ORANGE YOU GLAD IT’S CITRUS SEASON?
If you’re as big a fan of citrus tarts and curd as I am, you’ll love trying these orange takes on classic lemon recipes.
Oranges and lemons... and something or other about the bells of St Clements, which I can’t quite remember! I absolutely love lemon tart (it is something of a signature dessert of mine) and lemon curd. For a long while I have wanted to try my favourite recipes substituting oranges for the lemons to see if something would be lost in translation without the mouth-puckering sourness of lemons.
I am so happy to report that the orange result is fabulous – less intense and more mellow, a more gentle but no less satisfying result, and great for a change from the standard. I topped my tart with crumbled Fresh As freeze-dried mandarins, which added a pleasing light crunch, but if you can’t get your hands on them, lightly toasted flaked almonds will also do the trick.
The tart is such an easy doahead dinner party dessert while the curd is brilliant on toast, crumpets, crepes, scones and a sneaky dollop on vanilla icecream is pretty good too.
Feel free to play around with the citrus in the recipes – I have made many lemon and lime combinations of both, and I’m sure blood oranges, tangelos and mandarins would also work… although I’d probably steer clear of grapefruit!
Orange tart
Serves 10 Preparation time:
40 minutes Cooking time:
57 minutes
110g cold butter, chopped
1 1⁄3 cups plain flour (plus 1 tablespoon to dust bench)
1⁄3 cup icing sugar Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 egg yolk plus 2 egg yolks (reserve 1 egg white and lightly whisk)
1 teaspoon iced water Baking spray
4 eggs 3⁄4 cup caster sugar (1 cup for extra-sweet tooths)
200ml cream
250ml freshly squeezed and strained orange juice
1⁄4 cup freeze-dried mandarins, crumbled or toasted flaked almonds to garnish
Vanilla bean icecream or softly whipped cream to serve
Put the butter in a food processor and add flour, icing sugar and orange zest. Pulse to combine, then add 1 egg yolk and the iced water. Pulse until the mixture forms big clumpy breadcrumbs and starts coming together.
Tip out on to a clean bench and press and squash together into a round disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and remove the pastry from the fridge. Let it sit for five minutes, then roll out on a lightly floured surface until it is 5cm bigger than a 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin.
Spray the tin very lightly with baking spray and use a paper towel to wipe off any excess. Use a fish slice (or thin metal pizza paddle if you have one) to slip it off the bench and into the tin.
Press firmly into the base and sides, patching up tears as you go. Prick the base lightly with the tines of a fork and pop in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Gently whisk the whole eggs with remaining yolks, sugar and cream. Don’t whisk it too hard or you will make it foamy and bubbly – gently does it. Stir in the orange juice.
Cut a circle of baking paper 5cm bigger than the tart tin, place in the tin and fill with baking beans or raw rice.
Bake for 12 minutes, then remove the baking paper and beans/rice and brush the base with a little reserved egg white. Bake a further 10 minutes.
Put the tart base on a baking tray and place back in the oven. Pour the filling through a sieve into a jug, then carefully pour straight into the base in the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 160C and bake for 35 minutes until the filling is just set but still with a bit of a wobble in the middle.
Cool in the tin before removing to serve with lightly toasted flaked almonds or a crumbling of freezedried mandarins, whipped cream and/or vanilla bean icecream.
Orange curd
Makes: 1 2⁄3 cups Preparation time: 10 mins Cooking time: 10-12 mins
3⁄4 cup caster sugar
110g butter, chopped into chunks Finely grated zest of 1 orange
3⁄4 cup freshly squeezed and strained orange juice
3 fresh eggs, ideally organic, free range, lightly whisked
Have two 1-cup capacity sterilised jars at the ready. Heat sugar, butter, zest and orange juice in the top of a double boiler or in a large glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
Once the butter has melted, whisk the eggs into it.
Continue whisking over the heat for 10-12 minutes, until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon – don’t wait for it to get really thick or it will be ‘‘cooked-eggy’’.
Pour into jars and seal. Use within two weeks.