Birthday Tart

So its been a while. A lot going on in life...I haven't exactly been motivated to write. Baking....I've done....Writing...Notsomuch. Lots of re-organization happening at work. Lots of re-organization of life. People leaving and people being brought in from other departments. Sometimes my job makes me feel like I'm losing touch with the real world because I'm so wrapped up in whats going on in Corporate America. Ah well...no wonder I'm single. Haha.
Two weekends ago, I got together with my family to celebrate all of the summertime birthdays, that we had yet to get together for Sister, Sister-in-law, Dad, Niece, and Step-Mom...all wrapped into one Sunday.
Now I'm not going to lie....with all of this work upheaval going on, I was exhausted by Saturday, when I knew I was to make something for the Sunday party. Usually, with family, I bring something gluten-free, due to a gluten allergy by a few family members. I then found out that part of dessert had been taken care of...so I had to decide on something else. That Saturday happened to be my Step-Mother's birthday, so I decided my present would be something I had baked.
Earlier in the week, (and I can't believe I didn't mention this RIGHT off the bat) she helped me pick out my new CAMERA! WOOHOO! No more crappy pictures!! (Well...as long as I practice and learn how to take a decent food picture) haha
We had gone to a store in RI and then went to our favorite RI place for Sushi. Haruki's in Cranston is AMAZING. One of the topics of conversation was dessert (who DOESN'T want to talk about THAT?!?!) She mentioned that lemon curd was one of her favorite things ever.
That statement stayed in my mind when I was figuring out what to make on Saturday. After a bit of research, I found an interesting recipe for and Olive Oil Lemon Curd Tart. Now you may be thinking EW. Olive Oil? In a dessert? Gross....BUT you are wrong. Regular, extra virgin, store brand is great for dressings and cooking. The best kind for THIS application, is fruity, lovely, small batch and in this case, French, added the most delicious flavor to not only the tart crust, but the lemon curd as well.
The tart shell was very easy to put together....toasted pecans (or any nut really), flour, sugar, butter and a few tablespoons of that delicious olive oil.

Hmmm. I may have been distracted when toasting the nuts. Lets try that again.

Muuuuch better.

Oh no wait...that doesn't belong in the ingredient pics! It DID influence the awesomeness of the tart though!

Making a tart crust is easy HOWEVER, weighting the crust with beans or in my case, pie weights, is essential. Otherwise your crust puffs up and looks funky. (Funky is the technical baking term)

Om Nom. I had a hard time not breaking off some tasty edges.

I will admit...the Lemon Curd part was slightly disconcerting. All you hear are horror stories of separated curd with chunks of scrambled egg from improper cooking. I guess I should have been a little more self confident about my skills. haha. That curd was THE most amazing thing I have ever tasted. Well...maybe not. But it was high up on the list. Adding a bit of butter and the olive oil at the end just gave it such a rich silky quality...this recipe will be a repeat.

The next morning I covered it carefully in fruit and brought it to the family party. Another successful recipe!

Somehow I think that work is only going to get worse before it gets better...but such is life. My blog and new found love of learning how to take a decent picture will keep me going. Another post coming soon.