Black Pepper Tart Shell, Lavender Pastry Cream, Raspberries, Lavender Blossoms, Bachelor Buttons, Viola
This is a riff on a really amazing desert I had in London a few years ago at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester Hotel. The thing that stuck out was how fresh and vibrant the raspberries were. A perfectly ripe raspberry is hard to come by. The ones you find in a supermarket are picked entirely too early to ensure that they will arrive still intact. Many at markets are over-ripe, wilting under their own weight. These are still delicious, they just don't work out well for presentation. The key to finding perfect berries is to buy local and arrive early before the heat and people's hands degrade the berries. Or you could just become a world-class chef and run a three Michelin Star restaurant in London and let the perfect berries come to you.
This tart crust is very similar to a pie crust. It uses all of the same ingredients but the dough is worked much more vigorously resulting in less flakiness and more structure suited to the pastry cream. I worked some black pepper into the dough because I kind of always like to have some pepper with berries. The shell was baked and cooled before being filled with the cream.
The cream was made by steeping fresh lavender flowers in heavy cream and milk. Sugar was added and the milk was heated to just under a simmer. Eggs were whisked in along with some corn starch. Everything was whisked on low heat until it thickened to a pudding consistency. The cream was placed in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap and chilled. Was completely cooled and set it was spooned into the pastry crust.
The tart was carefully topped with the berries as well as some lavender, corn, and viola flowers to finish.
Product:
Raspberries - Buzby Farm
Raw Milk - Hillacres Pride
Pastured Eggs - Culton Organics
Organic English Daisy - My Garden
Organic Lavender - My Garden
Organic Viola - My Garden
This tart crust is very similar to a pie crust. It uses all of the same ingredients but the dough is worked much more vigorously resulting in less flakiness and more structure suited to the pastry cream. I worked some black pepper into the dough because I kind of always like to have some pepper with berries. The shell was baked and cooled before being filled with the cream.
The cream was made by steeping fresh lavender flowers in heavy cream and milk. Sugar was added and the milk was heated to just under a simmer. Eggs were whisked in along with some corn starch. Everything was whisked on low heat until it thickened to a pudding consistency. The cream was placed in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap and chilled. Was completely cooled and set it was spooned into the pastry crust.
The tart was carefully topped with the berries as well as some lavender, corn, and viola flowers to finish.
Product:
Raspberries - Buzby Farm
Raw Milk - Hillacres Pride
Pastured Eggs - Culton Organics
Organic English Daisy - My Garden
Organic Lavender - My Garden
Organic Viola - My Garden