Sasha's Kitchen: Key Lime Raspberry Tart

I love raspberries, and pretty much any summer fruit - from strawberries to peaches. I know that raspberries aren't even remotely close to being in season on January, the dead of winter here in Brooklyn. Still, since I was able to find some pretty good sweet raspberries from FreshDirect that were available this time of year, I decided to go ahead and use them in a raspberry tart. I looked up a number of different recipes for raspberry tarts online before settling on my own variation that incorporated elements from each. I decided to go with a key lime flavor for the tart, using some key limes and key lime juice that I had. The key lime juice was great, by the way and so much easier than squeezing the juice out of those tiny little key limes (a nightmare, if I recall). I plan to use it in making key lime creme brulee next! To make a tart, you need to use a tart dish of course. I used the kind where the sides separate from the bottom of the tart dish after the tart is baked and prepared, which was the perfect tool to make a lovely berry tart.

Sasha's Raspberry Key Lime Tart
Tart
1 stick cold butter
1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup almond flour
2 tsp water

Filling
1 large egg, beaten until it is almost meringue like
2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
3 large eggs'1 1/4 cup buttermilk
3 T butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt
1 T key lime zest
2 T key lime juice
fresh raspberries

To prepare the tart shell, beat the butter and sugar. The add the flour and salt and beat until just combined. Then add the almond flour. Add two tsp of water and beat for about three minutes until it finally comes together into a dough. Form into a disk and refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

Roll the dough out and fit into a 10-11 inch round tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate until firm, for another 20 minutes or so. Preheat oven to 325 and bake for about 30 minutes, occasionally pressing the bottom to flatten. Allow to cool when it comes out.

To prepare the filling, beat the egg while until fluffy, like if you were making a souffle. Combine the flour and sugar, and add the eggs. Fold in the egg white, until just blended. Stir in the key lime juice and key lime zest. Pour the filling into the crust and bake at 325 for another 25 minutes until the filling is set and jiggles just slightly. Allow to cool, and arrange the raspberries on the surface to top. Remove the sizes of the tart dish before serving.

Sasha's Kitchen: Key Lime Raspberry Tart

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Low Fat Summer Berry Shortcake

In my continuing quest to live a healthy lifestyle and maintain my 60 pound weight loss, I am contantly trying to find new low fat recipes for sweets; my downfall and - I'm sure - the downfall of many of us. One of my go-to substitutions is angel food cake. Spongy, sticky and delicious it has way fewer calories of other cakes; two points per serving on my program. Angel food cake pairs beautifully with fruit and makes a great treat.

When I used to work in a professional kitchen as a gardemanger we used to make the most amazing strawberry shortcake. When I was in the grocery store the other day I found the sweetest individual angel food cakes and decided I needed a shortcake! I started playing in my kitchen, and this is the delicious result!

Low Fat Summer Berry Shortcake

1 kg (2.2 lb) mixed berries (you could use frozen if you like for the sauce, but get some fresh for garnish)
1/2 c white wine
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 mini packaged angel food cakes
2 individual vanilla pudding packs (4 oz each)

Put the fruit, wine and salt in a medium pot to cook over moderate to high heat until the alcohol burns off. Add the cinnamon, lemon and honey. Cook for 20-30 minutes until the sauce has reduced to be a bit syrupy.

In your dish layer a little of the fruit mix, torn up pieces of cake, then a layer of pudding (one pudding cup per layer in the dish I used). Repeat the layers until your dish is full (I got in two layers). Let the shortcake set up - covered - in the fridge for about four hours (or overnight); this gets better the more you let everything sink in together. Garnish with fresh fruit. Mine made 3-4 servings.
In lieu of the honey, you could use sugar, but I didn't have any at the time so I substituted with the honey. Also, I used a mini cassarole ramekin as I don't like having lots of sweets in my house, but the sauce makes enough that you could either have leftovers for topping yogurt, ice cream etc. or you could make one big dessert by just increasing the cake and pudding portions.

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Low Fat Summer Berry Shortcake

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Cafe Langley's Russian Cream

This recipe comes from the Cafe Langley, a great Mediterranean restaurant in the little town of Langley, WA, where I grew up -- it's one of the best restaurants in town, so if you find yourself in "Langley by the Sea," as the marketers are wont to call it, stop by.

My mom has been making this for years, and it's one of my favorite all-season desserts. It's light enough for spring and summer, but rich enough for fall and winter, and you can change up the fruit topping to match whatever's in season or whatever you have on hand. I'm printing here the original raspberry topping, although I made it last night with strawberries because they looked so good in the store, as one of the first fresh fruits of spring.

Last night, I paired this with a garlic-and-lemon marinated rack of lamb, Israeli couscous, lightly sauteed peas with lemon zest and pine nuts, and a butter lettuce salad with locally grown fresh tomatoes, homemade croutons and a lime-rosemary vinaigrette. So all in all, a fairly Mediterranean meal, one that went over well with our dinner guests. One tip on that front: If you're going to crust your lamb, don't broil it. The crust will burn. Though the lamb was fine after we scraped off the carcinogens, I missed the panko/almond flour/spice flavor I was going for there.

Russian Cream
makes six 1/2-cup servings

1 envelope (.25 oz) gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup frozen (or fresh) raspberries, pureed, without seeds (though I left the seeds in the strawberry puree, and it worked out fine)

In a small saucepan, blend the sugar and gelatin. Add the water and mix well. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in heavy cream.
In a bowl, combine the sour cream and vanilla. Gradually beat in the hot sugar/cream mixture, and beat until smooth.
Pour into individual serving dishes (I used wine glasses). Chill at least four hours, then spoon the berry puree on top of the cream just before serving.

I had intended to finish this dish off with a Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Crisp in each cup, but I forgot. D'oh!

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Cafe Langley's Russian Cream