Fruit Tarts at Skies on Mother’s Day

On Mother’s Day, I took the special mother in my life and our son to Skies’ Restaurant in Kansas City.  For those not hip to the Kansas City culinary scene, Skies is the tallest restaurant in the area.  It sits proudly atop the Hyatt Regency hotel (one of Kansas City’s snootier fancier hotels) and spins contentedly all day, every day.

Yes, not only is it a very tall restaurant, it’s a revolving restaurant.

Which is pretty cool when you hear about.  If you’ve never eaten in a restaurant that spins (and frankly, I don’t think there are many left), I recommend doing it at least once.  Just try to keep your bearings so you can remember where the bathroom is.

Anyway, I digress.  Upon making my reservations to Skies, I had a certain level of trepidation.  I have had some of the most expensive meals in my life at Skies.  I just didn’t enjoy them very much.  Except for the spinning thing, which really does lose it’s appeal when you decide that you kind of like being about to look out the window and know what you’re going to see.

(The other exception is the Mile High Sky Pie, an eighteen inch high dessert that my wife and I have gone to Skies to order on more than one occasion.  I enjoyed those times very much.)  So, you may be wondering why I picked Skies as our Mother’s Day restaurant.  Honestly, because Caenen Castle and the American were full.

Lucky for me they were full. Let me say in no uncertain terms, the meal I had at Skies was the best Mother’s Day meal I can remember.

Skies was divided into two sections: lunch and breakfast.  The breakfast section had omelets to order, French toast, smoothies, breakfast meats, fruit, and other delicacies.  The lunch section (where I met chefs John and Nathan and forced them to cook a truly heroic quantity of tenderloin for me) was also excellent.  My favorite tenderloin had a nice dijon demi that perfectly accented the meat and went nicely with the pasta made to order.  There was also baked chicken in a nice orzo, roasted pork in cranberry sauce, and desserts.  Lots of desserts.

However, the highlight of the meal were these little fruit tarts they served.  They were just strips of puff pastry with fresh fruit (mango, strawberries, black berries, and blueberries) with a little glaze to hold it all together and to add sweetness.  Had I known Tina would like them so much, I would have made something very similar years ago.  Because I love them, too.

Here is the recipe if you want to make them.

Fruit Tart Recipe

This recipe is crazy simple, but no one will know.

You will need:

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 1/2 cup apricot jelly
• 1/4 cup white grape juice (or water)
• assorted fruit

What did I tell you?  Easy!

Take your still cold sheet of puff pastry and roll it out gently with a rolling pin to smooth it.

Dock it gently with a fork to prevent rising.  Dock more heavily in the middle than on the edge.

Bake according to package directions.

While the pastry is baking, put the jelly into a saucepan with a few tablespoons of grape juice.  Warm the jelly over medium-low heat and slowly add the grape juice until the jelly is like a very thick sauce (or thin jelly.)  You may not need all of the grape juice.

Let the puff pastry cool and take the jelly off the heat.

When the puff pastry is cool, spread the jelly on top and then add the fruit.  Cut into wide slices to share or just eat the whole thing yourself.

Enjoy!

Thanks to turtlemom4bacon for the picture.