Mar 4, 2010

Orange Curd Tartlets

One more recipe that uses Oranges - and I still have more oranges on my counter to go through. Oh boy. And, I'm out of eggs. Anyways, this is an elegant dessert worthy of fancy dinner parties and afternoon tea. Make it one day ahead, or at least a few hours ahead of time, since it needs time to cool and set.
-AnglophileinLA

Ingredients for the curd:
½ cup fresh squeezed and strained orange juice
Zest from 1 orange
½ cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cube (¼ pound) unsalted butter, cut into 6 chunks

The process:
Start water boiling in a small pot - you'll be cooking the curd in a metal bowl resting on top of it.
Combine juice, zest and sugar in the lightweight metal bowl. Whisk in the eggs and stir constantly over medium heat. Keep the whisk moving slowly so the eggs have no chance to scramble.

Add one chunk of butter and keep whisking. When the chunk starts to look a little raggedy, add another chunk. Keep adding another chunk as each previous one starts to move through the raggedy stage to the melting stage. Keep the whisk moving slowly all the while. When all chunks of butter have melted, whisk for about 5 minutes more, until the curd thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Do not overcook.

Remove from the heat and immediately strain the curd into the tartlet shells. STRAINING IS IMPORTANT. Then, immediately cover with plastic wrap so a skin doesn't develop on the surface of the curd. Let chill overnight if possible.

Chocolate Coated Tartlet Shells

I used the roll-out Pillsbury pie crusts that come 2-in a box. 1 pie crust made 3 tartlets by just laying them over the creme-brulee ramekins and cutting around the edges. Then I just pressed the crusts into the ramekins, poked fork holes in, and pre-baked according to the directions on the box.

Meanwhile, using the same doulbe-boiler technique as the curd, heat a half cup of chocolate morsels with a spoonful of butter in a metal bowl resting on top of a pot of boiling water. Stir constantly, and when it's gooey, take a culinary brush (mine is silicone, works really well), and paint the insides of the baked tart shells with chocolate. Let harden and cool before you pour in the curd.

1 comment:

Megan said...

How interesting, yet looks very good!!