Grapefruit Tart

Hello Everyone!  Life has been getting a little crazier as of late.  Kiki and I are heading to India to attend the wedding of a good friend in the beginning of April.  This means that I have been busy trying to get everything (visa, clothes and treats to bring) sorted out.  I keep thinking that the stress for the trip will start to fade and excitement will take over, but I don’t think that will actually happen until I make it to India and they let Kiki and me into the country.  With stress, comes stress baking!  Recently, my good friend defended her research proposal, a requirement for grad. school and to celebrate, I made her a ruby red grapefruit tart.

Traditionally this type of tart is made with lemon curd, however I know someone that happens to be quite fond of grapefruits so I wanted to test out substituting grapefruit in for the lemon.  For the first attempt at grapefruit curd, I used Pierre Herme’s recipe for lemon curd and just straight substituted the freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and zest in whenever the recipe called for the lemon.  While this recipe does involve more work than other curd recipes, I absolutely love it!  I could mix the curd in with dirt and I would eat it.  As far as the substitution went, the grapefruit flavor isn’t as strong as the lemon, so the curd has a little less pop and tartness but it is still very delicious.  The curd is airy and silky and almost melts in your mouth.  This time I had used a ruby red grapefruit and next time I might try a white grapefruit for a little bit more tartness or a mixture of the ruby red grapefruit and lemon.

Grapefruit or lemon curd can be used in many types of dessert: a filling in a cake, topping for a scone, filling for a sandwich cookie or macaroon or filling for a crepe.  Today I will post just the curd recipe and will later post the tart shell recipe…which was an adventure in itself.

Grapefruit Tart

Ingredients

Zest of one whole grapefruit
1 c sugar
4 large eggs
¾ c grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed from the already zested grapefruit)
2 sticks and 5 Tbsp cold butter
1 9in baked tart shell

1. Combine the sugar and the grapefruit zest in a metal pan or bowl that can be used in a double boiler setup.  Rub the sugar and zest together until the mixture is completely mixed and fragrant.
2. Whisk in the eggs one at a time before whisking in the grapefruit juice.
3. Once the water for the double boiler is going, while continuously whisking the mixture, heat the grapefruit mixture until the temperature is 180 deg F.  Use a candy thermometer to test the temperature of the mixture.  This may take some time but right before the curd reaches the proper temperature the mixture will thicken, the color will become creamy and the whisk will leave tracks in the curd.
4. At this point the recipe calls for you to strain the curd, however, since I wanted a little bit more grapefruit flavor I left the zest in and put the mixture straight into a food processor (a blender would have been a better option but I broke that a few months ago).
5. Allow to the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes (the curd will be about 140 degs), before adding the cold butter.  Add the butter in Tbsp pieces and only about 5 pieces at a time before processing until the mixture is smooth.  Scrape down the bowl when necessary.
6. After all the butter has been added, run the food processor for another 3-4 minutes to incorporate a little bit of air into the curd.
7. Pour into an airtight container and chill the mixture for at least 4 hours before using.  During this period it will thicken up.
8. For a tart, fill the crust with the curd the day you are serving it and serve with a dollop of whipped cream!

I was pleasantly surprised with the new tart shell recipe and will post that soon.  There are many different versions of the dough for a tart shell and most of them for me have lead to swearing and crying in the kitchen as things quickly head south.  However, this tasty curd is fairly simple as long as you keep whisking while heating the mixture and it has many uses.  If you plan on using the grapefruit curd for a tart fill the shell the day to prevent the shell from absorbing too much moisture and becoming soggy.  Serve the tart chilled which will keep the curd spilling everywhere when the tart is cut, kind of like gravy on mashed potatoes.  I can’t explain any more how much I love lemon or grapefruit curd and how much I adore this recipe!  For any citrus lover this is a must try!  Happy Baking.