This past Saturday Ryan and I had my friend Sarah and her boyfriend Ben over for dinner. Since moving here, it was only the second time we’d had people over for dinner, so I was a little nervous. I cleaned the whole flat and planned a menu that I knew how to make. And this is an important tip: you’ll be a better dinner party host if you make dishes you’ve made before. Seriously, don’t make something for the first time when you’re having people over. If you know what you’re doing, you’ll be more confident, less stressed, and you’ll know your guests will like the food. I decided to serve a salad, steamed broccoli, and baked rigatoni. Not fancy, but tasty and allows for big portions.
Since such a big pasta bake can be really heavy, I decided I wanted dessert to be a fruit tart. I decided to try out passion fruit because it would be silky and light. I’ve also never made anything with passion fruit before, so I was curious about using it. And, I was good and did take my own advice. A few days before my dinner party I decided to do a dry run and make a practice passion fruit tart.
I went to the store and bought a dozen passion fruits. They are such a gorgeous fruit! A beautiful deep purple on the outside, a slight hint of magenta on the outer edge, and vibrant marigold flesh. The problem though with passion fruits, is they are kind of small and have lots of seeds. If you were having a passion fruit straight you can eat the seeds, but for a tart I wanted a clean puree.
So I scooped out the flesh and did my best to strain, press, and pick out all of the seeds. It was exhausting work and took me close to an hour, and still a few seeds got into the tart. It was also really messy and my hands and counter were all sticky. This leads me to my my second piece of advice: buy passion fruit puree from the store. It has got to be less expensive and will be way easier. Save yourself the headache.
This tart is absolutely delicious. It’s tart and juicy, with just a whisper of creaminess. The texture is smooth and luscious. My favorite part though might have been the pastry crust. I’m not usually that into crust, but this pastry was sweet, crumbly, and buttery. Overall, it felt a little decadent without being heavy.
But, if I’m being honest, I have to tell you the rest of the story. It took so much work to create my own passion fruit puree that I was put off from making this recipe again. I didn’t have the time to go to the store to buy puree, so I decided on the day of the party to make a lemon tart instead. I made the same pastry for my lemon tart and that came out perfectly. But I curdled the lemon curd and for some reason I decided maybe baking it would help heal my ruined tart. It didn’t help at all. The tart came out looking really gross and unappetizing. I ended up sending Ryan, one hour before our friends arrived, to the store one hour to buy something for dessert. So you see? My advice is important. Don’t make something new the day of a dinner party. Practice is really important! It helps you know how much work is ahead of you and it will give you confidence. Most importantly, you won’t have to run to the shop.
Adapted from Butter Baking.
Messy level: If you make the passion fruit puree, this is a super messy recipe. But, if you buy the puree it’s not so bad. The pastry has a lot of butter, which means it will stick to your counter a bit as you roll it out and it can be a bit crumbly – but it’s nothing to really worry about. You might end up with crumbs and bits of sugar on your counter, but it’s truly an easy clean up.
- 175g/12½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 100g/1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
- pinch salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 250g/ 2½ cups plain flour
- 150ml/ ½ cup heavy cream
- 105g/ ½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 5 eggs
- 165g/ slightly more than ¾ cup passion fruit puree
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, confectioner's sugar and salt with an electric mixer. Mix until light and free of lumps. It is imperative that you sift the confectioner's sugar. I know it's annoying, but this will help make sure everything is smooth.
- Add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat until combined. Scrape down the sides as necessary.
- Add in the flour and mix until just incorporated.
- Once everything is mixed, use your hands to gather the dough together. When it's in the bowl, it might look a little crumbly, but it will press together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate 2 - 3 hours.
- Once the pastry has rested, remove it from the fridge and well grease a 10 inch tart tin with butter.
- Put the pastry in between two sheets of parchment paper. Using a rolling pen, roll out the pastry until it is thin, or about 1/16" thick. (You can do this straight on the counter, but using the parchment means you help prevent sticking)
- Remove one piece of parchment paper. Flip your rolled out dough over and place it dough-side down on the tart tin. Remove the other piece of parchment paper. Press the dough it into the sides and crevices of the case. It's ok if you leave some over hang at this stage.
- Place the tart shell in the fridge for 20 minutes and preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Once it has rested again, line your tart shell with baking paper and fill with pie weights, dry beans, or rice. This is done so when you pre-bake it, the tart won't puff up too much.
- Place the tart tin on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the weights/beans/rice and cook for another 5 minutes.
- As the pastry is baking, make your filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, sugar, eggs and passion fruit puree.
- Once the pastry is done blind baking, slide the tray out slightly, but not all the way, from the oven. While it's all still in the oven, pour the passion fruit mixture into the pastry, filling it right up to the top. You're doing this while it's in the oven so that you don't spill!
- Bake for 20- 25 minutes, until just set in the center.
- Allow to cool slightly. Cut off any excess pastry that might be hanging off the edges. This will give you a clean look. Then put the tart in the fridge to cool completely. It tastes best when it's cold!
A stressful but excellent lesson learned. I’ve also attempted new dishes for dinner parties, sometimes with disastrous results!