Love a good Tart... especially when they're easy!

I had a hankering for dessert one evening. Nothing too heavy; didn't feel like chocolate (a rarity), didn't feel like ice-cream (almost unspeakable). I knew I had a punnet (pint) of raspberries that needed to be eaten so rather than dousing them with Grand Manier, a little sugar, and heavy cream, I decided to be a little 'fancier' and knock up a tart. I really couldn't be bothered with the whole drawn out pressing dough into tart pan and baking blind thing, so instead went for something a little more rustic. It has a French name, but for the life of me that name eludes me as I write this (might update this later when I have that flash of memory that will inevitably occur at 3.27am tomorrow morning).

You might be interested to know that raspberries, along with strawberries, apples, plums, and cherries (amongst others) actually belong to the rose family... so is it then fair to say that 'a raspberry by any other name would taste as sweet'? Who knows... but what I do know is that this tart was simplicity personified, the flavoursome, sticky, sweet juice given off by the raspberries was magnificent, and between my wife and I, the whole thing barely lasted 15 minutes... I kid you not!

Free-form Raspberry Tart

Ingredients

Pate Brisee
175g all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp granulated white sugar
113 grams unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/8-1/4 cup ice water

Filling
2 cups fresh raspberries
2 tbsp granulated white sugar

Method

Pate Brisee
In a food processor, place the flour, salt, and sugar and process until combined. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal (about 15 seconds). Pour 1/8 cup (30 ml) water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube until the pastry just holds together when pinched. Add remaining water, if necessary. Do not process more than about 30 seconds.

Turn the pastry out onto your work surface, gather it into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour to chill the butter and allow the gluten in the flour to relax.

Once the pastry has chilled, remove from refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into an 11 inch (28 cm) round (in the photo to the right I have trimmed the edges to produce a 'sort of round'. It sure didn't look like that after I'd rolled it!). To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards to get uniform thickness). Transfer the pastry to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and sprinkle the pastry with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Leaving about a 1 1/2 inch (4 cm) border all around, cover the pastry with the raspberries, stem ends down. I started by plopping one raspberry in the center of the pastry and work out in concentric circles, making sure the raspberries are placed close together (possibly would have worked better if I'd started in circles from the outside but I just wasn't sure if I had enough raspberries!). Gently fold the edges of the pastry up and over the filling, pleating as necessary, being careful not to squash the raspberries. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the raspberries.

Bake the tart in a preheated 450 degree F (205 degree C) oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the raspberries have given off just a little of their juice (you want the raspberries to hold their shape and not be mushy). Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve plain or with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Devour with joy and gusto!