We had a rainy afternoon this week and the courier arrived with the bottle of aged grappa I'd ordered, which meant I could finally get around to making Alessandra Zecchini's Quince and Kahitakatea Berry Tart.
After making kahikatea jam last weekend, an impromptu experiment that turned into a daylong journey, this was much less tedious in terms of berries to be de-seeded. In fact the berries just add colour and an element of interest to this tart(e), which is really about meltingly delicious, caramelised quince.
I improvised using her recipe for basic inspiration, adjusting the quantities of butter and sugar to be closer to a traditional apple tarte tatin recipe I've made many times. While I did add the aged grappa she uses for flavour once the peeled and sliced quince started to soften in the pan, I cooked the quince far longer than two minutes, until it was soft and caramelised (similar to what one does for a proper tarte tatin). I also omitted the cornflour since there wasn't a huge amount of liquid and I didn't want a glue-y paste. Once the quince were cooked I added a handful of fresh, de-seeded berries (koroi) to the tarte before popping the puff pastry on top and putting it into the oven. (I didn't marinate the berries overnight in sugar either, since their natural taste is fine with me.) The tarte was baked at 180C until the puff pastry was golden brown.
When the pan was flipped ceremoniously after baking there were no kahikatea berries to be seen, they were hidden below. So I sprinkled a few on top to reinforce the point. When I make this with apples I usually place them in tidy concentric circles around the pan so the top looks beautiful once it's flipped over, something I didn't remember until the quince were already bubbling away. Next time.
Here's how my version of Quince & Kahikatea Berry Tarte Tatin turned out. The aroma is rather amazing!
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