In the 80’s, during my Silver Palate phase, I bought a blow torch. Not a cute little Williams Sonoma kitchen-sized torch, but a scary looking industrial thing that I found at a restaurant supply store in Brooklyn, one that needed to be ignited with a match. I was living at the time in a tiny Brooklyn apartment over a deli, and the torch, from end to end, was almost half as long as my entire kitchen. My slip of a countertop was chipboard, painted flammable brown. Probably not to code. Needless to say, torching my trendy 1980’s creme brûlées in that tiny 3rd floor walkup in an old combustible building with no fire escape was risky business. Especially when one is showing off their flambé skills for friends. Which might have involved cocktails. With a steady hand and careful aim, we all lived through it, but my countertop was not so fortunate. By the time I moved out, it was as bubbly and charred as the tops of my brulées. Now I have a sensible little kitchen torch that works just fine for my purposes, and this tart gave me a great excuse to bust it out. You don’t need to have a torch to brown your meringue though, just pop it under a preheated broiler for 30-60 seconds for a lightly toasted top.
This tart has a blood orange curd filling, lightened with some whipped cream and spread into a shortbread crust. I like the way the denser crust holds up to the filling, more like a crisp cookie than a flaky pie crust. The topping is an Italian meringue, which may take an extra second to make, but it’s nice and stable and doesn’t weep. I’ve added some blood orange zest to the meringue to balance out the sweetness and give it a little edge.
- 3 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed blood orange juice
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- Zest of one blood orange
- 1 stick butter, softened
- ½ cup heavy cream, whipped
- 1 cup flour
- ⅓ cup confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon blood orange zest
- Pinch salt
- 1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 4 egg whites
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup water
- In the bowl portion of a double boiler, whisk together the eggs, yolks, sugar, orange and lemon juice and zest. Place the bowl over simmering water and whisk continuously, until thickened, about 10-15 minutes.
- Whisk in the butter, little by little and continue whisking until curd is smooth and glossy. (if desired, you can strain the curd through a fine sieve), or not. Cover the curd with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap onto the surface of the curd so a skin does not form and allow the curd to cool completely. When cool, fold the whipped cream into the curd to lighten.
- In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, zest and salt until well mixed. Add the butter and process, stopping to pulse occasionally, until the dough is crumbly, and just starts to come together into clumps. This will take a minute or two of processing.
- Dump the clumpy dough into a sprayed tart pan and press to fill the pan in an even layer. Make sure the edges are even and use the bottom of a glass to press the dough into the corners of the pan. Use the bottom of the glass to smooth the surface of the dough out.
- Using a fork, prick the bottom of the tart (to keep it from puffing up when it bakes), cover in plastic wrap and put the tart in the freezer for about 30 min.
- Bake at 425 for about 12 minutes, until golden brown
- When tart is cooled, make the meringue. Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl and beat on high with a whisk attachment until the egg whites form gentle peaks, a couple of minutes.
- Combine the sugar and water in a small pan over high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until the sugar is melted and the syrup reaches 240F on a candy thermometer (soft-ball stage).
- With the mixer on high, slowly drizzle the hot syrup into the egg white mixture and continue to whip until mixture is stiff and glossy.
- Pile the meringue onto the cooled tart and make fun peaks using the back of a spoon. Toast the top with a torch, under a preheated broiler for 30 seconds to a minute.
