Tartelettes à la Tosca

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Standard 12-cup metal muffin tin
• •Rolling pin and 4-inch (10 cm) round cutter
• •Baking beans or dry rice
• •Kitchen shears or sturdy seafood scissors
• •Wide 3-quart (3-liter) saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Heavy rimmed baking sheet and thin metal baking tray

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pâte brisée

   Combine the flour and salt, then rub in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces remaining. Add the yolk and 1 tablespoon of ice water, tossing until the pâte brisée (short pastry) just holds together when squeezed. If it remains sandy, add the remaining water a teaspoon at a time; if it turns sticky, dust it lightly with flour rather than kneading. Flatten into a disc, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.

2. 2

   Blind-bake the shells

   Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter eight cups of a standard metal muffin tin. Roll the pastry 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick, cut eight 4-inch (10 cm) rounds, and press them into the cups to form shallow shells about 3/4 inch (2 cm) deep. Prick the bases, chill for 15 minutes, then line each with foil and fill with baking beans or dry rice. Bake for 12 minutes, remove the weights, and bake for 6 to 8 minutes more, until the bases are dry and butter-gold. The final oven gives them only three minutes, so a pale shell must go back now. Ça se rattrape: bake it until the base has real colour before cooling and unmoulding.

   Press the pastry into the lower curve of each cup without stretching it. Stretched pastry contracts as soon as the butter melts.
3. 3

   Prepare the crayfish

   Rinse the whole crayfish under cold water and dry them. Twist the tails from the bodies over a bowl so none of their juices are lost. Peel the tails, pull away the dark intestinal threads, and refrigerate the meat. Reserve every head, claw, and shell, then crack them into rough pieces with kitchen shears or the end of a rolling pin. Peeling before cooking lets the delicate tails enter the sauce only at the finish; the shells still surrender their full flavour.

4. 4

   Roast the shells

   Heat the olive oil in a wide saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the cracked shells and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring and crushing them against the pan, until they turn brick red and smell deeply toasted. Add the carrot and shallot and cook for 4 minutes, until softened at the edges. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste for 1 minute, letting the paste darken against the pan without burning.

5. 5

   Build the Américaine

   Take the pan off the flame before adding the Cognac, then return it to the heat and boil hard for 30 seconds. There is no need to ignite it; boiling removes the raw alcoholic edge without bringing a flame into the kitchen. Add the white wine and scrape up the fond, then reduce by half. Add the crushed tomatoes, water, bouquet garni, and cayenne. Simmer briskly for 20 minutes, crushing the shells twice more. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly but leaving gritty shell fragments behind, then reduce the liquid to 1/2 cup (120 ml), glossy enough to coat a spoon. While it reduces, heat the oven to 475°F (245°C) with a heavy baking sheet on the upper-third rack.

6. 6

   Prepare the soufflé crown

   Prepare 1 cup of Soufflé au Parmesan (No. 2295a) according to its own entry, stopping once the mixture has received its final folding and remains unbaked. The cross-reference supplies the soufflé preparation, not a second baked soufflé; here the tartlet shells become its moulds. Keep the mixture beside the stove and use it promptly, because a folded soufflé waits for no one.

7. 7

   Finish the crayfish

   Bring the reduced Américaine to a gentle simmer and add the raw tail meat. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, turning once, until the tails are pearly and opaque but have not curled into tight little fists. If the sauce is still loose, lift out the tails and reduce it before returning them; if it is too tight, loosen it with a teaspoon of water. Take the pan off the heat and swirl in the cold butter, then add the tarragon and season with salt and white pepper. If the butter separates into yellow beads, don't pour it out. Ça se rattrape: whisk 1 teaspoon of cold water in a clean warm saucepan, then whisk the broken sauce into it little by little.

8. 8

   Fill and crown

   Arrange the baked tartlet shells on a thin metal tray. Divide the crayfish tails among them, three tails per shell, and spoon in only enough Américaine to glaze the filling without flooding the pastry. Cover each with about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of the freshly mixed Soufflé au Parmesan (No. 2295a), keeping the mixture just inside the rim so it can rise cleanly.

9. 9

   Bake three minutes

   Set the thin tray directly on the blazing preheated baking sheet and bake for exactly 3 minutes. The soufflé caps should rise, turn pale gold with bronzed ridges, and show a bubbling crescent of Américaine at the edge. If the tops remain pale because the oven has lost heat, place them under the broiler for 10 to 20 seconds, watching without blinking; do not leave them baking until the crayfish toughen. Carry them straight to the table while the caps stand proud and the pastry is crisp. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Whole raw crayfish, frozen at their source and thawed in the refrigerator, are the practical choice. Peeled tail meat cannot give you the shell-built Américaine, and that sauce is the dish. If only whole cooked crayfish are available, build the sauce from their shells and warm the tail meat in it for no more than 30 seconds.
• •The referenced Soufflé au Parmesan (No. 2295a) is a separate preparation. Scale it proportionally within its own entry to yield 1 cup, keeping every ratio intact, and use the folded mixture immediately.
• •A heavy steel baking sheet is the home equivalent of the fierce service oven this three-minute finish assumed. Preheat it thoroughly; a thin cold tray alone cannot give the pastry and soufflé enough heat before the crayfish overcook.
• •Keep the sauce beneath the pastry rim. The tails should be lacquered, not swimming, because even a perfectly baked shell softens when asked to hold a puddle.
• •Pour a brut Champagne or a mineral Chablis. The acidity cuts the Parmesan and butter, while the wine has enough breadth for the Cognac, tomato, and sweet crayfish.

Advance Preparation

• •The tartlet shells can be blind-baked up to 2 days ahead, cooled completely, and kept airtight. Recrisp them for 4 minutes at 350°F (175°C) if they have softened.
• •The Américaine can be made through straining and reduction 1 day ahead. Chill it and the cleaned raw tails separately, then cook the tails and mount the sauce with butter immediately before assembly.
• •Do not hold the folded Soufflé au Parmesan (No. 2295a) or the assembled tartelettes. Prepare the soufflé crown only when the oven, shells, and crayfish filling are ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 160g)