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Rhubarb and custard tart
posted Thursday, 29 March 2007
As promised... a sweet recipe! Rhubarb is one of my favourite ingredients - I don't believe it's eaten that much elsewhere in the world, even though it comes from China originally. I love the sourness that goes so well with the sweetness of custart.
Rhubarb has almost two seasons - the earliest we get in February/March time is usually 'forced' (grown in dark sheds and the stems collared by tall pots - providing slightly sweeter and paler rhubarb than that of the garden). For the rest of the spring and summer, we get 'normal' rhubarb - sometimes great thick stems that require stripping of their more fiberous parts.
Rhubarb has almost two seasons - the earliest we get in February/March time is usually 'forced' (grown in dark sheds and the stems collared by tall pots - providing slightly sweeter and paler rhubarb than that of the garden). For the rest of the spring and summer, we get 'normal' rhubarb - sometimes great thick stems that require stripping of their more fiberous parts.
When I saw my first rhubarb of the season in the greengrocers recently, I couldn't help myself. I already had some sweet pastry in the freezer so a tart was the natural choice. Originally, I was going to do a standard tart - perhaps glazed with orange juice - and serve it with custard. Now I love home-made custard, but for me, rhubarb has a natural affinity with bought custard - made from powder or just heated from a carton. So I thought perhaps I could incorporate the custard into the tart.
There are a number of complimenting flavours in this recipe - there's the sour rhubarb, the sweet vanilla of the custard - plus more vanilla in the sugar for the fruit, and there's a lovely tangarine glaze (the tangarines just happened to be in the greengrocers too...). Given that I don't do that much in the way of puddings, I was pleased with how this turned out.
Rhubarb and Custart Tart with a Tangerine Glaze
1/2 lb sweet pastry
4 good stems of rhubarb
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1/2 pint made custard (quite thick)
Juice of 2 tangerines (or an orange)
Vanilla sugar to taste
4 good stems of rhubarb
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1/2 pint made custard (quite thick)
Juice of 2 tangerines (or an orange)
Vanilla sugar to taste
Preheat the oven to 180degreesC. Line a 10" tart tin with the pastry, prick the bottom, cover with greaseproof paper, fill with baking beans and blind-bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so. Remove, take out the paper and beans and return to the oven for about 5 minutes to crisp-up a little.
Meanwhile, cut the rhubarb into 1" lengths, put in a roasting tin and sprinkle with the vanilla sugar. Roast for around 10-15 minutes until soft.
Pour the custard into the pastry case, and add the pieces of rhubarb - leaving the juice behind.
Bake for 10 minutes or so (don't let the edge of the pastry burn).
Put the tangerine juice into a small pan with any juice that has come out of the rhubarb during roasting. Simmer gently for a few minutes with vanilla sugar to taste - you don't need to turn this into a syrup, just heat and disolve the sugar.
Remove the tart from the oven and brush with the tangerine juice. Serve, with the remaining juice in a small jug. Delicious!
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