There are chocolate people, and there are vanilla people. I am a lemon person.
Show me a dessert menu, and I’ll choose whatever is flavoured with lemon or any of her citrus sisters — lime, tangerine, kumquat, yuzu. Even as a kid, I went for lemon sorbet over the mint chocolate-chip ice cream. The combination of sugar cut with enough acidic citrus juices to make my jaw ache is my confection perfection — mostly pleasure, pricked with pain.
Of all the lemony desserts one could make, I’ve always leaned hard on the classic, lemon curd tart. But there are times when it pays to branch out. This elegant tart, with tangerine, ginger and a little chocolate, is one of them.
The tart has brightness, depth and a hint of spice — a treat for lemon people.
Tangerine, Ginger and Chocolate Tart
(Serves 8)
Ingredients
For the tart dough:
235g all-purpose flour
40g powdered sugar
30g chopped crystallized ginger
Pinch of kosher salt
113g unsalted butter (1 stick), cold and cubed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
For the filling:
6 large egg yolk
3 large eggs
3/4 cup fresh tangerine juice (from 3 to 4 large tangerines)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
3 tablespoons finely grated tangerine zest
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
25 grams granulated sugar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
170 grams unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cubed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
45 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
30 grams chopped crystallized ginger
Chocolate curls, for serving (optional)
Method
Place the flour, sugar, crystallized ginger and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine.
Add butter and pulse until a coarse meal forms. Add egg and pulse just until a crumbly dough comes together. Press dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Prepare the curd: In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk together yolks and whole eggs. In a medium pot over medium heat, combine tangerine juice, lemon juice, 1 1/2 tablespoons tangerine zest, 3/4 teaspoon lemon zest, sugar, ginger, salt and butter. Once mixture is simmering, slowly pour into eggs, whisking constantly, then return mixture to pot. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat, until curd thickens enough to coat a spoon, 4 to 7 minutes. Strain into a medium bowl and stir in remaining tangerine and lemon zest and vanilla.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1cm thickness (about an 28cm round).
Place dough into a 23cm tart pan, trimming the dough edges. Poke bottom of dough all over with a fork; chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.
Heat the oven to 165ºC. Line the tart crust with foil and fill with baking weights. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights and continue to bake until shell is light golden, another 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove crust from oven and immediately sprinkle chopped chocolate evenly over the bottom. Let it sit for 1 minute to melt chocolate, then spread over the surface using an offset spatula. Let the chocolate cool for 5 minutes.
Scrape curd into crust. Bake until the edges are set but the center is still slightly jiggly when shaken, 25 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
In a small bowl, whisk together crème fraîche and crystallized ginger.
To serve, top the cooled tart with crème fraîche and shave chocolate curls all over the top if you like.