Citrus & Timut Pepper Tart

Before starting this Citrus and Timut Pepper Tart recipe, organise the necessary ingredients for the almond sweet shortcrust pastry.

Place the soft butter in the stand mixer recipient...

... add the icing sugar and beat with the flat beater until the butter is really soft.

Stop the mixer during the mixing process if the butter is stuck on the flat beater.

Add the almond powder and combine gently.

Add the vanilla seeds...

... and the whole eggs, beaten beforehand.

Combine the ingredients until homogeneous.

Add the flour...

... and combine at low speed to prevent the preparation from collapsing.

At this point, the pastry needs to be refrigerated overnight before use.

Using a scraper, transfer the pastry onto a baking sheet...

... then cover with cling film and store in the fridge overnight.

On the day: Take the sweet pastry out of the fridge and roll out with a rolling pin.

Arrange a tart ring Ø 20cm on a Silpat baking mat, placed on top of a Silichef XL perforated baking sheet. Line the stainless steel ring with the pastry...

... and shape the pastry perfectly around the ring.

Slide the rolling pin along the rim of the ring to cut the pastry excess.

Shape the sides again.

Cut the pastry excess with a utility knife.

At this stage, the pastry is perfectly lined inside the rings. Refrigerate for about 2 hours before baking.

For the almond cream: Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Place the butter and icing sugar in the stand mixer recipient.

Add the almond powder...

... and the orange zest and Grand-Marnier.

Combine well and add the flour.

Add the whole eggs at room temperature...

... and the whipping cream (at room temperature). Combine carefully until smooth.

Transfer the cream into a piping bag and pipe in a spiral motion...

... to fill the pastry case completely.

Bake in a fan-assisted oven preheated at 160°C (gas 3) for 35 minutes.

For the orange purée: Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Pour the glucose syrup in the orange juice. If the glucose syrup is too thick, soften in the microwave.

Bring the orange juice to a boil...

... and add the Timut pepper (grind at the last minute).

Continue cooking the orange juice.

Add the pectin NH to the castor sugar.

Rotate the bowl to blend the two ingredients.

When the orange juice starts boiling, add the pectin and sugar mix and combine.

Cook the preparation until the temperature reaches 103°C. I recommend using a digital thermometer with probe.

Once the preparation reaches 103°C, transfer into a large dish and leave to cool.

When cooked, remove the almond tart from the oven...

... and release from the ring.

When the orange purée has set, gather with a rubber spatula...

... and spread over the surface of the almond tart with a cranked spatula.

Spread to an even layer.

Place a tart ring Ø 18cm over the orange purée.

For the citrus jelly: Squeeze 3 oranges and 2 grapefruit.

Collect the juice into a mixing bowl.

Pass the juice through a fine sieve with a bouillon cloth or paper towel to discard all the pulp.

The result should be a perfect juice texture with absolutely no pulp.

Using a digital scale, measure 250 grams of citrus juice in a saucepan.

Soak the gelatine sheets in a big bowl filled with cold water.

Place the citrus juice over very low heat...

... and add the castor sugar.

When the gelatine sheets are soft, strain with your hands to extract as much water as possible.

Add the gelatine to the hot fruit juice (it should be between 40 and 50°C)...

... and whisk until melted completely.

Take the pan away from the heat. The juice should not be boiling at this stage.

Set aside to cool.

With the leftover fruit (2 grapefruit and 3 oranges)...

... cut both ends to create a flat base...

... peel.

Remove the fruit skin with a knife, starting from the top downwards and following the shape of the fruit to waste as little flesh as possible. Make sure you remove the peel as well as the pith.

Cut the citrus fruit into segments. Slice gently between one of the segments and the connecting membrane, then slice on the other side and lift out from the centre.

For the next segment, continue slicing along the white membrane and detach carefully.

Repeat to remove all the segments. The fruit segments should not have any bits of pith or peel. Follow our technique to segment citrus fruit.

Repeat the same operation with the oranges.

Collect the citrus fruit segments in a bowl.

Transfer into a fine sieve...

... and collect the excess juice in a bowl.

Cut each segment into 3 or 4 cubes.

Add the jellied citrus juice (it should now be at room temperature).

Add the Timut pepper and combine well with a spoon.

Transfer the fruit cubes into the tart ring.

Make sure you create a homogeneous colour pattern.

Pour the juice over the fruit cubes to fill all gaps between the fruit.

Fill up to the top of the ring with juice and store in the fridge until set.

For the orange crème mousseline: Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Pour the milk in a saucepan. Add the lime and orange zest.

Bring the milk to a boil.

Place the egg yolks and castor sugar in a mixing bowl...

... and blanch with a whisk.

Add the crème pâtissière powder (can be substituted by cornstarch). Combine carefully until completely dissolved.

When the milk starts boiling...

... pour over the egg and sugar preparation, stirring constantly.

Whisk until homogeneous.

Transfer the preparation into the saucepan used to boil the milk.

Place the pan on medium and bring the cream to a boil.

The cream should thicken within a few minutes. When the cream starts boiling, cook for one minute.

Transfer the pastry cream with a maryse spatula into a food prep tray...

... and cover the surface of the cream with cling film. Store in the fridge. The cling film here prevents the formation of a crust on the surface of the cream.

Place the butter in the stand mixer recipient and soften it with the flat beater for a good 5 minutes. The butter should be pale and very creamy.

When the butter is smooth, add the cold pastry cream in 3 or 4 batches.

Season with Timut pepper, which pairs really well with citrus...

... and beat for a few minutes until homogeneous.

Place a whirl silicone mould on top of a baking sheet.

Place the orange crème mousseline in a piping bag. The use of a nozzle is not necessary.

Cut the tip of the piping bag to obtain a diameter of about 1 cm. Fill the whirl mould cavities.

Spread the cream with a small palette knife, making sure not to leave any gaps or air bubbles in the grooves.

Pipe more cream in the cavities if needed...

... and even with a bigger cranked spatula to create a perfectly flat surface.

The two finished whirls should be as shown in the photo.

Cover the surface with cling film...

Place in the freezer.

Remove the tart from the fridge. Gently heat the blade of a knife with a blow torch.

Slide the blade between the tart and the stainless steel ring.

Gently remove the ring by sliding it upwards. Reserve the tart in the fridge.

For the Chantilly cream: Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Start mixing the whipping cream at medium speed to avoid spatter.

In the meantime, combine the sugar and whipped cream stabilizer in a separate bowl. This pre-mix is important to avoid lumps later.

Add the powder mix to the whipping cream.

Add the vanilla seeds...

... and beat until you obtain a firm Chantilly cream. The stabilizer speeds up the emulsion process, so make sure you don't beat the cream too much.

Transfer the cream into a piping bag.

Fit the piping bag with a stainless steel nozzle for small decorations.

Take the tart out of the fridge and pipe the Chantilly cream on the edge of the tart, creating a collar with a zigzag pattern.

Pipe the Chantilly collar all around the edge of the tart.

Grate lime zest over the Chantilly cream collar. If lime zest ends up on the citrus jelly disc...

... carefully remove the zest with a knife blade. There are two options to finish this tart. You can serve it as is, arranging redcurrants, mint leaves and gold flakes on the surface. Alternatively, place an orange crème mousseline whirl on top of the tart.

Remove the frozen whirls from the freezer...

... and arrange them on a baking sheet lined with a sheet of greaseproof paper.

We obtain two discs with a perfect whirl shape. The quantities listed above allow you to make two discs. We only need one for this tart. Keep the other one in the freezer for a future recipe.

Arrange the frozen whirl on top of the citrus jelly disc. Grate some lime zest over the surface of the whirl and arrange a few redcurrants, mint leaves and gold flakes.