I prepared an Orange Tart for the Near Years’ meal. A slight departure from usual fare, this is an explosion of butter, eggs and sugar. The recipe which follows is straight from the the fabulous Moro cookbook. The Tart was served with meringues made with the leftover egg whites, and an Almond Cream (slightly grey, as a piece of Vanilla pod ended up in the blender)
Sweet Pastry Tart Shell
(Makes approx 250g pastry)
140g plain flour
30g castor sugar (or icing)
75g chilled butter, cut in small pieces
1 egg yolk
Sift the flour and sugar together. Blend the butter with the flour until you have a fine mixture like breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and mix together. If the pastry is too dry, add milk or water. Shape into a ball, flatten slightly, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for an hour minimum.
Grate the pastry into a 24cm tart tin lined with baking paper. Press evenly around the edges and sides to a thickness of 3–5mm. Prick the base and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220C. Bake the tart shell on the top shelf for 10–15 minutes until golden. Remove and cool on a rack.
Orange Curd
140g Castor Sugar
170ml Orange juice
170g unsalted Butter, in small pieces
4 egg yolks
2 eggs
zest of 1/4 Orange
Mix Curd ingredients together and cook very slowly, stirring constantly, for 15-20 minutes until thick. To start with, the mixture will not seem to thicken – this will happen suddenly at the end – so do not be tempted to turn the heat up or it will curdle. Remove when the custard is thick, but still a pourable consistency.
Preheat the oven to 240 C. Spread the curd into the tart shell and bake for 10 minutes on the top shelf until it starts to colour, making sure it does not split. Cool on a rack before serving.
