Wine Poached Grape Tart

Some time ago I was asked, “what’s your take on liquor in desserts?”  At that time, my only association was a series of retirement/baby shower/engagement celebration cakes that my workplace would occasionally offer.  Yellow cake with a good inch and a half of white frosting, soaked in rum.  If the sugar overload didn’t send you spinning the illicit two shots in the bottom layer would. 

Lately though, I’m thinking of liquor, or wine in this case, as a way to add another layer of complexity, something that’s not as easy to pin down as ‘lemon’, ‘maple syrup’, or ‘chocolate’.  Besides, it’s how I justify to myself this hobby as a think for adults, otherwise, why not just recreate Reese’s Peanut Butter cups all week long.

We were invited to a friend’s house for dinner tonight, with the understanding (certainly not unwelcome) that I’d be bringing over dessert.  Something that had been on the list for sometime, and happened to be a fairly quick thing was a recipe from Fine Cooking for a Custard Tart with Wine Poached Grapes.  Simple Almond crust, with a lime & Sauvignon Blanc custard, with red seedless grapes poached in a wine, honey, lime broth, reduced into a thick syrup for brushing the top when it’s all done.

The wine comes through as a faint note, not too strong, and just barely in the grapes themselves.  Put a custard tart in front of me though, and I’m already a happy guy.  We were going to serve it alongside the wine itself, but as luck would have it the dinner was called off at the last-minute due to sickness.  

Now I just need to figure out what to do with this thing.

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