Milk Wine Tart

I collected almost two cups of boozy cheese curds when I racked the Milk Wine a few days ago and after some thought about how to use them, I settled on a tart. I love making tarts, either sweet or savory or a combination of the two--like the tomato, olive, onion, and caramel tarte tatin, that is a favorite around here in the summer. The milk wine curds had a loose ricotta consistency along with a tart/sweet taste that I thought would be nice with lemon and mint.  There is an addition of Gjtost, which is a peanut butter colored Norwegian goat cheese that is sweet to taste. There is no substitute for Gjtost, which is known as "ski cheese," so just skip it if you can't find it. I had a piece of leftover dough that I shaped like a lemon and dyed yellow to resemble a lemon--and it did, before it was baked. Oh well.

The tart is rich and surprisingly still a little boozy, even after baking. I would guess the curds to have been aproximately 30 Proof. If I made this again I believe it could be improved by squeezing excess liquid out of the curds and toning down the lemon additions, but overall it was a good use of the milk wine curds. 



Boozy Milk Wine Curds



Milk Wine Tart Recipe:

Ingredients:

Pastry

1.5 Cups flour

3 tbs. Sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

6 tbs. cold butter, cubed

1 egg beaten with 1.5 oz vodka (can substitute water)

*Like any pastry add liquid or flour to get desired consistency

Filling

2 C milk wine curds from milk wine recipe (or substitute ricotta)

4 oz Cream Cheese

4 oz Gjtost (ski cheese--sweet Norwegian goat cheese)

3/4 C sugar

1 tbs cornstarch

2 lemons zest only

1 lemon juice only

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs beaten

2 tbs dried lemon balm

2 tbs dried mint leaf

Process:

Pastry

Preheat oven to 350F

Mix dry ingredients in food processor

Add Butter and pulse until it looks like course meal

Transfer to bowl and mix beaten egg and vodka

Turn onto floured counter and knead until proper consistency

Form into disc and refrigerate wrapped in parchment paper

After resting in fridge for 1 hr, roll out apx. 11'' to fit over 9'' pan

Trim excess, prick with fork and return to fridge for 15 minutes

Cover crust with form fitting foil and cover with beans or pie weights

Bake apx. 10 minutes until pastry begins to dry

Remove beans and foil and return to oven for apx 10 minutes until bottom is dry

Pour in filling and bake until set (apx. 35 min)

Filling

Mix curds, lemon juice, vanilla, cream cheese, ski cheese, lemon balm, mint, sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and eggs. If using ski cheese, use processor to incorporate. Pour into pastry shell and bake at 350F.