My grandmother lives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where I spent the majority of my childhood summers. Some of my earliest memories include toddling about on the sun-drenched outdoor patio. As I grew older, those memories expanded to dancing and jump-roping and reading and then languishing moodily in all my teenage angst. The patio was also where I picked mangos, destroyed birthday piñatas, and slurped passion fruit juice by the gallon.
I always dreamed that I’d grow up to buy that house with its magical patio. I harbored grand plans to redo the tile, string a swath of twinkly lights, and live out the rest of my days in a haze of nostalgia and jugo de maracuyá. That path isn’t looking likely, but the essence of that fantasy is captured in this tart. My favorite tropical flavors, my ideal geometric tile scheme, and all the warmth of a luminous childhood remembered.
1 baked Speculoos Cookie Crust
PASSION FRUIT CURD
¾ cup (167 grams/6 ounces) passion fruit pulp, seeds removed
¾ cup (149 grams) granulated sugar
3 large eggs plus 3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons (½ stick/57 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into ½-inch cubes
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine the passion fruit pulp, sugar, eggs, egg yolks, and salt in a 2-quart saucepan and whisk well. Cook over medium heat, whisking continuously, until the mixture is warmed through. Add the butter gradually and stir until all the cubes have melted. Continue cooking until the mixture is thick enough to coat a spatula, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping the corners of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and strain the curd through a fine-mesh sieve.
3. Keep the baked tart shell in the tart pan and place on a baking sheet. Pour the curd into the tart shell and smooth the surface.
4. Bake the tart for 5 minutes, just to set the curd.
5. Cool completely before decorating.
SQUARE TILE DESIGN PROCESS
1 small ripe orange-fleshed papaya, such as Sunrise
1-inch square cutter
Paring knife
Ruler
1. Slice the papaya in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Wrap one half and reserve for another use. Peel the other half and cut it crosswise into ¼-inch slices.
2. Using a 1-inch square cutter, punch out 50 squares of papaya. Snack on the scraps or freeze for future smoothies. Slice each square in half on the diagonal to make 100 triangles. Using one corner of the same 1-inch square cutter, cut out a triangle from the hypotenuse (long side) of each right triangle. The result will be a V-shaped papaya piece and a tiny triangle. (Feel free to opt for a large square cutter if the size of these pieces is sheer insanity to you. While the technique for this design is not technically difficult, manipulating the fruit pieces into place may prove a true tile by fire for some—or a zen-like meditative practice for others.)
3. Place the tart on your work surface, keeping it in the tart pan. Lay a ruler horizontally across the center of the tart and resting on the edges of the tart pan.
4. Starting at the left edge of the tart, place a papaya V lining its two arms with the ruler. Because of the curved tart edge, the mirror image V to be placed underneath must be trimmed to fit. Do this now or return to it after the rest of the row has been laid.
5. Next, place two papaya Vs back-to-back, like a “greater than” symbol on the left and a “less than” symbol on the right. Now lay a small triangle, pointing outward, in the opening of each V.
6. The next fruit unit will be the same configuration but rotated 90 degrees. Continue placing papaya in this fashion until a row is completed.
7. The procedure for placing the next row of papaya is the same, but each unit in row 2 should be the quarter-turned image of its counterpart directly above. Continue placing papaya until the entire surface of the tart is covered, cutting pieces to size as necessary at row ends.
8. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. This tart is best consumed within 2 days.
SUGGESTED SUBSTITUTIONS
Crust alternatives: Coconut Pecan Crust, Basic Tart Pastry Shell, Chocolate Tart Pastry Shell
Topping alternatives: Mango, pineapple, kiwi, strawberry
NOTE
Utilize leftover papaya in another tart like Hex and Balances and extra passion fruit puree in a pie like Sun in a Million.