Lambert Cherry Tart

Fresh Lambert Cherry Tart

I recently journeyed to Jefferson, OR to celebrate a friends birthday.  We had a lovely weekend of drinks, good food, friendship, croquet, and fireside chats.  One of her trees was crammed with these bright red jewels.  Mid to late June is fresh cherry season here and the road-side stands, farmers markets, and stores are full of offerings.  For me, fresh cherries mean that summer is finally here.  She offered some up and I was happy to raid her orchard before the drive back home.  What a delight it was to drag out a ladder and pick these fresh from the tree.  By the time they were pitted I had roughly one pound (about a quart)  of fresh Lambert cherries.  They are delicious sweet/tart with a great crisp texture.

Next I had to figure out what to do?  I've worked with cherries before and felt making a pie or galette filling (exposing them to heat of baking) would diminish their natural brightness.  In my view tart cherries are the only ones with bold enough flavor to hold up to baking.  I decided to adapt a fresh cherry tart recipe I originally found on  marthastewart.com.  Of course, being me, had to tweak it.  My first substitution was in the crust.  I used the Triple Ginger Snaps from Trader Joe's in lieu of graham crackers.  By weight I ground up a little over 5 ounces.  It was just the right amount of crumbs for the 10" spring-form I used, but the amount of butter in hindsight seems a bit excessive.  One could easily dial back to 4-5 ounces butter.  For the filling, I used vanilla extract as per the recipe, but for my taste I feel almond would be better to compliment the cherries.  For the glaze I used a blackberry jam because it's what I had.  Raspberry would have been a better choice, and also instead of diluting with water I'd recommend something a bit more acidic (i.e. a sweet Gewurztraminer or Riesling).  "Dabbing" the glaze onto the cherries after they were on the tart I viewed as a waste of time and potentially messy.  I put the glaze (cooled) and the cherries in a bowl, tossed them, and drained off any excess (yum!).  In retrospect I wish I'd have doubled the volume of the ingredients for the glaze and then let them reduce.  I was impatient and wanted to devour this as soon as I could.  DEFINITELY let this chill overnight.  The results were quite tasty.