6.07.2015

tarte aux framboises

{ french raspberry tart }


When I was a toddler, and until I started elementary school, my then only brother and me had a very sweet french lady taking care of us and helping around the house. I have to admit that, besides her tanned face and her kind smile, which she managed to pull even when we young brothers had our share of fun plotting against her, I can't quite recall these days. They say we start collecting memories around that age, right? Well, I was a bit too young back then to remember everything clearly.

By the time my youngest brother was born, this lady and her family opened their own restaurant and so she had to leave us. We three little kids weren't left on our own... soon came someone new, who had also been gifted with great kindness and patience, and also came to be a part of the family - she actually still works at my mom's.


Yet the reason I started by telling you this story is that I came to realize that, one surprisingly fond memory I keep from my early childwood is that every year, on my birthday, and even a couple of years after she stopped working for us, if I'm not mistaken, the lady I was talking about would make me a raspberry tart - which was, yet many may not have known, my then absolute favourite dessert.

I knew no one who would make it like her, I haven't found any tart like that since then, and I can still recall its composition perfectly: the flavour and texture of each layer, and the fact that it was topped with the hugest bouquet of berries I had ever seen. This raspberry blanket fascinated me, and I also found it thrilling that it was embedded on a thin glossy layer of gelatin. Maybe I should have foreseen my inclination for baking, for I remember thinking just how it was a much needed layer, both for the freshness it casted against the richness of the filling, almost enhancing the depth of the raspberry flavour, and for giving the pie a much needed sheen.


Some day last month I managed to buy a ton of raspberries, not eat them all in a blink of an eye and pull off my own tarte aux framboises. It was exactly just like that... That day, I had coated all my wooden furniture with two layers of mate varnish, I had made a sneaky wire extension for a lamp and at the end of it all, as if I was not happy enough with all the work I had had, I decided to pull this one off. I just did it. Then it was sitting on the fridge... and luckily it had its chance to shine at dinner, after an asparagus risotto.


tarte aux framboises.
para recordar outros tempos e outros lugares.

(para uma tarteira rectangular)
(pâte sablé de amêndoa)
250g de farinha
25g de amêndoa em pó
150g de manteiga
75g de açúcar
1 ovo
1 pitada de sal

(creme pâtissière com baunilha)
250ml de leite
1 colher de sopa de xarope de baunilha
2 gemas
60g de açúcar
25g de farinha

250g de framboesas frescas
açúcar em pó para polvilhar


(base)
Numa taça grande, misturar a farinha, a amêndoa, o açúcar e o sal. Juntar a manteiga em fatias finas, envolvendo-as bem na mistura de farinha. Utilizar as pontas dos dedos para incorporar uma na outra, sem amassar demasiado, até obter uma mistura de migalhas grosseira. Juntar o ovo e amassar apenas até obter uma massa homogénea. Envolver em película aderente e levar ao frio cerca de meia a uma hora. Estender sobre uma superfície polvilhada com farinha e forrar o fundo da tarteira com esta. Reservar novamente no frigorífico cerca de uma hora.

(recheio)
Verter o leite e o xarope de baunilha para uma panela e levar a lume brando até estar perto do ponto de ebulição. Entretanto, bater as gemas com o açúcar até obter uma mistura cremosa esbranquiçada. Juntar a farinha e misturar até obter um creme suave. Retirar o leite do lume e, muito lentamente, verter cerca de metade deste sobre a mistura de gemas, agitando-a vigorosamente com um fouet. Juntar o restante leite, sem parar de mexer. Devolver toda a mistura à panela e levar novamente ao lume, mexendo sempre até obter um creme bem espesso. Verter numa taça limpa e fria, cobrir com película aderente e deixar arrefecer completamente.

(montagem)
Pré-aquecer o forno a 200ºC. Reduzir para 180ºC, transferir a base de tarte do frigorífico para um tabuleiro colocado a meia altura do forno e deixar assar durante cerca de 20 minutos, ou até estar bem dourada. Retirar do forno e deixar arrefecer completamente antes de desenformar.
Quando a base de tarte e o creme de pasteleiro estiverem ambos à temperatura ambiente, espalhar o creme sobre a base. Decorar com as framboesas frescas e polvilhar com açúcar em pó. Reservar no frigorífico um par de horas antes de servir.

~

tarte aux framboises.
to remember a foregone time and places.

(for a rectangular pie pan)
(pâte sablé de amêndoa)
250g flour
25g almond meal
150g butter
75g sugar
1 egg
a pinch of salt

(vanilla creme pâtissière)
250ml milk
1 tbsp vanilla syrup
2 egg yolks
60g sugar
25g flour

250g fresh raspberries
powdered sugar to dust


(base)
In a big bowl, mix flour, almond meal, sugar and salt. Add the butter, cut down to thin slices, blending it using the fingertips, until reaching a coarse crumb mixture. Add the egg and mix just until obtaining an homogeneous mixture. Wrap in plastic foil and place in the fridge for about 30 min - 1 hour. Roll it over a flour-dusted surface and line the bottom of the pie pan with it. Place in the fridge for another hour.

(filling)
Pour the milk and vanilla syrup into a pan and place over medium heat until close to the boiling point. Meanwhile, cream yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. Mix in flour, to obtain a smooth batter. Remove milk from the heat and slowly pour half of it into the yolk mixture, while stirring vigorously. Add remaining milk, always stirring. Return all mixture to the pan and to the heat, stirring constantly until obtaining a very thick cream. Pour into a cold and clean bowl, cover with plastic foil and let cool completely.

(assembling)
Pre-heat oven at 200ºC. Adjust temperature to 180ºC and place the pie pan directly from the fridge into the middle rack. Let bake for about 20 minutes, or until well golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely before unmoulding.
As soon as everything reaches room temperature, spread the cream over the crust, decorate with the fresh raspberries and dust with powdered sugar. Keep in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.


~

have a nice sunday!
ines

9 comments:

  1. Olá Ines!!
    As doces lembranças da infância nos acompanham por toda a vida!
    Bela tarte!
    Beijos! =)
    www.deliciasdavodeo.com.br

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  2. Esta tarte é tudo de bom! E para além disso ficou lindíssima :)

    Beijinhos*
    Ana Filipa Costa - Petiscana

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  3. Schaut sehr verführerisch aus!
    Mhhh!

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  4. Oh what a very nice story! You seem to have made a pretty amazing looking tart! Raspberries are amazing and crust and of course the vanilla cream. Yummy

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  5. What a lovely memory of what sounds like a really lovely lady. I love creamy and tart together to contrast and this looks delicious :D

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  6. Qué delicia! La combinación de la pasta, la crema y las frambuesas hacen de la tarta una maravilla! Mmmmm...

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  7. Uma tarte linda, e com creme de pasteleiro, deliciosa sem dúvida! :-)

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  8. Adorei a tua partilha. De facto associamos pessoas a lugares, a cheiros, a coisas más e a coisas boas. Esta tarte, um "caprice d'anniversaire" como tu escreveste, é daquelas memórias doces que são agora revividas através das tuas mãos. Há pessoas que deixam em nós estes registos!

    Beijinhos

    Obrigada, também, pela partilha.

    Patrícia

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  9. Não fazia ideia da existência dessa senhora e dessas memórias :) Não há nada como recordar boas memórias da nossa infância ^^
    Essa tarte ficou simplesmente perfeita e parece ser deliciosa! :) um dia tenho de experimentar! :D

    beijinhos

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