Curd Your Enthusiasm
Oct. 6th, 2025 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe: Yorkshire curd tart.
"This is traditionally eaten at Pentecost. It's an old form of cheesecake that was traditionally made with beestings, or colostrum, the first milk a cow produces after calving. In more recent years, the cake has been made with curd cheese."
8 oz ricotta (see what worked)
Pastry:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
pinch salt
1/2 cup chilled butter, diced
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
1 egg yolk + 1 Tbsp milk, for egg wash
Filling:
2 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup coarse sugar
2 eggses, separated
grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup currants
Make the shortcrust pastry by combining the flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a fud processor. Pulse for 8 seconds until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (Lies! It never does.) Add the egg and water and pulse again until the dough forms a ball in the bowl. (This, on the other hand, happens.) Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Grease an 8" tart tin and dust with flour. Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface. Gently lift it over the tin and let it sink into the pace. Firmly press the edges into the tin. Trim the excess pastry with a knife and pierce the base with a fork. Freeze the tart shell for 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 400°. Line the pastry with parchment and pie weights, then blind-bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for 5 minutes more. Lower the temperature to 350°.
Mix the melted butter, sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest, and nutmeg. Gradually add the ricotta. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold in along with the currants. Spoon the filling into the tart shell and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
What worked: It was okay. The nutmeg and currants helped. There was an additional direction to make bag cheese using raw milk and rennet, but I said "screw that" and went directly to ricotta.
What didn't: What happened to the egg wash? Badly written.
More lemon would be good. Overall, it was... meh. The history was the most interesting thing about it; without the nutmeg and currants, it would have been completely blah. It was significantly better a day later with a cup of tea, but still kind of meh. We were planning on using goat milk ricotta for more tanginess, but the store was out.
Will I make it again? No, this was a decent amount of work for an uninspiring payoff.
"This is traditionally eaten at Pentecost. It's an old form of cheesecake that was traditionally made with beestings, or colostrum, the first milk a cow produces after calving. In more recent years, the cake has been made with curd cheese."
8 oz ricotta (see what worked)
Pastry:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
pinch salt
1/2 cup chilled butter, diced
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
1 egg yolk + 1 Tbsp milk, for egg wash
Filling:
2 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup coarse sugar
2 eggses, separated
grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup currants
Make the shortcrust pastry by combining the flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a fud processor. Pulse for 8 seconds until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (Lies! It never does.) Add the egg and water and pulse again until the dough forms a ball in the bowl. (This, on the other hand, happens.) Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Grease an 8" tart tin and dust with flour. Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface. Gently lift it over the tin and let it sink into the pace. Firmly press the edges into the tin. Trim the excess pastry with a knife and pierce the base with a fork. Freeze the tart shell for 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 400°. Line the pastry with parchment and pie weights, then blind-bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for 5 minutes more. Lower the temperature to 350°.
Mix the melted butter, sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest, and nutmeg. Gradually add the ricotta. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold in along with the currants. Spoon the filling into the tart shell and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
What worked: It was okay. The nutmeg and currants helped. There was an additional direction to make bag cheese using raw milk and rennet, but I said "screw that" and went directly to ricotta.
What didn't: What happened to the egg wash? Badly written.
More lemon would be good. Overall, it was... meh. The history was the most interesting thing about it; without the nutmeg and currants, it would have been completely blah. It was significantly better a day later with a cup of tea, but still kind of meh. We were planning on using goat milk ricotta for more tanginess, but the store was out.
Will I make it again? No, this was a decent amount of work for an uninspiring payoff.
