Recipe - Tarte Au Raisine

250 g Sweet flan pastry
Butter; for the tart tin
Flour; for the tart tin

FILLING
3 Eggs
1 Egg yolk
1 One half dl DOUBLE cream
1 dl Rasine; see notes

(Units: 100 g = 3 One half oz; 1 dl = 3 One half fl ounce = 2/5 cup; 180 oC = 350 oF;
200 oC = 400 oF; 230 oC = 450 oF; 250 oC = 475 oF; 2.5 cm = 1 inch)

Raisine (with an 'e accent aigu' !): this is an old 'vaudois' country
recipe. In the autumn, on farms all over the region, the juice of apples
and pears is reduced very slowly, for 48 hours, in large cauldrons to make
our 'raisine'.

I don't know a substitute for raisine, which is a thick, dark brown
concentrate of fruit juices. The taste: fruity sweet and slightly sour. It
is sold locally in the markets, but not often in shops.

Preheat the oven to 260 oC. Butter and flour a 20 cm (8 in) tart ring, or
a tart tin with a removable base, and line it with the pastry. Protect the
pastry with a disc of aluminium foil pressed well against the edges and
over the rim.

Blindbake the pastry for about 10 to 15 minutes. Leave it to cool in the
tin.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180 oC.

Prepare the filling by whisking together the remaining ingredients (it may
be necessary to increase the quantity of raisine by 1 tablespoon, but this
depends on the degree to which it was reduced when it was made).

Partly fill the pastry shell, then put it into the oven and complete the
filling by spooning in the rest of the mixture it must fill the shell to
the brim and this way there is no danger of spilling it when you put it in
the oven.

Leave the oven door ajar until the filling is set: this should take about
half an hour. Test its firmness by giving the tart tin a little shake.

When the tart is cooked, take it out of the oven. Allow it to cool a little
then take it out of the tin and leave it to get quite cold on a cake rack.

From: Fredy Girardet, Cuisine spontanee, M Papermac, 1986, ISBN
0333409574

Typed for you by Rene Gagnaux