BLOOD ORANGE TART

BLOOD ORANGE TART image

Yield 8 servings

Number Of Ingredients 13

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Ingredients

Press pastry into 9" tart pan, making sure you have a layer of even thickness over bottom & sides. If thickness is uneven, some parts will bake too much before other parts are cooked. Set shell in freezer 30 minutes or overnight, wrapped in foil.
Bake at 375º about 25 min, until shell is golden brown & baked all way thru. Cool before filling.
Pastry Cream
2 cups milk
1/3 cup flour
6 tablespoons sugar
6 egg yolks
1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pastry Cream
Scald the milk - that is, heat it to just under boiling. Mix the flour and sugar in a heavy non-corroding saucepan. Beat the egg yolks until thick and light colored, about 2 to 3 minutes in a mixer. Thoroughly whisk the hot milk into the mixed flour and sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture has boiled for 1 minute or 2.
Whisk a little of the mixture into the egg yolks to warm them and stir back into the flour mixture. Mix well, being sure to incorporate all the flour mixture from the sides of the pan, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the pastry cream begins to hold a slight shape (170 degrees). It is important to cook the pastry cream thoroughly after adding the egg yolks, but don't let it boil. Cook until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, then put through a medium-fine strainer. Cool and whisk occasionally to keep a crust from forming, or cover with plastic and refrigerate until cool, then whisk to smooth it out. Stir in vanilla to taste. Don't over-beat after cooking or the cream will thin out - a useful thing to remember, because you can thin it, if it is too thick, by beating it. Beat it when cold, just before using, to smooth and thin slightly - it should look shiny.

Steps:

Tart and Assembly 1 to 2 T.s unsalted pistachio nuts About 6 to 7 blood oranges 3 T.s sugar 1 T. butter 1 T. water 1 t. Armagnac, Cognac or brandy (optional) 1/2 recipe pastry cream (3/4 cup) Tart and Assembly 1. Shell pistachios and toast them in a 350-degree oven for about 5 minutes, just long enough to bring out their flavor but not so long that they lose their green color. Cool them slightly, rub off their skins, chop them into one-sixteenth-inch to one-eighth-inch pieces and set them aside for garnish. 2. Section blood oranges into a small bowl, removing peel and membranes. Cover with their juice, cover tight and refrigerate if you are not making tart immediately. 3. Put sugar, butter and water into a small, light-colored saucepan and cook over medium heat until it becomes a light golden caramel, about 4 minutes. Pour it quickly into bottom of tart shell and swirl it over bottom. It probably won't cover bottom completely, but try to get an even covering by pouring caramel in circles. This caramel makes a nice, crunchy texture contrast in tart. 4. Stir a little Armagnac, Cognac or brandy into pastry cream. Be careful not to beat it too much or it will thin out. Spread pastry cream in a layer over caramel in bottom of shell. 5. Dry orange sections on a towel or paper towel, then arrange them over pastry cream, overlapping sections slightly. Begin from outside of tart and turn sections in opposite directions in each successive ring. If center is too small to make a final circle, fill it with small sections, perhaps in form of a rose or an open flower. Sprinkle pistachios around outside edge or around center row of sections, or wherever you think they will look best. Each serving: 310 calories; 5 grams protein; 34 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 18 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 121 mg. cholesterol; 93 mg. sodium.