Custard Rhubarb Tart
For about the past 2 years or close to, I’ve had a small decrepit looking rhubarb plant holding onto dear life in one of our raised pod garden beds.
Since the day I planted the poor thing it never really had a will to live. Only to thrive on the rare occasion I looked at it sideways finally admitting defeat and mentioning that it was finally time to pull it up. Lo and behold, the very next morning I’d be greeted with a cheery green and lush looking new leaf. If you listened closely you could hear the plant panting and straining just to have made it’s point.
So, here we are. Almost 2 years later and it’s managed to push out a grand total of 3 new leaves that are at a dizzying height of about 2cm. Certainly not productive enough to even make a spread for piece of toast let alone enough to embellish a tart.
Needless to say. This custard rhubarb tart was certainly not the product of my own garden but rather the result of me cruising the fruit and veg isles of Coles, hanging my head and tossing a bunch of strangely perfect rhubarb stalks into my trolley. You win gardening gods - and at the pricey cost of my gardening dignity!
Over the years I’ve seen so many incredible recipes using rhubarb. A lot of old fashioned ones and a lot of newer, avant garde ones thanks to shows like Masterchef. As someone who had never tried it - no thanks to my under preforming vegetable pods - I really wanted to give it a go and to say that I’m stoked with the result of this custard tart, would be a slight understatement.
The roasted rhubarb is tangy sweet, borderline almost sour. This balances incredibly well with the creamy vanilla custard which is soft and pillowy. Surround these flavours with a tender buttery shortcrust pastry case and you’ve got a dessert worthy of hanging onto those egotistical rhubarb plants.
Custard Rhubarb Tart
Ingredients
- 40g almond flour
- 130g plain flour
- 30g icing sugar
- pinch of salt
- 113g unsalted butter - cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 4tsp cold water
- 2tsp vanilla extract
- 500ml whole milk
- 2 large egg, plus 4 large egg yolks
- 200g caster sugar
- 50g cornflour
- 40g unsalted butter
- 800g straight rhubarb stalks - cut into roughly 2 inch long parallelogram shapes (or any other desired shape/pattern of your choice)
- 175g caster sugar
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- Juice of 2 oranges
- Sliced almonds - to garnish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix the water, egg yolk and vanilla together. Set Aside.
- Place almond flour, icing sugar, plain flour and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few time to combine. Add butter and continue to pulse until the butter chunks are not bigger than a pea.
- Add the water/yolk mixture to the flour and pulse until it comes together as a dough. Don't be temped to add more water, keep pulsing and it will come together as the friction of the blades start to slightly soften the butter.
- Remove the blade and scrap the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Press into a 1/2 inch thick disc before placing in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until ready to use.
- Grease a 9inch (23cm) loose-based fluted tart tin with butter. Press a disc of baking paper over the base of the tin and set aside.
- Remove rested dough from the fridge and cut half. Cut one half into 5-6 strips. Roll each strip into a rope that is roughly 1/2 inch thick. Press these ropes into the sides of the tart tin to create the sides. On a lightly floured bench, roll out the remaining half of dough into a 8inch circle. Press into the bottom of the tart tin. Using the bottom of a floured measuring cup can aid in pushing the base layer to the edges if it's shy of connecting. This can also help to further mould the edges evenly into the fluted tin.
- Prick all over the base with a fork before placing back in the fridge for 20 minutes or until completely hardened. Pre-heat oven to 175°C during this time.
- Remove from the fridge and place two sheets of aluminium foil in a cross over the top of the tart case. Press the foil across the base and up the sides of the case to help prevent slumping. Using rice or pie weights, fill to the top of the tin and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the pie weights and cook for a further 15-20 minutes or until the base is golden brown and cooked through. Allow to cool completely.
- Bring to a simmer the milk and vanilla in a large heavy based saucepan over low to medium heat.
- Place eggs, egg yolks, sugar and cornflour into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly start to pour the milk over the egg mixture, whisking constantly until all the milk has been added.
- Scrap the mixture back into the saucepan and continue to heat over medium-low, whisking consistently for 3-5 minutes or until the custard is thick, shiny and easily covers the back of a spoon. This can happen quite suddenly so be mindful not to walk away. A lower temperature can ensure that the custard doesn't curdle but will take a little more time to reach consistency.
- Remove from heat and strain into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap in contact with the surface of the custard and allow to cool completely before placing in the fridge until needed.
- Pre-heat the oven to 160°C
- In a small saucepan over low heat, add the sugar, orange juice and vanilla. Bring to a steady simmer and reduce down until the sugar has dissolved completely and the mixture resembles a syrup consistency.
- Add sliced rhubarb to the syrup and toss to coat. Pour both the rhubarb and syrup onto a large baking tray. Space the rhubarb evenly across the tray and place in oven to lightly roast for 5-10 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender but still holding its shape.
- Remove from the oven. Carefully place the rhubarb onto a large plate and allow to cool completely in the fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes. Carefully pour the syrup onto a small bowl or jug to cool.
- Whisk the custard to remove any lumps before pouring into the cooked and cooled tart case.
- Start placing the rhubarb batons on top of the custard, from the top middle point of the tart - point to point, creating little mini triangles. Continue this pattern down the middle of the tart to construct the first column. Repeat either side using the first column as a guide until the entire surface of the tart is covered. Don't worry too much about the edges, these will be covered with slices almonds if there are any bare spots. Use the pictures as a guide if you find yourself stuck on the construction of the pattern.
- Use a pastry brush to gently brush a layer of the reserved syrup across the surface before sprinkling a layer of the sliced almonds around the edges to finish.