My OperaGrape Meringue Tart
Thursday, March 5, 2009 1:58:05 AM
Some time ago, a friend of mine asked me to do something with grapes.
Grape is quite a tricky fruit to turn into desserts. It is juicy, flavorful, sweet and sour, gelatinous in the middle, has a relatively hard / thick skin, and, sometimes, has a couple of terribly bitter seeds. But it is such a delicious fruit that I just have to make an effort to do something.
(By the way, we had decided raisins wouldn't do for grapes)
At first, I thought of making a Huge Grape (something like a Huge OJ, but then I gave up.
I had bought some seedless grapes (what already fixes up the bitter seeds problem). And after thinking and procrastinating for some days, I felt those grapes had to turn into something quickly, before they started to darken and deteriorate!
And what could be better than starting by turning the grapes into a preserve?
Well, ok, I had the preserve. That should give me some more days, but I couldn't hold much longer. Now, think, Renato, think... You can come up with something good, new and that uses grapes preserve.
And then I got to a pie. Actually, a tart. tarts are a specific kind of pie, when there's no top pastry, and, most of the times, contains fruit fillings. But details apart, I "continued" my recipe by baking my crusts, then.
Grape is quite a tricky fruit to turn into desserts. It is juicy, flavorful, sweet and sour, gelatinous in the middle, has a relatively hard / thick skin, and, sometimes, has a couple of terribly bitter seeds. But it is such a delicious fruit that I just have to make an effort to do something.
(By the way, we had decided raisins wouldn't do for grapes)
At first, I thought of making a Huge Grape (something like a Huge OJ, but then I gave up.I had bought some seedless grapes (what already fixes up the bitter seeds problem). And after thinking and procrastinating for some days, I felt those grapes had to turn into something quickly, before they started to darken and deteriorate!
And what could be better than starting by turning the grapes into a preserve?
Well, ok, I had the preserve. That should give me some more days, but I couldn't hold much longer. Now, think, Renato, think... You can come up with something good, new and that uses grapes preserve.
And then I got to a pie. Actually, a tart. tarts are a specific kind of pie, when there's no top pastry, and, most of the times, contains fruit fillings. But details apart, I "continued" my recipe by baking my crusts, then.
But these are not simple crusts. They're peanut crusts. In Brazil, we have a candy wich is made with Peanut meal and Sugar, which are packed into small logs or bricks. They're called Paçoca (Pah-so-kah), and make delicious popular treats for a quick grab-and-go. But they're kinda dry, so, to pack everything, instead of using butter, I went for the natural substitution: Peanut Butter.
And just to make something more special, some meringue would be great to top the tarts. Just check out how beautiful the final result is, and I bet you'll understand me: It was just wonderful! And what makes me happier: A completely original recipe, created by me!!!
Grape Meringue Tart
Makes about 2 medium tarts / 15 small tartlets
PEANUT CRUST
200g peanut meal*
1/2 cup peanut butter
* To make peanut meal, I'd suggest to toast about 150g peanuts and ground them with 50g sugar.
Mix the 200g peanut meal with the 1/2 cup peanut butter. mix well, until you have a hard consistensy, that doesn't stick to your hands. Allow it to chill for nearly 30 minutes before using.
Pre-heat oven at 220 Degrees Celcius. Spread the dough in a springform pan or small molds, and bake it for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven to 190 Celcius.
GRAPE SYRUP500g Seedless grapes
1/2 cup Demerara sugar
1/2 cup water
Dash of lemon juice
This one's easy, too. In a heavy sauce pan, put the 500g grapes (you can split about one third, just to help extract some juices), the 1/2 cup sugar, the dash of lemon juice and 1/2 cup water.
Allow everything to a gentle simmer. The juices should start to come out. Keep in the simmer for nearly 30 minutes, mixing just a few times, taking care for it not to come to a boil. Allow it to cool and chill it.
You should still have about 1/2 cup syrup in the bottom, besides the fruits. Drain it and separate for further use.
GRAPE MERINGUE
2 egg whites
1/2 cup Grape syrup
1/2 cup white sugar
Dash of lemon juice
Pinch of salt
This is the third easy part. In a small sauce pan, heat the grape syrup. meanwhile, in a clean, greaseless bowl, start whipping the egg whites. When the syrup starts to bubble, add it to the whipping egg whites, slowly, until it starts to get stiff. We're coming close to a meringue.
Continue Whipping and gently add the 1/2 cup white sugar, the dash of lemon juice and the pinch of salt. You should come to a very consistent grape flavored meringue.
ASSEMBLY
Fill each pie shell with some preserved grapes. Add the meringue on top, and, with a spoon, make some nice waves.
Bake the tarts in the pre-heated oven (190 Celcius) for 25 minutes more, until the top get golden dashes on the waves.
Allow it to cool before unmolding and slicing.
Unregistered user # Friday, March 6, 2009 6:23:07 PM