With so much delicious fruit growing all around me this Summer, I have had tarts on my mind. Maybe it’s my French roots showing, but there is something about a nice, rustic crust topped with baked fruit that makes my mouth water. I have been playing around with gluten-free options so my son can partake in this culinary adventure I’ve launched off on, and there have been some good learning experiences. I started off looking at my old MaryJane’s Farm magazines for her Tarte Tian recipes. This is basically something sauteed in a cast-iron skillet (either fruit, veggies, or meat) and topped with a sauce or glaze or cheese, then with a dough and baked right in the pan. Once slightly cool, you invert it onto a plate and enjoy your lovely meal. She eventually changed the name to “The Bakeover” to sound more catchy, but I like Tarte Tian better. Must be those French roots. She encourages folks to support her farm and use her baking mix, so I tried making up my own dough with Bob’s Redmill Gluten Free Baking Mix. I used big, juicy thornless blackberries as the fruit. I am sad to say, the crust came out tasting like garbanzo beans. I did not get the ratios right somewhere. My next attempt was to make a more traditional tart by making a pate sucree dough (1 cup Pamela’s Gluten-Free Pancake Mix, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 6 Tbsp butter, 1 egg yolk, 1/2 tsp vanilla), pressing it into the skillet and topping with thornless blackberries and some of last year’s frozen wild huckleberries tossed with sugar and a little tapioca starch. This baked up beautifully and I took it along with me to a potluck at my kids outdoor school day camp. My tart was a big hit.
Next I tried some savory Tarte Tians, one with ground lamb, garlic, kale, and cheddar and another inspired by the Moroccan dish, Chicken Bastilla, with chicken, chopped almonds, currants, spices and egg. For both of these I made a simple drop biscuit dough using Pamela’s Pancake Mix and it made a delicious crust that inverted beautifully. I tried making another blackberry tart, this time adding some of my homemade acorn flour to the pate sucree crust and tossing lavender and cardamom into the berries. Now I’m scheming about apples and plums, and more savory ideas.
Tarts are such fun.
Did you put the pan in the oven?
Yes I did! That is the beautiful thing about cast iron. You can sautee things in it, bake things in it, sautee and then bake in it, or even fry things in it! I like to bake my pizzas in the big pan I use for tarts too.