Fruit Tart

Before I begin, let’s just take a quick moment to admire that tart. Seriously, its gorgeous. I’m proud.  The inspiration for this fruit tart came from a dream. Please tell me I’m not the only one who dreams about food all the time. 

This fruit tart is a mixture of Indian and French desserts. The crust is made from coconut burfi/ kopra pak/ coconut fudge. Coconut fudge is a traditional Indian dessert served during festivals and other celebratory occasions. The crust I made this time was kind of thick, so if you really love coconut this is for you

I had a few friends over last night to watch last night episode of MasterChef (more about last night’s episode below!) and I made the tart for dessert. I figured I could use them as my guinea pigs for my recipes. It was an overall good review, some people weren’t fans of  the coconut. The next time I make it I might do 50/50 coconut and graham cracker crumbs with a much thinner crust. It’s all about experimenting right?

The filling has a few Indian spices (::cough:: cardamom ::cough::)  in it to continue with the theme. The cream is just sweet enough to enhance the fruit’s flavors. I would eat gallons of this pastry cream if it was socially acceptable.

Overall, this tart is perfect for the summer and extremely impressive to look at. If you want your friends to think you’re a pastry queen/king then I highly suggest making this fruit tart.

Fruit Tart

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• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 1 nine-inch tart or 6 mini four-inch tarts 1x

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Ingredients

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Crust

• 2 cups dessicated unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 (7 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

Pastry Cream

• 2 cups milk
• 3 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 4 green cardamom pods
• pinch of cinnamon
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tbsp butter
• whatever fruit or berries you want to decorate with

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Instructions

Crust

1. In a large non-stick pan over low heat, toast shredded coconut until it turns golden brown
2. 
3. Add sweetened condensed milk and stir until well incorporated.
4. 
5. Let the mixture cool down for 10 minutes. Using your hands, press the coconut fudge into a greased tart pan. Keep the crust thin, otherwise it’ll be a whole lot of coconut!
6. Cool in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours.

Pastry Cream

1. Add milk, vanilla bean paste, cardamom pods and cinnamon to a saucepan. Scald the milk over medium heat and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. It’ll be a bit tough in the beginning, but it will loosen up as you mix. Keep whisking until the mixture is pale yellow/white and thick.
3. Temper the yolks by adding 1/2 cup of the scalded milk to them. Whisk continuously for 1 minute to prevent the egg from cooking.
4. Pour the eggs mixture and butter into the saucepan with the rest of the milk. Heat this on medium high heat while whisking continuously.The pastry cream will thicken as the cornstarch is activated by the heat. It’ll take a few minutes, but you’ll know when it happens!
5. Once the cream thickens, pour the pastry cream through a sieve into a bowl. This will give you a nice smooth cream. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream to prevent a skin. Refrigerate the cream until cool.
6. Pour the cream into the coconut crust and smooth out. Decorate with whatever berries or fruit you choose. I used sliced plums,nectarines, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Notes

Pastry Cream recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Coconut Fudge recipe adapted from Show me the Curry

• Prep Time: 30 minutes

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So about last night’s episode….

The challenge was to recreate Gordon Ramsay’s famous beef wellington. We all got  chance to sit in the MasterChef restaurant and savor the dish. Well, except for me since I’m a vegetarian. I got a little upset at first, but my dinner date, Chris, gave me a quick pep talk and got me motivated. I inspected, squished, cut, peeled, and tore apart that beef wellington to figure out how to make it.  Chris was sweet enough to chat with me about what was in it so I could have a better chance at succeeding.

I knew what techniques were necessary to pull this dish off, but I wasn’t sure if I could season it perfectly. I was nervous but ready!

My beef wellington ended up being “#%#$%ing delicious” according to Gordon Ramsay! SUCCESS! This challenge has to be the one I am most proud of. I overcame a hurdle most people didn’t think I could–meat. Hopefully, I can keep this up throughout the competition!