Regional Recipe of the Quarter: Raisin Tart with Sour-Cream Sauce (South Africa)

4/1/2008

Raisin Tart Ingredients

• 2 eggs
  
• ½ cup sugar
  
• 1 cup sour cream
  
• ¼ cup milk
  
• 1 cup seedless raisins
  
• ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
  
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon peel
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
  
• 1 baked 9-inch regular or short-crust pastry pie shell (use your own favorite recipe)

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a deep bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together with a wire whisk or an electric or rotary beater for 3 or 4 minutes, or until they are thick enough to fall from the beater in a slowly dissolving ribbon when it is lifted from the bowl. Beat in the sour cream and milk. Add the raisins, walnuts, lemon peel and nutmeg, and stir together gently but thoroughly.

Pour the raisin mixture into the pie shell, spreading it and smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake in the upper third of the oven for 35 to 40- minutes, or until the crust and filling are golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the raisin tart to room temperature. Serve the tart accompanied by the sour-cream sauce, presented separately in a bowl or sauceboat.

Sour Cream Sauce Ingredients

• 1 pint (2 cups) sour cream
  
• 2 egg yolks
  
• ½ cup sugar
  
• 3 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur

Method

To make the sauce, beat the sour cream in a deep bowl with a whisk or rotary beater until it is smooth. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Beating constantly, add the sugar in a thin stream, then beat in the liqueur, a tablespoon at a time. Taste and add more sugar if desired. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate until ready to serve.