I realize I haven't written in over three months, but this afternoon, as I searched for a recipe I hope to make soon, I remembered one of the reasons why I actually started this food blog. I wanted a convenient way to recall the recipes I really liked and want to make again. For me, it comes in handy that I can just type in the name of my blog, go to the Recipe Box where all the recipes I’ve ever posted are listed, and find what I’m looking for. Now, I’ll add this delicious fig tart to the list.
More than a month ago we took a trip to Vicenza, to Giacomo’s parents house, to find a bounty of fruit and vegetables, all ripe for the picking. The fruits, at this time, were the ones most begging to be picked and none more so than the dark delicious figs that hung from two tall trees next to the house.
It had been a while since I’d tasted a fresh fig and I couldn’t wait to shove tons of the juicy fruits into my mouth. Then I ran into a “problem”, after a particularly large harvesting binge (which included Fred balancing on a rickety ladder to climb onto the roof and pick out of reach figs with complete abandon) we had an overabundance of the delicious fruit. Knowing that I could not let them go to waste, I decided to find a recipe which would make use of large quantities of fresh figs.
It wasn’t easy but my ever faithful Epicurious, my favorite go-to site for finding new recipes for ingredients I already have, helped me find this recipe. Not all together difficult to make, I wondered how the tart would turn out given that I had no real tart pan to bake it in. But with a spring form pan as a substitute, the tart materialized, beautiful and ready to try after a satisfying Italian meal prepared by Giacomo.
As I sat both of us down with a slice to try, he was skeptical. Figs, rosemary, cornmeal, mascarpone, lemon, all together? Really? But as we dug in, I saw, to my complete surprise, that he liked it as much as I did. It turns out all those strange ingredients really do come together.
Fresh Fig Tart (adapted from Gourmet)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (not stone-ground)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
4 to 5 tablespoons ice water
Directions for crust:
1) Pulse together flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and rosemary and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 4 tablespoons ice water and pulse until just incorporated.
2) Gently squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition and continuing to test.
3) Press dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of tart pan with floured fingers. Smooth dough with a small offset metal spatula or back of a spoon (floured if necessary), then roll a rolling pin over top of pan to trim dough flush with rim. Chill crust until firm, about 30 minutes.
4) Preheat oven to 400°F.
5) Bake crust in middle of oven until center and edges are golden, 25 to 30 minutes (don't worry if bottom of crust cracks), then cool in pan on a rack.
Ingredients for cream:
1/3 cup sour cream*
1 cup mascarpone cheese (8 oz)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons red-currant jelly**
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 lb fresh figs
Special equipment: an 11 1/4- by 8- by 1-inch rectangular or 10-inch round fluted tart pan (1 inch deep) with a removable bottom***
Directions for cream:
1) Whisk together sour cream, mascarpone, sugar, zest, and salt in a bowl.
2) Heat jelly and honey in a small saucepan over moderately low heat, whisking, until jelly is melted, about 4 minutes, then cool glaze slightly.
3) Remove side of tart pan and spread mascarpone cream in shell. Cut figs lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices and arrange decoratively over cream. Brush figs with honey glaze.
Notes:
*Instead of sour cream, which I could not manage to find here in Italy, I substituted plain yogurt which I thickened by draining the liquids from it.
**Instead of red current jelly I just used what I had on hand, raspberry jam, and it turned out well. I think other substitutes could be made without too much worry since the glaze doesn't contribute a lot of flavor to this tart.
***I used the first inch of a tall spring form pan. If you do this, make sure to spread the crust up the sides as thickly as you spread it in the bottom.
