I would love to go back to France. I spent two weeks in Marseilles on a mission trip when I was 21, before I appreciated food and before I could drink wine. I definitely need to make a return trip.

I got all nostalgic about France the other day while I was reading Ruth Reichl's “Tender at the Bone,” one of the most fantastic memoirs I have ever read. Throughout the book, the former editor of Gourmet magazine and New York Times restaurant critic includes hilarious stories from her life that revolve around food. She also generously includes recipes that go along with the events, including this raspberry tart recipe. Reichl recalls a summer she spent in France as a camp counselor. She and a friend sneak out to explore and end up discovering the baker of this tart, who shared her recipe.

I happened to be reading the book when I had some time off last month, and I decided to brave this seemingly intricate recipe. Although it is a bit time consuming, the absolute hardest part is rolling the pie crust into the tart pan.

But the beautiful thing about any kind of crust is it is delicious no matter how it looks, so give this one a try on a lazy Saturday. It took me right back to France for the morning.

Be brave! You can do it!

Oléron Berry Tart, from Ruth Reichl’s “Tender at the Bone”

Serves 8

Pastry:

1 ½ cup sifted flour

¼ cup sugar

¼ pound sweet butter

2 tablespoons cream

1 egg yolk

Put sugar and flour into a bowl. Cut the butter into small squares and add to flour/sugar mixture. Toss with your fingers until butter is coated with flour, and then rub until the mixture looks like cornmeal.

Add cream to egg and pour into flour mixture. Mix lightly with a fork until pastry holds together in a small ball. If not moist enough, add a tablespoon or so of water to bring it together.

Sprinkle flour across a counter and place pastry on flour. Push the dough with the heel of your hand until it has all been worked through. Gather into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for three hours.

Remove and allow to warm for ten minutes. Sprinkle more flour on the counter. Flatten ball into a disk and roll out in an eleven inch circle. Fit gently into an eight or nine inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press into pan gently, being careful not to stretch the dough. Trim off edges and put into freezer for 10 minutes to firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line tart shell with aluminum foil and fill with rice or dried beans and bake 20 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and filler and cook 4-5 more minutes, until golden.

Remove from oven and allow to cool while making filling.

Filling:

¾ cup blanched almonds (OK so this part is tedious: place almonds into boiling water for one minute. Drain; rinse with cool water. Remove skin from each almond)

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter, softened

3 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups raspberries, or other seasonal berry

Put almonds and three tablespoons of the sugar in a food processor and grind to a fine powder.

In a large bowl, cream butter with remaining sugar. Add yolks, stirring until smooth. Add ground almond-sugar mixture and vanilla extract.

Spread almond cream into bottom of pre-baked tart shell.

Carefully cover the tart with 2 cups of the raspberries.

Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar, bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool two hours.

Just before serving, cover the top of the tart with remaining 2 cups of raspberries.

Glaze is a matter of preference here: If you prefer a glaze you can melt 2 tablespoons of currant jam with 1 tablespoon of water in a pan, allow to cool and brush over the berries.