Blood Orange Tart

I am infatuated with Blood Oranges.
My daughter is looking over my shoulder nodding Yep.

So pretty.

I first fell for them when we were living in Tunisia. Here, they are a bright spot in the bleak days of winter when the rain and overcast skies threaten to linger past their welcome.

Now I sort of hoard them when I see them. I juice them and freeze the juice and the zest. 

No idea what I am going to do with my stash but it makes me happy knowing it is there.

A few weeks ago I offered a "Dessert a Month" at a fundraising auction. My friend Missy bought my offering and we agreed my first dessert would be for Easter. So, I made Blood Orange Bars with Brown Butter Crust

I halved the recipe and made it into a tart.

This rich buttery shortbread crust was filled with a gorgeous Blood Orange Curd. The curd was beautiful in color, very smooth (okay it was luscious,) and showed off that delicious berry-orange flavor the oranges are known for. 

See what I mean

All finished.

Blood Orange Bars with Brown Butter Crust

adapted from White on Rice Couple

A few notes. This recipe is meant to be made in a 9" x 13" or 1/4 sheet pan. I made half of this recipe and used a 4" x 14" tart pan. Even so I had PLENTY of crust and curd leftover and made an additional 12 tarts in a mini muffin tin. I also found my oranges to be on the too sweet side and lacking acid, taste your juice. I added the juice of two lemons to balance the flavor.

Crust:

2 Cups unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Blood Orange Curd:

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

12 eggs beaten

4 egg yolks beaten

zest of 6 Blood Oranges

2 1/2 cups of Blood Orange juice (taste your juice!)

1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2" pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 Grease pan and set aside.

Crust: Put butter in a saucepan to melt over medium low heat. Cook the butter until it begins to smell nutty and toasty and turns amber in color. This is not the time to go check Facebook. You'll burn your butter. I'm sure your mom would have something to say about that.

Once brown, remove the butter from the heat and stir in the sugar. Blend until the sugar is nearly dissolved. In a mixing bowl combine the flour and salt. Stir in the butter mixture until well blended then press into the prepared pan working the dough up the sides of the pan and evenly across the bottom. Neaten up those edges....presentation is important.

Bake the crust for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile...

Make the curd: Set a medium saucepan filled with water over medium high heat and bring to a gentle boil.

In a mixing bowl that can set over the simmering water, whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Add the eggs, zest and juice. Set the bowl over the saucepan, you do not want the water to touch the bottom of your mixing bowl.

Cook the curd stirring frequently until it begins to thicken. Remove the mixing bowl from the simmering water and stir in the butter a few small pieces at a time until it is all incorporated. Strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer.

Pour the curd into the crust as soon as it comes out of the oven. Return the pan to the oven and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until the filling has thickened and looks slightly set.

Cool completely then refrigerate at least 4 hours, but overnight is best.

Serve chilled.

Blood Oranges

I think I have found my favorite season here in Tunisia. The weather is not too cold, the sun still shows a brilliant blue nearly everyday, and the waves on the Mediterranean Sea have changed from their usual languid roll to a more spirited crash.  That, and it is citrus season.

I have yet to tire of the variety of citrus that is available to us. I just adore the happy sight of tree branches laden with lemons and oranges, hanging over walls and lining the streets. Our local produce stand is keeping me flush with blood oranges, I am mad for them. The rind is pebbly and blushed crimson.  When sliced, they reveal a deep orange that gives way to red and purple. Their flavor is a cross between an orange (duh) and berries. They are abundant and cheap, I bought a big bag full of them for around 2 bucks.

We've been eating them straight up, mixed into salads with fennel and arugula, and juiced. You will never see a more gorgeous juice and I highly recommend that you grab a nearby bottle of something sparkly and make yourself a Mimosa. No need to thank me, giving you that advice is just the right thing to do.

Last week I made the juice into a salmon hued curd. I intended to serve it as a parfait with some cream that would be whipped and blended with a little curd. The curd and cream would then be layered in a little compote and topped with candied pistachios. Well, that didn't happen.

The cream I had purchased would not whip. I had the Kitchen Aid cranked, and after 30 minutes my one cup of cream was only ever so slightly frothy and most of the kitchen was coated in milky splatter. Boo. You should know that the cream we have here is UHT, (on the left in the photo below) and usually it will whip with some effort but it wasn't going to cooperate that day. Instead we had blood orange curd with almond shortbread. It was still yummy, like a really decadent creamsicle.

I really wanted to try the parfait so I broke down and bought what a lot of people I polled use for whipped cream. A boxed mix for Creme Chantilly, in the photo above on the right. While it wasn't great, as you can imagine, it was okay. It tasted more of meringue than cream. I then made a quick syrup of equal parts water and sugar and cooked the pistachios in the syrup until they were bright in color and sticky. They were a pretty addition to the parfait.

Blood Orange Curd Parfait

Adapted from The Kitchn by Rebekah Peppler

makes about 1 1/2 cups

½ cup pistachios


¼ cup water


¼ cup granulated sugar

4 blood oranges, juiced and zested


2 lemons, juiced and zested


3 eggs


1 yolk


2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar


8 tablespoons unsalted butter; cut into small pieces

½ cup heavy whipping cream

First make the candied pistachios. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in pistachios and cook until the liquid is almost gone and the pistachios are coated with a fine candy coating. Remove from heat and spread pistachios to cool on a square of foil. While the pistachios are still slightly wet sprinkle with a little sugar so that they sparkle and are a little crunchy.

For the curd, whisk together the juice and zests, eggs, yolk and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a pot of barely simmering water and stir mixture with a wooden until thickened and you can draw a line across the back of your spoon (about 20 minutes). It should be the consistency of a loose pudding. Remove the bowl from heat and stir in the butter until smooth and creamy. Pass through a fine mesh strainer. Discard zest and any curdled egg bits. Chill completely.

Once the curd is chilled, whisk the whipped cream until soft peaks form. Fold together half of the blood orange curd with the whipped cream.

Ladle curd into cups, top with cream and sprinkle with pistachios.