Mixing the Berries

I had a bunch of raspberries in my yard that needed to be used and I thought the best way to use them was to put them in a tart. My raspberries are the tiny ones, but don’t let their size fool you. They may be small, but they are mighty. They are packed with flavor and are very sweet.

I thought the best way to use up these fresh, sweet raspberries was to use them to make a tart. I LOVE raspberries, but Larry does not. He is not much a fruit person, whereas I love all kinds of fruit. He does like strawberries though. So I mixed the berries and made my tart 1/2 with raspberries and 1/2 with strawberries.

First I made my pate sucre, or sweet dough, for the tart. Cherry Custard Tart. Then I made my custard. Every time I make custard, I think of my dad. He LOVED his custards. Jeanne Dear, Can You Make Me Some Custard From there, it was just assembly. My custard recipe is way back from my days in culinary school, from one of my favorite chef instructors, my pasty instructor, Rudy Rosier. It is THE BEST custard, and only takes a few simple ingredients. It is so silky and creamy. YUM! Fortunately, I always make enough for a few recipes to come out of it, or to just eat and enjoy on its own.

The Custard

This recipe makes enough to fill a 9×13 baking pan.

2 sticks of butter

3 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

6 cups milk

1 TBSP vanilla

4 eggs

4 oz or 8 TBSP corn starch

Spray the cooking pan with cooking spray.

Combine the butter, milk and sugar in a large pot.

Cook until the butter and sugar are completely melted and bring to a boil.

While the milk mixture is cooking, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and cornstarch until smooth and creamy.

When the milk mixture starts to boil, immediately turn off the heat. Take some of the hot milk mixture and slowly pour into the egg mixture, whisking continuously to make sure the eggs don’t scramble and cook. This is called tempering.

Once you have tempered the eggs, you can whisk them into the rest of the milk mixture. Whisk until the mixture thickens up. It should only take a couple of minutes. Then pour the custard into the prepared cooking pan and cover immediately with plastic wrap to avoid getting a “skin” on the custard. Let cool completely before spreading into your tart shell.

Once you spread you custard over the tart, you can top it with any kind of fruit you like. Mix it up however you wish. The tart and the custard are the basics and the fruit is just the finishing touch.

Then melt some fruit jam to cover the fruit, by lightly brushing it over the fruit. Using the jam on top of the fruit will sweeten things up a bit, act as a preserver and will make the fruit just pop by making it bright and shiny.

Life is short. Start with dessert first.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I have worked in the restaurant and catering industry for over 35 years. I attended 2 culinary schools in Southern California, and have a degree in culinary arts from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, as well as a few other degrees in other areas. I love to cook and I love to feed people. View all posts by ajeanneinthekitchen