes nor other veg. Creme fraiche and eggs makes a good savoury custard, so that's what I used.
To add some flavour I chopped up a spring onion [oh, I did say no other veg, but these aren't a strong flavour] and it needed some kind of herb, so I used some finely chopped thyme.
I made some shortcrust pastry for the case.

So, for the pastry: Put 200g plain flour and 120g butter in the food processor and blitz to breadcrumbs, then add 1 medium beaten egg mixed with 1 dspn water. Put it in the fridge in a polybag for 30 mins, then roll it out into a 20cm loose-bottomed flan tin. There was some pastry left over, so I put it in the freezer. I think this amount of pastry would be just right for a 22-23 cm tin, but I don't have one.
 Bake the pastry blind, plus baking beans, in oven preheated  to 190C/gas5 , then take out beans and cook it for 5 more mins.
Reduce the heat to 160C/gas3.

I used 8 stalks of asparagus, and put them in boiling water for 30 secs, then ran cold water over them till they were cold.

For the filling, Beat 2 eggs with 200ml of creme fraiche, then add a finely chopped spring onion and 1 tbspn of chopped thyme. Grate 75g of gruyere cheese and add half to the mixture. Pour the mixture into the pastry case, add the asparagus and sprinkle the other half of the cheese on top. Bake for 30 mins or till the filling is set and the top is golden.

We enjoyed the tart with some watercress, and OH had some Jersey potatoes, but I would have liked a stronger cheese flavour. Perhaps i should have used 100g or maybe a good strong Cheddar would have been better.

Again, a versatile recipe you could make with other veg.

French 'Flan'

One of my favourite French desserts, which you find in most French Patisserie shops and supermarkets, is a 'flan'. It's like our custard tart but with flour added to the custard mixture, which makes it more solid, just like a set custard. I've never made one, but browsing on the web I found a few recipes.
Apparently, French pastry chefs use a 'Flan' powder.
Some recipes used sweet shortcrust pastry, others puff pastry, but the method was usually the same. Some added seeds from a vanilla pod, others vanilla extract.
I decided to make some sweet shortcrust pastry  - these ingredients make 250g of pastry.

125g plain flour
80g cold butter cut into cubes
25ml milk
pinch salt
10g caster sugar
1 small egg yolk

Put the butter and flour onto a working surface and rub the butter in till it's fine breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the middle and pour in the milk, then add the salt and sugar and dissolve them in the milk with your fingertips. Add the egg yolk and mix it all together using both hands.Only mix till everything's combined.
Cover with clingfilm and put in fridge to rest for at least an hour.
You could use a food processor or a stand mixer with a paddle.

Line a flan tin with the pastry and put in fridge for 1/2 an hour, then bake blind at 160C/gas3 for 35 mins.

For the filling:

Bring 280ml milk and 1 tspn vanilla extract to the boil.
In a large bowl whisk together 2 eggs and 40g of caster sugar till white, then add 15g of cornflour, mix well and pour in the boiling milk.
Put the flan tin with pastry in the oven, then carefully fill with the custard mix using a jug. It's easier to do it like this so you don't spill the custard!
Bake for 30-40 mins at 140C/gas1 till golden brown.
Cool in tin.

I love the texture of this tart. It's smooth, but solid, and I like the contrast of the pastry at the bottom. I've seen lots of things added to the basic recipe, but I like it plain, just like this!