Ooh, what a tart!

It's been a rather busy weekend. Not only have we been at a wedding reception on Friday evening, we then had a meal out on Saturday, followed by drinks for a friends birthday, then today N has been working (did I mention it's Sunday? What kind of crazy company ask people to work on a Sunday?) As a result of all these goings on I though N might a like a little treat to ease the fact that he's going to have a long week after a very short and tiring weekend.

I had some mascarpone in the fridge that needed using, and decided that since it's been so hot and the summer fruits are in full swing the best thing to do would be a simple fruit tart. It would require minimal baking, which in the current heat is a very welcome thing indeed. It would also mean that N would actually get to taste some summer berries instead of watching them disappear into the freezer!

I planned to make a simple sweet pastry shell in my new tart pan, and then fill it with a mascarpone cream and top it with berries. I hadn't factored into this perfectly laid plan the fact that the last thing you want to be attempting in a hot humid kitchen is pastry. Argh! I just couldn't get the dough cold enough to work with, despite having chilling it first in the fridge and then the freezer. As soon as I removed it from the cling film and started rolling it, it got warm again and became almost impossible to work with. How on earth do people working in hot kitchens manage it? In the end I did the best I could and had to patch the shell where it had come apart. Not the prettiest most professional tart shell ever, but it would have to do. I slung it in the freezer to chill before I cooked it and then blind-baked it for 20 mins.


Fortunately the shell looked alright when it came out of the oven. While it was cooling I mixed some mascarpone with the juice of half a lemon and some icing sugar, whipping it until it was combined. I then spread this on the cold tart shell and topped it with mixture of berries I'd bought this morning at the market (and than had miraculously made it back in my rucksack!)


As you can see the result was rather nice indeed. I was really pleased with how it turned out, and N certainly made lots of happy noises whilst tucking into it, I think he might be able to cope with a second slice tomorrow evening!