by Julia Child
for 2 cups crème Chantilly:
1 cup heavy cream in a mixing bowl
A large bowl with a tray of ice cubes and water to cover them
A large wire whip or hand-held electric mixer
A rubber spatula
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅓ to ½ cup confectioner’s sugar in a sieve
Set bowl with cream over the ice cubes and water. Circulating whip or beater about bowl to incorporate as much air as possible, beat cream until doubled in volume. Beater should leave light traces on surface of cream. (If you wish to squeeze out whipped cream decorations later, reserve ½ cup in a bowl, and refrigerate.) Fold in the vanilla, and sugar to taste. Keep over ice until needed.
3) Assembling and serving
A long knife for splitting the brioche, a small knife and a grapefruit knife for hollowing it out
A tray to hold syrup drippings
A serving dish
Optional: A canvas pastry bag with round, cannelated tube opening, for making decorative lines of whipped cream on top of cake
Slice off the top quarter of the brioche, making a cover about ¾ inch thick; cut into 6 to 8 pie-shaped wedges, and place upside down on rack over tray. Hollow out remaining part of brioche, first outlining a circle in its top surface ¾ inch from edge all around the inside, and to within ¾ inch of bottom. Then remove interior by bits, with grapefruit knife, to make the brioche into a container ¾ inch thick at sides and bottom.
Set brioche container hollowed-side up on serving dish. Drain the strawberries, adding their juices to the syrup. Pour successive spoonfuls of tepid syrup gradually over briochè, letting it absorb as much liquid as it will. At the same time, pour spoonfuls of syrup over the upside-down cover wedges. Fold the berries into the crème Chantilly. Paint outer sides of brioche container with warm apricot glaze; turn the strawberries and cream into it, heaping the filling into a dome.
Handling them carefully, set the brioche wedges in place on top of the filling, letting their pointed ends rise to a peak at the center. Paint tops of wedges with warm apricot glaze. If you have decided to make whipped cream decorations, whip the reserved Chantilly over ice until it is a little stiffer, so that it will hold its shape when squeezed out; fold in 2 tablespoons of sifted confectioner’s sugar and a few drops of vanilla. Fill in gaps between wedges with ribbons of whipped cream. Just before serving, decorate top of Le Marly with the reserved strawberries. To serve, cut right down between wedges, from top to bottom of cake.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be assembled an hour or two before serving; cover with a bowl, and refrigerate.
Other fruits
Instead of fresh strawberries, use raspberries, sliced fresh peaches, blueberries, frozen strawberries (thawed), a mixture of pineapple and bananas, or the apricot filling, which you could combine with diced bananas and toasted, slivered almonds. You may macerate the fruit in sugar, rum, or kirsch, if you wish, then stir the maceration into the sugar syrup.
CHARLOTTE JAMAÏQUE EN FLAMMES
[Rum-cake Caramel Custard, Flambée]
This is another riposte to the Anglo-Saxons, a French plum pudding of rum-soaked brioche or sponge cake, raisins, fruits, and custard baked in a caramelized mold and brought flaming to the table. A fine holiday dessert, it may be made ready for the oven hours before baking, and that takes about an hour.
For a 6-cup mold, serving 6 to 8
1) Preparing the fruits
4 ounces (¾ cup, packed down) currants (small, black, seedless raisins)
Either 4 ounces (¾ cup) each of glacéed cherries and apricots;
Or 8 ounces (1½ cups) mixed diced glacéed fruits
1 cup dark Jamaica rum in a covered bowl
Drop the raisins into a pan of boiling water, and set aside to swell and soften while preparing rest of fruit. If using cherries and apricots, cut cherries in half, and drop in boiling water to wash off preservatives; drain, and set on a plate. Dice the apricots, drop in boiling water, drain, and set on another plate. (If using mixed fruits, drop in boiling water, and drain.) Then drain raisins, squeeze out accumulated moisture, and steep in the rum until you are ready to use them.
2) Caramelizing the mold
½ cup sugar and 3 Tb water in a small, heavy saucepan
A cover for the pan
A 6-cup cylindrical mold, such as a charlotte or ceramic baking dish at least 3½ inches deep
A plate upon which mold may be reversed
Set sugar and water over moderately high heat, and swirl pan slowly by its handle (but do not stir sugar with a spoon) while liquid is coming to the boil. Continue swirling for a moment as liquid boils and turns from cloudy to perfectly clear. Cover pan, raise heat to high, and boil several minutes, until bubbles are thick and heavy. Uncover and continue boiling, swirling gently, until sugar turns a nice caramel brown.
Immediately pour the caramel into the mold (reserve caramel pan); turn mold in all directions to film bottom and sides, and continue turning slowly for a minute or so, until caramel ceases to run. Turn mold upside down over plate.
3) The custard sauce
1 cup milk
3 eggs
⅔ cup sugar
A 3-quart mixing bowl and electric beater or large wire whip
2 tsp vanilla extract
A clean 2½- to 3-quart enameled or stainless saucepan
A wooden spoon
A fine-meshed sieve
Pour the milk into the caramel-cooking pan, and stir over heat to dissolve caramel. Then beat eggs and sugar in mixing bowl for several minutes until pale and foamy; beat in the vanilla. Finally, in a thin stream of droplets, beat in the hot milk. Pour mixture into clean saucepan, and set over moderate heat; stir slowly with wooden spoon, reaching all over bottom of pan, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until custard thickens enough to film spoon with a creamy layer. (Be careful sauce does not come to the simmer and curdle the eggs, but you must heat it to the point where it thickens.)
Remove from heat, and stir vigorously a moment or two to cool the sauce and stop the cooking. Rinse out mixing bowl, and strain the sauce into it.
4) Filling the mold
A pan of boiling water large enough to hold dessert mold easily
About 1 pound of brioche, sponge cake, or store-bought sponge-type of cake
(Preheat oven to 350 degrees for next step.) Check water level of pan with mold set into it, and place pan (without mold) in lower-middle level of oven. Slice brioche or cake into 3 layers, each about ⅛ inch thick, and trim so they will fit into the mold exactly. (Each layer may consist of several pieces neatly fitted together.)
Fit a layer of cake in the bottom of the caramelized mold. Drain the raisins and sprinkle 3 tablespoons of their rum maceration over the cake. Arrange a row of cherry halves (or mixed diced fruit) around the edge of the cake, and spread a third of the raisins and apricots (or more diced mixed fruit) over the rest of the cake. Pour in a third of the custard. Put down a second layer of cake, sprinkle with 3 tablespoons more rum, and continue filling the mold in layers. Leave about ¼ inch of unfilled space at top of mold because dessert will swell slightly during cooking. Cover remaining rum and reserve for flambéeing.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Mold may be filled a day in advance of baking; cover airtight and refrigerate. Chilled custard will probably take at least 20 minutes more to bake than the 45 to 60 minutes specified in Step 5.
5) Baking the dessert—45 to 60 minutes at 350 degrees, plus a 10-minute rest (longer if custard has been chilled)
Place the filled mold in the pan of hot water in the oven (water should come ¾ the way up outside of mold). Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, regulating heat so that water in pan almost but never quite bubbles—to ensure a smooth and velvety texture to the custard. Add more boiling water, as necessary, if liquid drops below the halfway mark. Dessert is done when it begins to show a faint line of shrinkage from sides of mold.
If you wish to serve within 10 to 15 minutes, remove mold from water and
allow custard to settle for 10 minutes before unmolding, Step 6; otherwise leave custard in its pan of water in turned-off oven. Dessert must be hot for successful flambéeing.
6) Unmolding, flambéeing, and serving
A thin-bladed flexible knife for help in unmolding
A very hot, lightly buttered serving platter
3 or 4 broken sugar lumps and 1 Tb sugar
The remaining rum (at least ½ cup) in a small saucepan
Matches
A pair of long-handled serving utensils
The moment before serving, run knife around edge of mold, turn hot platter upside down over it, and reverse the two to unmold dessert onto platter. Stick the broken sugar lumps into the dessert at various places, and sprinkle on the plain sugar. Heat the rum and pour it over the dessert. Averting your face, ignite the rum with a lighted match, and bring the charlotte flaming to the table. Spoon flaming rum over the dessert as you begin to serve.
DESSERTS USING FRENCH PUFF PASTRY
French puff pastry, that unbelievably tender and buttery dough, with its hundreds of thinner-than-paper layers, is ideal for desserts. Because the pastry itself is so marvelous, the rest of the ingredients are usually rather simple and easy to assemble. We give only a sampling of the many, many recipes that use puff pastry, going into enough illustrated detail, we hope, so that when you run into other puff pastry recipes elsewhere, they will seem feasible and even familiar.
Your sole problem—which need be no problem at all—is to keep the dough cold while you are working on it. At the slightest suggestion of limpness, stop where you are, refrigerate everything for 15 to 20 minutes, then continue. If you are not yet used to working with puff pastry, do not attempt anything complicated in a hot kitchen; wait for cool weather or an air-conditioned atmosphere. Chilled dough in a cool room is easy to manipulate; soft, limp dough in a warm room is impossible.
ABAISSES EN FEUILLETAGE POUR TARTES AUX FRUITS
[Forming Puff Pastry Shells for Fruit Tarts]
With French puff pastry you can make free-standing shells of any size and shape you wish: the sides of the pastry rise automatically in the oven while the bottom stays put, held down by the fruit or, if you wish a precooked shell, by a pan. Use either the simple puff pastry, or the reconstituted leftover puff pastry. We shall not give proportions, except to say that one fourth of the recipe, or a piece of dough 5¼ by 2 by 1¾ inches, will make a rectangular pastry 6 inches wide and 13 inches long, with a bottom layer ⅛ inch thick; thus half the recipe would make a 12- to 13-inch square.
To make a square or rectangular shell
Sufficient chilled puff pastry dough
A ruler or light-weight baking sheet to use as a cutting guide
A ravioli wheel or sharp knife
A baking sheet rinsed in cold water but not dried
A cup of cold water and a pastry brush
Roll out the chilled pastry 1½ inches larger than the size you want your tart to be. With cutting guide and ravioli wheel or knife, trim off rough edges all around.
Again using your guide and ravioli wheel or knife, cut two strips ¾ inch wide from one side of pastry, and two from one end; these will form the raised edges of the tart; set them aside. Roll up the rectangle or square of pastry on your pin, and unroll it upside down on the dampened baking sheet.
Paint top circumference of tart with a ¾-inch strip of cold water. Lay a strip of pastry on top of each side, as shown. Paint corners with cold water, and lay two final strips of pastry over each end. Trim off excess. Seal the two layers together by pressing outside rim all around pastry with the back tines of a table fork, and pressing top strips of pastry lightly with thumb of other hand as you go. Prick interior of pastry with fork at ⅛-inch intervals, going down to pastry sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour before proceeding; dough must be relaxed or it will not bake evenly.
(*) When chilled and firm, dough may be wrapped airtight and frozen for several months; continue with whatever your recipe, using dough in its frozen state.
Forming a round tart shell
Using vol-au-vent cutters, pot lids, or any convenient circular objects, pick one for the size of your eventual tart and another ¾ inch larger all around for the raised rim of the tart. Roll out pastry ⅛ inch thick and ¼ inch larger all around than the larger of your two cutting guides; lift pastry and let it shrink if it will, and extend again if necessary. Center guide on pastry and cut off excess dough.
Center the smaller guide in the pastry and cut all around it cleanly, so that this center disk can easily separate itself from the outside circle. Divide outside circle into quarters or sixths and slide out of the way; these strips will form the raised rim of the tart. Roll disk up on pin and unroll upside down on a dampened baking sheet, pressing it out gently with fingers if necessary.
Paint a ¾-inch strip around the circumference of disk with cold water. Lay one of the strips of dough in place on the dampened circumference of disk, and paint one end of strip with cold water. Overlap ⅜ inch of second strip on the dampened end of the first, and press lightly with fingers to seal; continue around circumference with the rest of the strips, trimming final one to fit. Seal edges all around with back of a fork, prick the interior, and refrigerate as described in preceding directions.
Baked shells for fresh fruit tarts, like strawberries
A shell that is to be fully baked and then filled with fresh fruits must have something to weight down the center during baking. The traditional solution is oiled paper and dried beans, but we think an oiled pan of some sort is far easier. Provide yourself with 3 guides, one for the outside circumference, one for cutting the inch-wide strips, and one for the area of the pan. After cutting edges and pressing them onto the dampened circumference of the pastry, prick interior of pastry, oil outside of pan, and set it in place. Chill at least an hour before baking.
To bake, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Then paint top of raised edging with egg glaze (1 egg beaten in a small bowl with 1 tsp water), and make cross-hatch markings in glaze with back of a small knife. Set the pastry, with pan in place, in middle level of oven. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until edges of pastry have risen and begin to brown nicely. Lift off pan, prick interior, and bake 5 minutes more; look at tart, and if center is rising, prick again, and press down. If center is browning too much, cover loosely with foil. Baking will be 20 to 25 minutes in all. Slide shell onto a rack.
(*) Shell is at its best if eaten within a few hours; cover airtight when cold, or keep in warming oven, or freeze.
TARTE AUX POMMES—TARTE AUX POIRES
[Apple or Pear Tart Baked in French Puff Pastry]
This is a case where the most elementary method is by far the best: the raw tart dough is painted with apricot, slices of raw apple or pear are arranged closely on top, sprinkled with sugar, and the tart is baked. It is glazed with apricot after baking, and that is all there is to it. The combination of flaky, buttery pastry, fruit, sugar, and apricot is quite heavenly.
A NOTE ON JUICY FRUITS
When you are baking raw fruits in a raw puff pastry shell you must be sure that you are using the kind of fruit that will not burst into juices before the edges of the pastry have puffed up enough to hold them in. Thus if you find yourself with soft or juicy varieties, slice them, sprinkle with sugar, and let stand in a bowl for 20 minutes so that excess juices will exude. Then drain the fruit, arrange in the tart, and add the juices to boil down with the apricot glaze.
For an 8- by 16-inch rectangular tart, serving 4 to 6 people
1) Filling the tart shell
Either 3 to 4 large, crisp apples (Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty, or York Imperial);
Or 5 to 6 firm, ripe pears (Anjou, Bosc, or Bartlett)
A chilled 8- by 16-inch uncooked tart shell of French puff pastry
About 1 cup strained apricot preserves in a small saucepan (apricot preserves pushed through a sieve)
A pastry brush
¼ cup sugar
&nb
sp; Egg glaze (1 egg beaten in a small bowl with 1 tsp water)
A small knife, or table fork
Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and set rack in lower-middle level. Peel, quarter, and core the fruit; cut into lengthwise slices ¼ inch thick. Paint interior of chilled uncooked pastry shell with strained apricot. Arrange the slices of fruit closely together and almost upright in the shell, making lengthwise or crosswise rows, whichever you find more attractive. Sprinkle the sugar over the fruit. Paint top of pastry (not sides) with egg glaze, and make cross-hatching in its surface with point of knife or tines of fork.
2) Baking—40 to 45 minutes at 450 and 400 degrees
Set tart immediately in lower middle of preheated 450-degree oven, and bake for 20 minutes, or until sides of pastry have risen and begun to brown. Lower heat to 400 degrees and continue baking another 20 minutes, or until sides of tart feel crisp and rather firm. High heat is needed to cook the layers of pastry through; cover tart loosely with foil or brown paper if edges are browning too much.
3) Glazing and serving