A Sweet and Sour Valentine

I won't argue that Thanksgiving and Christmas are the most food-centered holidays of the year. This Thanksgiving, the first I hosted at my own house, I not only cooked my first Thanksgiving turkey, I also managed to come up with a vegetable dish worthy of second helpings. Considering my Thanksgiving vegetable track record, that is no small feat. Advent came and went in a flurry of chopped, rolled, and dipped chocolate gifts. On Christmas Eve, as tradition demanded, I stuffed myself with Granny's crab dip. Despite all of this, my favorite holidays food-wise are the meeker, but oh so craftier, Halloween and Valentine's Day. As these holidays approach, I find myself dreaming up elaborate cocktail party menus full of kitschy nibbles and over-the-top cocktails. No matter that these cocktail parties have yet to materialize. They will someday, and, let me tell you, I will be one ecstatic and exhausted host.

In past years, my fantasy Valentine's Day treats tended toward the dark and chocolaty: individual molten chocolate cakes with rose-scented whipped cream, a heart shaped chocolate-hazelnut layer cake wearing a shiny coat of ganache, a flourless chocolate torte floating on a lake of raspberry coulis. But with February 14, 2007 right around the corner, I seem to have set all things chocolate aside and developed a sweet tooth for something sour. Well, sweet and sour. The taste of love.

It is no mere coincidence, I think, that pink grapefruits and blood oranges start parading their blushing rinds around Valentine's Day.


First off, what could be more refreshing on a gray February morning than a plump grapefruit or a glass of scarlet-hued orange juice? And, while boxed chocolates, red roses, and doilies may have a monopoly on Valentine's Day symbolism, do pink grapefruits not bring lips to pucker? Do blood oranges not call hearts to beat? These revelations fashioned a fantasy Valentine's Day spread featuring pink grapefruit mini-cheesecakes, blood orange sorbet, pink grapefruit and campari cocktails, and blood orange and pink grapefruit tarts topped with fresh raspberries. Well, I'm here to tell you, sometimes, some Valentine's fantasies come true.




I can vouch that these tarts marry excellently with a hot mug of black tea. I will wager that they would dress up real nice with a glass of champagne. I like them most of all, though, for how pretty they look lined up on my windowsill. And pretty is something all Valentine's Day treats, fantasized or otherwise, should be.

About the curd color: My heart sunk a bit when I realized that my blazing red blood orange juice was yielding a homely brownish-orange curd, but this is what egg yolks and butter do. Red and yellow make orange. The raspberries, however, bring out the red flecks of the zest, which makes for a sort of smashing color combination.

As for the pink grapefruit: Grapefruit juice tends to go more than a little wan when cooked up into a curd. Once I took mine off the stove, its pinkness has all but faded, leaving in its place a very pale orange. Not willing to forgo my Valentine's Day hue, I added a drop of red food coloring. I suppose my drop was on the hefty side because my curd promptly turned a garish pink. But this color, too, grew on me. What Valentine's Day is without a dose of the artificial?

Blood Orange Curd and Pink Grapefruit Curd Tarts with Fresh Raspberries



1 recipe blood orange curd (see below)
1 recipe pink grapefruit curd (see below)
1 recipe tart dough (see below)
1 container fresh raspberries

1. For individual tarts: Cut each log of tart dough into 5 slices. On a lightly floured surface, roll each slice into a round. Press each round over the bottom and up the sides of a tart tin.

For two full-size tarts: On a lightly floured surface, roll each disk of dough into a circle large enough to fit your tart pans with a slight overhang. Press dough over the bottom and up the sides of tart tins.

2. Prick the bottoms of the dough with a fork. Set tart tins on a baking sheet and chill for at least 1 hour, and up to 1 day.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake tart crusts until golden, about 15 minutes. If they start to bubble up, press them back down with the back of a fork. Cool crusts to room temperature.

4. Spoon curd into tart crusts, smoothing it evenly with the back of a spoon. Top each tart with a few raspberries. Give one to your valentine.


Valentine's Citrus Curd
makes enough for 10 4-inch tarts or two full-size tarts

This recipe produces a robustly flavored curd. Because pink grapefruits and blood oranges tend to be milder and sweeter than your usual curd fruit (lemons and limes), I upped the usual juice and zest measures a bit.

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup, plus 1 tablespoon pink grapefruit or blood orange juice
4 large egg yolks
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 1/2 tablespoons pink grapefruit or blood orange zest

1. Whisk sugar and juice in medium sauce pan to blend. Whisk in yolks, butter, and half of zest. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the curd is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 10 minutes. This will happen around 160 degrees F. if you happen to have a candy thermometer in your arsenal. Mix in the rest of the zest.

2. Pour curd into a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd so that it won't form a skin. Chill in refrigerator for 3-4 hours. Curd can be made 4 days ahead and kept refrigerated.


Martha's Tart Dough, adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
makes enough for 10 4-inch tarts or two full-size tarts (this is double Ms. Stewart's recipe).

This is, to date, my favorite dough recipe for sweet tarts. It is easy to work with and it yields a crispy, but firm, and just sweet enough crust. I overworked this batch quite a bit due to a miscalculation about the size of my tart tins, and the crust still turned out very nice.

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
**(Let me take this moment to say that, although I have expressed a few doubts about the produce and the employees of Trader Joe's stores, I love Mr. Joe's butter. It's cheap and tastes like that expensive European stuff. Buy it, if you can.)**
1 cup confectioner's sugar
4 large egg yolks
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons heavy cream

1. Arm your electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Combine butter and confectioner's sugar, mixing on low speed for about 2 minutes.

2. Add the egg yolks, and mix until incorporated, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides as needed. Add 1 cup flour, and mix on low speed just until the flour is incorporated, about 30 seconds. Repeat with second cup of flour. Add remaining cup of flour along with salt and cream, and mix just until flour is no longer visible, about 1 minute.

3. For individual tarts: Divide dough between two pieces of plastic wrap, and shape each one into a log with a diameter of about 2 1/2 inches.

For two full-sized tarts, divide dough between two pieces of plastic wrap, and shape each one into a flattened disk.

4. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours. Dough can be frozen for up to a month; in that case, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before using.