(French) Food Revolution FFWD - Fighting for Food Education - Caramel Almond Tart

Today is Food Revolution Day, a global campaign launched by Jamie Oliver to put compulsory practical food education on the school curriculum.  One of the Doristas, Mardi, is an ambassador for Food Revolution Day, hence for French Friday with Dorie this week, we are hosting a French food revolution.  Mardi has asked us to choose a recipe or technique that we have learned from Around My French Table that we think is a "must know". 

Now, while I realise that pastry is not a necessity of life, it is a very handy skill to have, as pastry can be used as a basis for making meals such as pies and quiches, as well as for making desserts and treats.  Before Dorie, making pastry scared me, as I had had more than one failed attempts at making it.  However, through Dorie, I have discovered a fail-safe technique for making pastry that is quick and easy, and does not even require you to endure the sometimes tricky task of rolling out the dough.

The recipe that is now my go-to pastry recipe is Dorie's Sweet Tart Dough from Around My French Table.  Although it is a sweet tart dough,  I don't see why it can't double up for certain savoury applications because it is not overly sweet (but note that Dorie also has a "good for almost everything" tart dough that can also be used for this purpose).

I applied Dorie's sweet tart dough recipe to making her Caramel Almond Tart from AMFT.  The dough is made in the food processor, so there is no need to fear rubbing the fat into the flour or sticky hands.  I also always just press the dough into the tart pan rather than rolling it out - which means less effort and no breakage, with a perfect fit every time!  Another self-taught tip that I have when using Dorie's sweet tart dough is that if the mixture comes out too crumbly to come together easily, just add a little ice water  to assist in bringing the dough together.  Dorie also taught me how to prevent shrinkage of the pastry during baking by chilling the dough before shaping and chilling it again after it has been moulded into the tart pan.   Here's my pressed-in sweet tart dough, partially baked and covered with toasted sliced almonds in preparation for my caramel filling:

Another skill that I have learned from Dorie is making caramel.  It really is simple when you know how.  You just melt sugar and water together - don't touch otherwise it will crystallise, but gently swirl to get an even colouration, until you get a lovely amber colour:

then stand back and add the cream - it will pop and spit, but just add the cream slowly and don't put your face over it, and everything will quickly calm down: 

et voila - in this case, a lovely caramel cream filling, but you simply change the proportion of cream to make caramel sauce, caramel candies etc - the same basic principles apply:

 

 

Mastery of these two techniques (making pastry and making caramel) results in a wonderful caramel almond tart for your family to enjoy:

 

 

Fun to make, good to eat, and best of all, you know what is in your food because you made it from scratch - no nasty chemicals.

 

To see what the other Doristas learned from Dorie for our French Food Revolution Friday, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.