source:
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2012/03/lindsey-sheres-legendary-almond-tart.html
March 6, 2012 | By Adam Roberts |
21 Comments
I suppose I must really like a challenge because, on the night that I made the
bouillabaisse, I also attempted a famously difficult dessert: Lindsey Shere’s Almond Tart.
Lindsey Shere, in case you don’t know, helped open
Chez Panisse
in 1971 and stayed there as pastry chef until 1998. I first heard about
her famous almond tart on my trip to San Francisco in 2007; I think it
was at a place called
Jojo in Oakland, with my friends Derrick and Melissa, that I first heard tell about it. The word “legendary” might’ve been applied.
I filed it away in my brain and at various points in my life
considered making it. But two factors held me back: (1) the making of
the tart dough, which sounded tricky; and (2) the fact that this
filling, made with cream, might bubble over and ruin my oven.
Then
David Lebovitz blogged about it
and I gained courage. Turns out the tart dough doesn’t need to be
rolled, you can press it into the pan (after refrigerating and letting
it come back to room temperature):
Then you bake it–no need to add weights–and it comes out looking nice and brown:
David warns that if the sides collapse, you should push them back up
mid-baking but I didn’t do that (I was scared to ruin the crust) and
with my slightly collapsed sides, there was danger of the filling
running over (which I think it did–but turns out it didn’t really
matter. Except in detaching, as you’ll see in a moment.)
The filling is pretty incredible. You heat cream and sugar:
And when it starts to foam up, you add a cup of slivered almonds, almond extract and Grand Marnier (or Amaretto).
Pour that into your tart crust:
And as you can see, I placed the tart on a foil-lined cookie sheet to
deal with any bubble-up (to protect my oven). It worked like a charm.
Here’s the finished tart:
The only problem I encountered, after the tart cooled and I removed
the sides (by pressing up from the bottom) was removing that bottom
piece which was stuck on like glue. (So that’s why you want the sides of
the tart built up, so the filling doesn’t bubble over and create a sort
of caramel cement on the bottom.)
That may look disastrous but worry not! When flipped back over, no
one knew the difference. Everyone “ooohed” and “ahhhed” when I brought
this to the table:
And the taste! Like the most sophisticated, refined candy bar you can
imagine: a buttery crust, a crispy, caramel interior with almond crunch
and flavor. The cream keeps things gentle–you don’t wind up with brick
(as once happened when I attempted a similar tart
here).
There’s a reason this tart is legendary: it lives up to the hype. And
even if you have to unhinge the bottom with a blowtorch, it’ll be well
worth it.
Recipe: Lindsey Shere’s Legendary Almond Tart
Summary: From The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook by way of David Lebovitz.
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar PLUS 1 cup for the filling
- 1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 tablespoon ice water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract PLUS 1/8 tsp for filling
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 2 teaspoons Grand Marnier or Amaretto
Instructions
- First make the tart using a food processor. Pulse the flour and 1
tablespoon sugar together; then add all of the butter and pulse until it
looks like coarse meal or grated Parmesan.
- At that point, add the ice water, the vanilla extract and 1/8
teaspoon almond extract. Pulse a few times until it starts to come
together. If it doesn’t, open the top of the mixer and grab a fistful:
if it holds together, you’re ready. Dump the contents on to a floured
piece of plastic wrap and use the wrap to shape the dough into a disc.
Wrap the disc and refrigerate for one hour.
- After an hour, remove the dough and allow it to come to room
temperature. When it’s there, press the dough into a tart pan using your
hands. I find the back of my hands worked best to flatten the dough on
to the bottom; thumbs work well for pushing the dough up the sides.
David Lebovitz recommends conserving a little dough in case you need to
patch things up later–and that’s a smart idea.
- Put the tart shell in the freezer and chill thoroughly (about an hour).
- Heat your oven to 375 F and bake the shell for 20 to 30 minutes
until it’s light golden brown. Remove from the oven and patch any holes
with that leftover dough.
- Now make the filling: heat the cream, 1 cup sugar and salt in a big
pot until it begins to boil. Keep cooking until it foams up, then
immediately remove from the heat and add the almonds, almond extract and
liquor.
- Pour the filling into the shell–being careful not to pour over the
height of the crust (in case your crust shrank during cooking). Place
the tart on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake about 30
minutes (it took mine longer) until the tart is the color of coffee.
David recommends you tap the top of the tart with a rubber spatula every
10 minutes or so to avoid the “corn flaky” look–but stop as the filling
sets up.
- When the tart is done (and color really is the only way to know),
remove it from the oven and cool for a few minutes on a cooling rack.
- Use a paring knife to detach the crust from the sides of the tart
pan and then press up from the bottom. Allow to cool completely and just
before serving, flip the tart upside down and remove the bottom. If you
have trouble like I did you can use a bench scraper or chef’s knife to
detach it or do as David suggests and set the tart on top of a warm
stove burner for a second or two and it should come right off.
- You can serve this with ice cream or creme fraiche, but we enjoyed it just by itself.
Preparation time:
45 minute(s)
Cooking time:
1 hour(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8