This blood orange tart takes inspiration from the Mediterranean

This is for all my blood orange and tart dessert lovers! Blood orange is my new love.

It all started with Aranciata Rossa, an Italian blood orange drink. I never really thought about Blood Orange. As a child, I ate a lot of oranges. I liked how sweet they were, but a little sour. Blood Orange is a more mature version of it.

Early on, we decided it was time to use them in whiskey beverages, use them in marinades, and finally dessert. Blood oranges are mildly sweet, low-acid oranges.

In this tart, we went completely Mediterranean with spices and nuts that pair perfectly with blood orange. This tart is juicy, earthy and delicately spiced, making for a surprisingly appetizing pairing.

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Blood Orange Tart with Hazelnut Crust

Preparation time: 45 minutes; Cooking time: 60 minutes

Serving: 1 9 inch tart

material

crust

• 1½ cup hazelnuts (see instructions)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, diced (1 stick)
• 1 egg

filling

• 10 tablespoons diced butter
• 1/4 cup finely grated blood orange peel
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 4 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup pureed blood orange juice (about 5-6 blood oranges)
• ¼ cup strained lime (or orange) juice

procedure

for pastry

1. Place 1 or 2 hazelnuts in a food processor and grind until gritty. Measure out 1 ½ cups of hazelnuts. Return cup of hazelnuts to food processor. Add sugar, salt, cardamom and ginger. Grind for a few more seconds until blended. Add flour and pulse for a few seconds until blended. If your processor isn’t big enough, use a large bowl to whisk in the flour and hazelnuts.
2. Place the butter in a food processor and pulse until the butter is pea-sized. You can also cut butter into flour with a pastry cutter. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Flip the dough over on a flat surface. Work and shape into a ball. Cover the ball with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle. For simplicity, roll between two sheets of wax paper that have been sprayed with cooking spray, a silicone mat, or plastic wrap. Roll the rolling pin into the tart mold and cut the edges. Refrigerate the tart for 10 minutes.
4. Place the prepared tart molds on a baking sheet. Place parchment paper over tart and pour baking weight onto tart.Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and bake for another 8 minutes. Once done, remove from oven and reduce heat to 325 degrees. Note: Once you’ve removed the pie weights, you can start making your blood orange cards.

blood orange card

1. Place the butter in a large heatproof bowl. Place a mesh strainer over the bowl and set aside.
2. Whisk together the blood orange peel, sugar, salt, eggs, and yolks in a medium saucepan. Gradually mix blood orange juice and lime juice.
3. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, until mixture thickens and reaches 160-165°C, 8-10 minutes. When stirring, be sure to scrape the bottom and all corners of the pan. Reduce the heat when it is almost done. If the mixture starts curdling or bubbling, remove it from the heat immediately and proceed to the next step.
4. Immediately pour the curd through a strainer into the bowl of butter. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the fine-mesh strainer. Beat the butter with a whisk and remove lumps.
5. Make sure the oven temperature is down to 325 degrees. Pour the curd into the crust and bake for 18-25 minutes. It’s done when the sides bulge a little and the center wobbles like a set jello. If the center of the tart rises and begins to crack, it is overbaked. As a checkpoint, let’s take a look while using the time effectively.
6. Remove from oven, cool to room temperature, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate completely.