Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Rhubarb and Orange Tart


Rhubarb is here! And since it cost me nearly seven bucks, I felt the need to do something slightly elevated. This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite books, How to Bake (Malgieri). The crust reminds me of the sweet, cake-like pastry crusts that Ed's mum makes using self-rising flour. I think my favorite thing about this is the very spring-like color you get from the bright pink rhubarb and the yellow/orange custard. Another nice thing is that poaching the rhubarb cooks it without turning it to mush. Now don't freak - I'm not a "poaching" kind of gal but this was really easy. And it tastes really good.

Rhubarb and Orange Tart

Sweet Dough
2 1/2 c. flour
6 T sugar
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
8 T cold unsalted butter
2 large eggs
milk or cream if needed

Poached Rhubarb
1 1/2 lbs fresh rhubarb
1 c. sugar
2 c. water

Crumb Topping
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
8 T unsalted butter

Orange Custard
2/3 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. sugar
grated zest of one orange
1 t. vanilla
4 egg yolks

For the Sweet Dough:
Note: This recipe is will make 2 crusts, but only one is needed for this recipe. I'm very paranoid about making too little pastry dough, probably because I'm not the best at rolling it out, so I usually make enough for two crusts and then just use the extra for jam tarts for the kids.
Combine dry ingredients in the food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into 1-tablespoon pieces and add to the work bowl. Pulse repeatedly at 1-second intervals until the mixture is fine and powdery and resembles cornmeal. Add the eggs and pulse 10 more times, until the dough forms a ball. If your dough seems too dry to form a ball, and milk or cream, a tablespoon at a time, until it does. Try not to over-process. Scrap dough onto floured work surface, knead a couple of times to bring together, and shape into a disk. Wrap w/plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour or up to two days.

For the Rhubarb:
If the rhubarb is well developed and tough looking, string it (like you would celery). Cut the stalks into 2-inch lengths. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a large shallow pan, add the rhubarb, cover, turn off the heat, and allow the rhubarb to cool completely.

For the Crumb Topping:
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir the melted butter into the dry ingredients. Allow to stand a minute, then by hand break into coarse crumbs. Set aside.

For the Orange Custard:
Whisk all ingredients together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Set aside.

To assemble the tart, roll out the chilled dough and line a 10-inch (or so) tart pan. Drain the rhubarb (Don't forget to save the syrup for another use - it's really good.) and arrange it in the tart shell. Pour the custard filling over the rhubarb and scatter the crumb topping over the top.
Bake the tart 30-40 minutes, until the filling has set and the crumbs have browned lightly. Cool on a rack.

9 comments:

laura said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
laura said...

sorry...that was my deleted comment above!

anywho, as i was saying...

i LOVE rhubarb! my dad grew it in our backyard growing up and my mom made the best rhubarb pies!

Amy said...

I also love rhubarb. My Grandpa grew it in his garden. We would always have rhubarb pies. I like it so much that Russ and I planted it last year in our garden. It won't be ready to eat for another year though. In the meantime I will have to buy some and try this recipe out.

Carrie said...

I can vouch for this tart! I pretty much inhaled an entire piece while Cathy was standing in front of me. :)
As always Cathy, you are amazing!!!

Jill said...

Cathy I have to agree that it was heavenly, and I never thought I would like rhubarb, but the minute Chad got home on Tues. that's all I could talk about. He was upset because I didn't snag him a slice and he was the one that "loves" rhubarb!

Ryan said...

I've never had rhubarb but that tart looks so good! I will have to give it a try. Marianne

Organized Chaos said...

Daniel was like "oh my gosh, she is the queen." I agree you rock.

Jess

Holly Strong said...

Very yummy looking! My mother in law has so much rubarb in her back yard, it's amazing. I LOVE it and love when she makes rubarb crisp...mmmm!!!! Maybe when she has hers in full swing, I'll grab some and try out your recipe! Or at least give the recipe to my mother in law to make!!! :)

Unknown said...

I've never had rhubarb before, but these photos are making my mouth water!
I'll be honest, I'm not much of a cooker, mainly because it takes me over an hour to make a recipe that's suppost to take 20 minutes - I'm just retarded that way! But, looking at your blog makes me want to cook more - I'll have to try out some of your recipes - I'm thinking I'll try the chocolate cake one first.
Let me just say that your hubby and kids are SO lucky to have you!