roasted red grape tart with yoghurt chantilly

In lieu of other interesting things to talk about (of which I have none, as usual) I’m so glad I finished up this year without any horrendous failures! Still, I found it rather difficult, which is unfortunate since I hear next year will be worse!

So now I’ll be starting a new summer job-thing-y though and I’m always nervous about these before they start. I don’t really know what to anticipate other than that I’ll make quite a few mistakes, and that only makes me more worried. I think I should probably do some additional research before I start…though I’d really rather do some more baking in the time I have…

I first had roasted grapes when my sister prepared them; she served them with a soft, unripened cheese. Since then I’ve been wanting to use them in a sweet context.

(I have a one-track mind.)

I decided that I finally ought to after seeing some lovely roasted grape tarts from La Petit Chef, with tomatoes!, and Food Eat Love, with olives!, of the more savoury persuasion. (And I hope you’re not all tired of grape tarts yet!)

I’m on a bit of a tart run lately. But it’s also nice to actually make some tarts with the tart pans as mostly I’ve only been making financiers and more financiers and an occasional sponge cake.

The pastry shrunk quite a bit; but I was not that dismayed as I didn’t really want too much volume in the first place.

Speaking of which, blind baking really dries out the rice! I used to just put it back into the canister but then I eventually realized why sometimes some of the rice was harder than other grains after being cooked…

The grapes are roasted with a bit of olive oil and salt until soft.

The roasted grapes develop a concentrated sweetness, a bit reminiscent of cooked tomato; they’re best still warm or room temperature on the tarts. It is very, very different.

I’m really curious what roasted green grapes would be like–and just how sweet they would be after roasted. We also have some muscat grapes at the moment that might be interesting to try something with–but I also really love how floral the muscat grapes are, and so depending on whether that comes out after being roasted, maybe it’s a bit too cruel to roast them!

I’ve grown fond of brushing the pastry shells with a bit egg midway through baking. This time around it wasn’t needed to strengthen the shell, but I like the shine and crust that forms.

Normally I wouldn’t use yoghurt and whipped cream in this proportion with more acidic fruits like grapes as overall it would be too acidic.

This however was perfect; it’s good to have the yogurt against the richness of the cream. From the olive oil, even the roasted grapes taste rich, and the grapes are so sweet that the acidity is necessary.

A quick note on grape arrangements: I thought it looked very nice to have small, intact, clumps of grapes on the tart. And it does; it provides some nice height that otherwise the tarts would lack (and also makes for a side photo that is a little bit interesting), but it’s really no good for eating. The grapes become quite a bit more difficult to pull off the stem after being roasted, so instead it’s much better to arrange some emancipated grapes.

It is, however, a deceptively heavy dessert. The pastry is rich, the cream is rich, and the grapes themselves are also rich. Using the yoghurt helped, but it’s still not very refreshing. Then again, I suppose I wasn’t expecting something too refreshing for roasted fruit.

But as it’s so heavy, one tart is quite a large serving! I would consider sharing with someone (and just pile on grapes!)

This tart dough made me very happy–the chestnut flour was a bit sweet and nutty and the pastry was flaky and crisp. It did, however, shrink quite a bit. As opposed to a shortbread crust, it does have more gluten, so I think next time if I wanted a full tart, I would stretch the dough over the edges of the tart pan, bake, and then trim the overlying edges.

This, however, was alright since not very much cream was wanted in the first place.

And happy Fiesta Friday! Hosted by Angie, the Novice Gardener, and cohosted by Anna of Anna International. I’m still making tarts so I guess I’ll bring some more!