Flaky Blood Orange Tart

This was dessert New Year's Day evening. Tim saw it in back of the 2008 F&W (recipe by Zoe Nathan at the Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica CA), and wanted to try it. And it was my first chance to play with my new kitchen toy. This pastry could easily be made without a food processor. I've gotten by all this time without one. But now that I have one...



1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, the stick cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled
3 tablespoons ice water
8 to 10 blood (moro) oranges (about 5 ounces each)
1 large egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons water

1. In a food processor, pulse the 1 cup flour with 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the baking powder and salt. Add the stick of cold butter and pulse several times, jus until it is the size of peas. Sprinkle the dough with ice water and pulse just until moistened crumbs form. Turn the crumbs out onto a work surface and knead once or twice and pat the pastry into a disk. Wrap the pastry in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

2. On a floured work surface, roll out the pastry to an 11-inch round, about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer the pastry to a parchment-lined flat cookie sheet and refrigerate 15 minutes, or until chilled.

3. Meanwhile, peel the blood oranges, removing all of the bitter white pith. Thinly slice two of the oranges crosswise; remove pits. Transfer orange slices to a plate. Working over a sieve set over a bowl, cut in between the membranes of the remaining oranges, releasing the sections into sieve. Remove any pits and gently shake out as much juice as possible without mashing the sections; you will need 1 cup of sections. Reserve the orange juice for another use (like drinking it on the spot!).

4. Arrange the orange sections on the pastry, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the sugar over the oranges. With a paring knife, thinly slice the remaining one tablespoon of butter over the oranges. Fold up the pastry over the oranges, leaving most of the oranges uncovered. Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Arrange the orange slices on top, leaving a 1-inch border of pastry all around. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar on top. Freeze the tart until solid, at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.



5. Preheat the oven to 375 F and position a rack in the center. Place a baking sheet below to catch any drips. Bake the tart directly from the freezer for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the pastry is deeply browned. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack and let the tart cool for 30 minutes. Carefully slide the parchment paper onto the rack and let the tart cool completely.

The recipe then says to serve with a Salted Caramel sauce. Which sounds pretty good, but the tart was really good all by itself. Full of sunshiny citrusy flavor and buttery, sugary pastry. Since we had a heck of a time finding blood oranges (it's a little early), I used the 4 we found at a small produce market in Ann Arbor, and filled in the rest with navel oranges. I think next time I'll make better use of all that hot oven time and put something else in too, like bread. It really is flaky. I think the technique of baking it straight out of the freezer is the key.