Food & Dining
For more recipes and reviews of Clark County restaurants, visit columbian.com/food
The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer, and many trees are in full bloom. It feels like the right time to put away the gingerbread and molten chocolate cake recipes, and bust out some fruit desserts.
There’s only one problem. The fruit selection at the market is similar to what it was in the middle of February: mangoes from Mexico and grapes from California, with some shriveled Spanish clementines and a few bins of apples left over from the fall. It’s not a crime to make a pie with peaches imported from Chile, although they won’t be as fragrant as local farm stand peaches in August. Frozen fruit is another option, but frozen fruit just doesn’t have the romance of fresh seasonal fruit. Instead, think about using a jar of jam to make an easy, satisfyingly fruity tart.
With jam, there’s no peeling, no slicing, no cooking, little cleanup. Simply twist off the top, measure a cup and a quarter of your favorite flavor and spread it over your tart shell. Unlike canned pie filling, which contains ingredients many of us would like to avoid — such as modified food starch, food coloring and high-fructose corn syrup — quality jams and fruit preserves are made with nothing more than fruit, sugar and natural fruit pectin.
When my filling is coming from a jar, I don’t want to make a complicated pastry crust. A simple shortbread dough doesn’t require a rolling pin or even an electric mixer. Combine some ground nuts, flour, sugar and cornmeal with melted butter, and mush everything together with your hands. Then press some of the mixture into the bottom of a pan, spread the on the jam and drop the remaining crumbs on top.
If you don’t already have one, consider making an investment of between $10 and $15 in a tart pan with a removable bottom. In addition to jam tarts, you will be able to make a variety of sweet and savory tarts, all with the professional look that comes from the pretty fluted edge. I prefer a pan with a traditional shiny metal finish to a dark nonstick pan; crusts tend to overbrown in darker pans.
A trick for removing the tart from the pan sides: Don’t try to balance the bottom on the palm of your hand. Instead, place a large can of beans or tomatoes on the countertop. Set the tart pan on top of the can, letting the ring fall to the counter, then carefully lift the tart from the can.
Jam Tart With Cornmeal-Almond Crust
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
A preheated rimmed baking sheet helps crisp the bottom of the crust and catches any drips as the tart bakes.
11/2 cups whole almonds
11/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/4 cup best-quality jam
Place a rimmed baking sheet on middle rack of oven. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom with nonstick spray.
Place almonds in bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse several times to grind. Do not overprocess.
Combine ground nuts, flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk to blend. Pour in melted butter and almond extract. Pick up handfuls of mixture and rub between your palms until all the ingredients are moistened and the mixture forms large crumbs.
Spoon 3/4 of the mixture into the prepared pan and pat firmly into an even layer across bottom. Use a small metal spatula to spread jam over the bottom crust, about 1/2-inch from the edge all around. Scatter remaining crumbs over jam. Press lightly so the crumbs stick to the jam.
Bake until tart is light golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer tart pan to a wire rack and let cool completely in pan. When cool, remove the sides of pan, cut into wedges and serve.
