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I got lost in a tart this week. I spent six straight hours on Monday baking, slicing, and assembling a Pistachio Rhubarb Tart that was almost entirely consumed in about two hours. Someone asked me why I went through the trouble of making something so detailed when I knew it would be gone so quickly. Eating a tasty tart is obviously great but I did it because I enjoy every tedious step of making the tart.
Cooking but baking especially is the ultimate escape for me. When I say I got lost, I mean I was completely out of my head blissed out and lost in the pastry process for six hours. The tart had four components and took many many steps, but it all started with rhubarb. I grabbed four stalks of bright red rhubarb on Saturday at The City Market. Rhubard season is short, April to June, and when I saw them I quietly panicked knowing I could miss the season if I didn’t take them home with me right at that moment. Because of the short season, rhubarb is one of those prized culinary ingredients. Truthfully, and don’t tell anyone, I don’t really like rhubarb. The smell is offputting and the taste is meh to me but I can appreciate its beauty and enjoy my once, maybe twice, a year rhubarb experience.
Sunday night I started by placing 3 stalks of rhubarb in a dish. Adding enough H20 to cover them, a little sugar, and vanilla. I poached them in the oven at 300℉ for 30 minutes until they were JUST tender. When cooked, rhubarb turns to mush and my goal was to be able to slice it super thin. I let them cool and refrigerated them in the poaching liquid overnight. The dark red stalks faded to a beautiful bright pink.
Monday morning I woke up early, had a coffee, did an hour of yoga on the deck, and then got in the kitchen. I started by making a compote with one remaining stalk of fresh rhubarb and a handful of strawberries. The fruit was cooked over low heat with a little sugar, maybe for 30 minutes? First, the juices release and it becomes very liquidy. With some time the fruit breaks down and it starts to thicken as moisture evaporates.
After the compote was off the stove and cooling I moved on to the crust. A traditional sweet tart crust pulsed in a food processor but made Marco friendly with goat butter and GF flour. GF doughs of any kind can be a huge pain in the ass. I have zero shame in pressing in tart crusts vs rolling out and transferring. Especially when a crust lacks gluten entirely! I spent 15 minutes on the crust. First evenly dispersing the dough throughout the shell. Then running over it 3-4 times meticulously tapping over and over to get it perfectly even all around. With every touch, I could feel the goat butter softening under my warm fingers. It’s a delicate game of moving quickly but spending an extra minute making sure it is perfect.
While the dough chilled I did my first round of dishes. Unloading the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, and handwashing the rest. The food processor was dried and immediately dirtied up again to grind pistachios into a fine powder. Then the stand mixer was lugged from the cabinet below and frangipane was made. Butter and sugar were creamed until fluffy, eggs were incorporated one at a time, and a fine sand of pistachios were added to create a nutty custard. This was the main filling of my tart and the strawberry rhubarb compote was sandwiched between two layers of pistachio frangipane.
Against my better judgment and for research purposes, I baked the tart without docking or adding weights. In theory, if the crust contains no gluten then you shouldn’t have any shrinkage when blind baked, right? Wrong. At 10 minutes I could see the butter warming and the sides slipping down. I removed it and performed emergency surgery to push them back up before adding weights (beans). The overall appearance was flawed but I knew it would be fine once filled and covered with rhubarb.
I piped a layer of frangipane, spooned strawberry rhubarb compote in the center, and covered it all with another layer of frangipane. Into the oven for 40-50 minutes. This is where I always start to pray. Making the components on their own is no sweat but combining them and hoping everything bakes well is anxiety-inducing. This is also what I love about working on a baking project, you don’t have time to sit there and worry. Once I popped that thing in the oven I carefully sliced paper-thin strips of poached rhubarb to decorate the finished tart.
Before filling the tart I traced the top on a piece of parchment. Okay, that was a lie. I forgot to trace it before adding the crust but remembered after it was chilled and before I baked it the first time. I carefully flipped it over and traced it before putting it in the oven. Using a ruler I drew a geometric design that I was hoping to recreate with the strips of rhubarb. I laid the strips of rhubarb one by one to fill the sketch. Then I used a super sharp knife to trim the edge clean.
When the tart came out I instantly started obsessing over the uneven surface. The outer edge of frangipane caramelized a bit more and was slightly elevated. This left a slightly sunken center. Using a bread knife I gently shaved it down flush with the crust but it wasn’t perfect. Remember the stages of baking grief? I went through them all and quickly had to accept the flawed surface and move on because the clock was ticking.
Slowly and carefully I transferred each perfectly trimmed strip of rhubarb to the top of the tart. I grabbed a pair of small sharp sewing scissors and trimmed any overhang. To finish I brushed the rhubarb top with simple syrup for shine. She was finished. Beautiful, delicious, and perfect.
After six hours I was exhausted. Not to mention I also roasted a chicken for dinner as soon as I was done snapping photos. Nothing wears you down like cooking all day. It’s a very specific body ache. My shoulders and traps fired up after hour two of bending over the rhubarb slices. I can ignore the tingle and ache down my legs all day while working but the fatigue becomes loud and obvious after my first sit down at the end of the day. Besides the physical exhaustion, I purposely planned and executed a six-hour day of baking because of the escape. I didn’t think about emails or writing this week’s newsletter. I was able to get lost in how the dough felt under my fingers, the aroma of pulverized pistachios, and the obsessive trimming of paper-thin rhubarb. I escaped from life and was able to focus on the creative project in front of me. At the end of the day when the dishes are clean and we are sugar high from eating too much, I feel accomplished. Happy, relaxed, and accomplished.
I don’t have a recipe for this tart as it was a creative experiment. In today’s Recipe Inspo I added some tart recipes.
Stuff to Read
Recipe Inspo
Listen To This
Places I Ate
We finally made it over to Betty Rae’s Ice Cream this week. When I discovered that they have two dairy-free flavors that Marco can eat, we rushed out to get a scoop. The dairy-free options are coconut-based. The vanilla tasted like coconut and but the chocolate did not. The texture of the chocolate was incredible! I told the guy to give me a scoop of whatever flavor he wanted and I ended up with Honey Cornbread. I was not mad with his selection at all. It rode the line of being slightly savory but still a sweet dessert. The cornbread chunks varied in size and created a pleasant experience while eating. This flavor is seasonal so grab it while you can!
Thing Everybody Needs
A big part of baking is being precise. There is no shame in using a ruler to make sure things are perfect. I like this two-pack. They are stainless steel and easy to clean. Plus having a second comes in handy if your first one is dirty.
Animal Cuteness
The OG couple. They love each other.
Kitchen Club members I’ll see you Wednesday to make brownies!!
See you next week, M.