A summer tart, in 140 characters or less...

fig. a: Michelle's summer tart

The other day, a reporter called me from La Presse asking for a Twitter-friendly recipe for a story on chefs who tweet. Luckily, I had just made this amazing little tart for some friends the night before and was more than ready for the challenge.

This tart is so simple, it hardly took 140 characters to write the recipe (of course, I had to leave out the instructions for the tart crust, and I also named it "tarte d'été," instead of "tarte aux framboises," in the interest of space). Light, elegant, lovely, this is a tart that really lets the raspberries shine. Invite some friends over and share it with a sparkling wine.

tarte d’été

un fond de tarte 6" cuit
fouetter 200g fromage blanc, 250g crème, sucre vanillé au gout
placer des framboises fraîches dessus

or

summer tart

1 6" tart crust, cooked
whip 200g quark cheese, 250g cream, vanilla sugar to taste
place raspberries on top

or, if tweets just aren't your thing, or you're not sure what recipe to use for the tart crust,

summer tart

crust:

125g flour
75g icing sugar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
100g butter, soft
1/2 egg white

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingers until it resembles a fine meal. Add egg white and mix to combine. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

Roll out on a floured surface to 1/8" thick. Place in 6" tart pan and carefully tamp down the sides. Trim off excess crust and chill 30 minutes. Place a layer of tin foil on the crust and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Blind bake at 375º F for 10 minutes, remove foil and weights and bake 5-10 minutes more, until the crust is fully baked and quite golden. Let cool.

filling:

200g quark
250g cream
vanilla sugar to taste
fresh raspberries

Whip the cheese, cream and vanilla sugar to medium peaks and fill the cooled tart crust. Place the raspberries on top in a concentric pattern, or pell-mell, if that's more your style, and chill at least 30 minutes. Serve.

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