While apartment hunting in Paraguay, I stumbled onto an inviting corner unit. It looked promising from the outside, but it was immediately clear upon entry that it was too spacious for me alone. Still, I wanted the complete tour. I wandered through the palatial master bedroom and slid open the screen door to reveal a balcony overlooking a flower garden. The charm was undeniable, and though it was out of my budget, I was already mentally unpacking my belongings.
I opened a wooden armoire and a blur of black shot out and slammed on the ground, shaking me out of my reverie. It was a bat. A BAT. It attempted several feeble flops around the tile floor and then promptly died. I beat a hasty retreat, and will never think about that dwelling without a shudder.
The place I eventually chose was a quaint abode with a little patio just big enough for a single hammock and a kitchen marked by the half gallon of lime juice I spent hours extracting by hand and then dropped. The acidity stripped the floor polish in an extravagant splash pattern that resembled—what else—a giant bat, and persisted for the duration of my two-year residence.
Lime juice will forever be linked to these memories for me. Fortunately, there aren’t any winged creatures involved here unless you consider dragon fruit to be in the same cursed category. But the vivid magenta powder produces such an alluring hue that sparkles against the fresh fruit, I promise you won’t even bat an eye.
1 baked Coconut Pecan Crust
DRAGON FRUIT LIME CURD
½ cup (99 grams) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (18 grams) dragon fruit (pitaya) powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (119 milliliters) fresh lime juice, from about 5 limes
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons (½ stick/57 grams) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine the sugar, dragon fruit powder, and salt in a 2-quart saucepan and whisk well, eliminating any lumps. Add the lime juice, eggs, and egg yolks and cook over medium heat, whisking continuously, until the mixture is warmed through. Add the butter gradually and stir with a spatula until all the cubes have melted. Continue cooking until the mixture has thickened and coats the spatula, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping the corners of the saucepan.
3. Remove from the heat and strain the curd through a fine-mesh sieve.
4. Keep the baked tart shell in the tart pan and place it on a baking sheet. Pour the curd into the tart shell and smooth the surface.
5. Bake the tart for 5 minutes, just to set the filling.
6. Cool completely before decorating.
PARALLELOGRAM TILE DESIGN PROCESS
1 ripe white-fleshed dragon fruit (pitaya)
1½-inch rhombus cutter
Paring knife
Ruler
1. Trim and peel the dragon fruit and cut it into ¼-inch slices. Using the rhombus cutter, punch out at least 28 shapes from the dragon fruit slices. Try to maximize the number of shapes cut from each slice of fruit to minimize scraps, which, in any case, make a great bonus snack while you are working, or you can freeze them for future smoothies.
2. Cut each rhombus in half to create two identical parallelograms.
3. Lay a ruler vertically down the center of the tart, resting it on the edges of the pan. Following the ruler edge, lightly trace a line down the tart with a toothpick or the tip of your knife. Remove the ruler.
4. Starting at the top of the tart, place a dragon fruit parallelogram with its short edge on the marked line. Take another parallelogram, flipped to be the mirror image of the first parallelogram, and place it on the other side of the line. The top corner of the second parallelogram should touch the bottom corner of the first parallelogram.
5. Continue laying parallelograms down the line, alternating sides. Keep placing dragon fruit pieces in this fashion until the entire surface of the tart has been covered.
6. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. This tart is best consumed within 2 days. For a clean slice, use a sharp chef’s knife or serrated knife to make small, gentle sawing motions to cut through the fruit without destroying the design. Press firmly to cut through the crust. Wipe the knife clean between cuts. Slide the knife under the slice to transfer to a plate.
SUGGESTED SUBSTITUTIONS
Crust alternatives: Speculoos Cookie Crust, Basic Tart Pastry Shell, Matcha Green Tea Tart Pastry Shell
Topping alternatives: Mango, papaya, pineapple, kiwi
NOTES
A small offset spatula and culinary tweezers can be useful for transferring dragon fruit shapes and nudging fruit into place, respectively. Otherwise, a paring knife is perfectly adequate for fulfilling both these roles.
Opportunities to utilize leftover dragon fruit: Happy as a Gram, Hex and Balances, Livin’ on a Pair.