Happy 2022 from London!

Here’s the first recipe for the year: Cranberry-Orange Tart with a Rosemary Tart Shell.

The tart shell is a pate sable tart crust, with rosemary-butter and orange zest.  The bottom layer inside is a cranberry orange jam, topped with an orange curd.  If you’re making all of these elements, I have listed them in order of how they should be done to allow for cooling/setting.

Notes:

-These tarts only keep for about 24 hours.  The jam softens the tart shells after a day or so. 

-All in all, I would account for 3 hours of cooking/assembling, with at least 2 hours of setting in the fridge.

Step 1: Make the Rosemary Butter.

Mix 50g softened butter with 5g (3-4 sprigs) of Rosemary. Place in fridge to chill.

Step 2: Make the Cranberry Orange Jam

275g Cranberries (standard, 12oz bag). Save some for garnish as needed.

Zest of 1 orange (14g)

150g Caster/granulated sugar (3/4c)

85g Orange Juice

1.      Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan or skillet, mix, and bring to a boil. Your cranberries will start to split, which you want.

2.      Simmer on low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.      Using a spoon or spatula, squish the cranberries that still haven’t broken down and simmer for 5 more minutes. The mixture should be noticeably thicker by now.

4.      Remove the pan from heat but leave the jam in the hot pan. Allow to cool for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 3: Make the Rosemary Tart Shells (Makes six 4” tarts)

100g Plain/ All-Purpose flour

Rosemary Butter (50g butter + 5g minced rosemary), cubed and chilled

20g ground almond/almond flour

50g icing/powdered sugar

20g egg (beat 1 egg and divide in half)

2g salt

5-7g orange zest (1/2 an orange)

1.      Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the chilled butter and rub by hand or with the paddle attachment until the mixture looks coarse & sandy.

2.      Add egg and zest and mix until just incorporated.

3.      The dough will be a little wet & sticky, but resist the urge to add more flour. Place on a cutting board or baking mat and ensure ingredients are mixed well. Cling wrap and fridge for 20 minutes.

4.      Prep the tart rings by greasing the insides with butter or spray. Place them on a baking mat or parchment paper on a tray.

5.      Prep the orange curd ingredients. Soak the gelatin leaves or powder in water per the packaging.

6.      Once the dough has chilled for 20 minutes, roll the dough out on a floured surface. Use the tart rings to cut the bottoms of the tart out. They should be very thin! They won’t come off the board in the tart ring, you’ll have to use a knife or spatula to lift them. Place them in the bottom of the tart rings and make sure they reach the edges of the ring.

7.      Roll out remaining dough again to make a rectangle. Using a ruler or a knife, cut long strips (about 1 inch in height) for the sides of the tart. The strips should be taller than the sides of the ring. Remove each strip and place around the inside of the tart ring. It should fall over the top for now. Lightly press into the sides of the ring and attach to the bottom dough. Once all 6 have been lined, place in fridge for 5 minutes.

8.      Pre-heat oven to 185C/375 F.

9.      Remove tarts from fridge and lightly press the dough into the sides of the ring again. Trim the excess dough away using the back of a knife.

10.  Dock (poke lots of holes in the bottom layer with a fork) and bake for 15-20 minutes. They should be a golden brown when done. Check while baking to make sure the dough hasn’t puffed up. If that happens, just take your fork or a sharp knife to it while in the oven.

11.  Let cool in tart rings for 5 minutes after baking.

Step 4: Make the Orange Curd (If you’re foregoing the jam and just using curd, double this recipe!)

185g fresh orange juice (1 large orange)

Zest of 1/2 orange

75g caster/granulated sugar

15g egg yolk (1 egg yolk)

75g egg (combine the half of egg unused from the tart shells with 1 egg)

65g diced butter

2 sheets of gelatin (Mine was 3.7g total, platinum grade leaves)

1.      Soak the gelatin per packaging.

2.      Heat the OJ and zest in a medium saucepan until steaming. Once heated, strain the zest and put the juice back into the pan.

3.      Add the eggs, yolk, and sugar. Bring all to a low boil. Whisk constantly to avoid scrambling your eggs on the bottom of the pan.

4.      Wring out the gelatin and place in a mixing bowl. Once the egg mix has come to a low boil (it should be thicker, volumized, and lighter in color), add to gelatin bowl. Whisk to dissolve the gelatin. Add the butter and whisk.

5.      Set in the fridge for 10 minutes with cling wrap on the curd, touching the surface. (your curd will develop a skin if not)

Assembly:

1.      Fill the bottom half of the tart shell with jam. Use a spoon to level.

2.      Remove the curd from the fridge and whisk until smooth.

3.      Pour curd on top of jam layer to the very top of the shell.

4.      Place tarts on a tray in the fridge for 2 hours.