A FRENCH RHUBARB TART

     I had something else in mind for today's post, but I just had a piece of this rhubarb tart.  I suggest if you do not grow rhubarb, go to a grocery store or a farmer's market and buy some rhubarb, go home, and make this tart.

     My favorite rhubarb tart has always been the recipe from the Amana Colonies where I grew up.  It's the rhubarb pie recipe my aunt always made.  But today I strayed from that recipe and made a rhubarb tart from the book Chez Nous by Lydie Marshall that seems to have been re-released as A Passion for My Provence, since I purchased it many years ago. 
     This recipe is very much like the Blueberry Tart from the same cookbook.  The blueberry tart I will make over and over during blueberry season.  I rolled my crust ( the favorite almond  pastry recipe that I almost exclusively use for my fruit tarts) very thin and I stress that you should do so also.  That browned, crisp pastry is what you want as the shell for your tart.
     We ate our slices with a sprinkling of confectioners sugar, but if you can serve it still warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla bean or fresh strawberry ice cream, I think you'd have another winner.  I have also been wanting to make a rhubarb tart with a meringue topping.  This tart would be fabulous with a cloud of billowy, torched meringue and  I have a feeling I'll be trying that in the very, very near future.


  •   NOTE:  Yes, I have made the tart again and this time I piled it high with meringue.  It was wonderful !  Unfortunately, we ate it so fast there are no photos.

 

                                      Rhubarb  TaRt
            a recipe from A Passion For My Provence by Lydie Marshall

      Lydie Marshall says, "This tart is not so pretty when it comes out of the oven."  I disagree.  I have copied the recipe as it appears in the book.  I, however, used a 9-inch tart pan, a bit less rhubarb and a bit less sugar.

• 6 tablespoons coarsely shopped almonds
• 2/3 cup sugar
• One 10-inch Partially Prebaked Tart Shell (recipe follows)
• 1 1/2 pounds rhubarb, cut up in small cubes (4 cups)
• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, cut into shavings
• Confectioners' sugar
1.  Preheat the oven to 425˚F.
2.  Combine the chopped almonds with 3 tablespoons sugar and spread on the partially prebaked tart shell.
3.  Pile the rhubarb on top of the almond and sugar mixture.  Sprinkle the remaining sugar on the rhubarb and scatter shavings of butter on top.
4.  Bake the tart on top of a cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes.  The edge of the tart will be slightly colored and the fruit will have shrunk.
5.  Before serving, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

•  Serve with the confectioners' sugar, vanilla or strawberry ice cream , or pile the tart with meringue and bake bake or torch the tips of the meringue are brown.

                                            Lydie Marshall's Short Crust Dough

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water, depending on the weather
1.  Cut the butter into small pieces and place in the freezer for 5 minutes.
2.  In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt and butter.  Process for 10 seconds, add 2 tablespoons water in humid weather, or 3 tablespoons in dry weather.
3.  Process for another 10 seconds or until the mixture looks like cornmeal.
4.  Dump the mixture on a table or counter and bind a small amount at a time with the heel of your hand, using a sliding motion to incorporate the butter and flour smoothly.
5.  Gather the dough into a ball and flatten it.  Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 15 minutes, just long enough to firm up the butter.
6.  Flour a work surface and rolling pin.  Roll the dough to a 13-inch circle, always making sure there is flour under the dough and on the rolling pin, otherwise the dough will stick to the pastry surface or to the rolling pin.
7.  Line a 10-inch tart pan with the dough.  Trim the excess (keep it frozen until you have enough scraps to make another tart shell).  Prick the bottom and refrigerate the unbaked tart shell for 2 hours or freeze it until read to bake. 
To Partially Prebake the Tart Shell:
1.  Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
2.  Line the tart shell with aluminum foil and fill it with dry beans.
3.  Place the tart shell in the middle of the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove the beans and foil.  Bake 5 to 10 minutes to dry out the bottom without coloring.

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