Running The (FCI) New York City Marathon

Hooray, the first test is over! By the end of the six hour marathon yesterday, I could barely move. I was still feeling it this morning. I can't remember the last time I worked that hard. Painful, but a good pain.

So here's the way this all works. We have one entire class period where we do a written test as well as a practical one. There is a 45 minute window for the written portion, where we answer questions on conversions, recipes, and techniques. During the practical, we have to replicate products that we studied during the unit, drawn at random.

For some reason, I decided to move at a snail's pace and not finish the written portion, confuse a Tarte Bourdaloue (poached pears and almonds over a cream) for a Tarte Alsacienne (flambéed apples in a custard), and just plain forget basic, basic things. A mini freakout where I was screaming inside my head and floated outside of my body didn't help either. But once I took a deep breath and decided to not let a tart get the better of me, I did much better. Although I'm definitely getting the feeling that I've been out of school for just a bit too long.

So with the mental torture portion of the exam out of the way, we moved on to the practical. There were four groups of products. Three were filled with all of the eye-catching, beautifully finished tarts and cookies. One was filled with the plain tarts that are served as-is. Guess which one I got.

Gingersnaps, Classic Apple Tart, and Clafoutis, and they were mine, all mine. The gingersnaps were perfectly chewy, my pâte brisée was nice and flaky, but the apples pulled away from the edge and clafoutis has become my new curseword.

Clafoutis Aux Cerises Limousin is proof that not all things made in a pastry kitchen taste great. Floating cherries in an egg custard. That's what this tart is. Cherries and eggs.

Clafoutis, and the Spritskakor Cookie I wished I could have made.

If you want to know what this actually tastes like, here's the recipe. Make it if you dare. But keep this in mind: I would rather jump out of a plane again than eat this tart.

Clafoutis Aux Cerises Limousin

240 grams pastry dough (about 8.5 oz) -> see the recipes from the February 4th blog
125 mL milk (1/2 cup)
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
50 mL heavy cream (about 1/5 cup, can round up to 1/4 cup)
2 eggs
100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
150 grams cherries, can substitute blueberries (3/4 cup)

Roll out the dough into a circle about 10 inches wide and 1/8 inch thick. Line a tart pan or a flan ring with the dough and chill (at least 30 minutes). Blind bake the shell until the crust is lightly browned, but DO NOT DOCK IT. ** Docking is when you use a fork to create air holes in the bottom of the crust that allows air to escape. This is normally done when doing a two-step tart, like this one, but because the filling is a custard the holes would let it leak out. **

Mix together the milk, scraped vanilla bean, cream, eggs, and sugar. Strain the custard mixture. Arrange the cherries (or blueberries) in the baked tart shell. Cover the fruit with the custard. ** Fill up the tart as much as possible, but be careful when putting it in the oven! ** Bake at 250 degrees F for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the custard is set (can slightly jiggle in center). Lightly dust the edge of the cooled tart with powdered sugar.

Makes one 8-inch/9-inch tart or four 4-inch tartlets.

Yuck.

In the end, everything turned out fine and I actually managed to snag a B for the unit (A for the practical!). Not the best performance ever, but all things considered I will take it. Gladly.