Last Night's Dinner

We had some good luck last night when we made dinner for our friends. Tandoori chicken, curried green beans, and almond raspberry tart. I am including the recipe for the tart here because it was so gosh darn easy. If you find nice raspberries at the store, I highly recommend it. I found it in last month's issue of Sunset magazine.

Raspberry Almond Tart

The crust of this tart tastes more like a frangipane than a sugar dough and you simply press it into the bottom of the tin - no pesky walls to break. Then pop it in the oven for baking without pastry weights or docking!

Crust

3/4 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup All purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 egg + 1 yolk

1 tsp. almond extract

Preheat oven to 350. In a food processor, pulse almonds and sugar until finely ground, being careful to stop before they turn into nut butter. Add flour and salt and pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. With motor running, add egg, egg yolk, and almond extract. Stop as soon as dough comes together. Press dough into the bottom of the tart tin and bake until golden - about 25 minutes. You may need to turn the tart once if your oven heats unevenly. Let tart cool and remove from tin.

Ganache

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp. cream

This most definitely flies in the face of any ganache I have made, but really the quantities are so small that the method works. Heat chocolate in a bowl or double boiler over steaming water. Make sure the water is never too hot, and remember to stir the chocolate less it burn; and never, never, drip any water into your bowl of chocolate. Once your choclolate has melted add your cream. The chocolate will cool and not readily combine with the cream. Simply continue to stir the mixture over the hot water with a spatula until it all comes to a consistent temperature and combines. Pour ganache on top of cooled crust and spread it out to the edges. You can leave a little crust bare around the edge like a pizza for a better appearance.

Cheesy Goodness

4 oz. mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup cream

Beat whipping cream with a whisk in a stand mixer or with any other sufficient kitchen contraption. Once it begins to gain volume but before it has much stiffness add the mascarpone. You will need to turn down the mixer a little until the cheese softens, and it will not combine right away. Give it a moment. As the mixture begins to smooth add the powdered sugar with the beater on low. Once the ganache is set and cooled spread cheese on top of tart.

2 pints raspberries

Decorate tart with lots of raspberries!