Pistachio & Almond Tart with Homemade Orange Ice Cream

I love tarts of all kinds, it's just comforting to sink your teeth into buttery, crumbly pastry that melts in your mouth. So when I saw this recipe in a recent MKR episode I just knew that I had to make it. Just a warning though this recipe requires a lot of eggs in particular the yolks and I was left with a lot of whites at the end of it.

I have to admit that I was a little put off when I read the recipe as I am not a big fan of recipes that uses a lot of yolks, I find they have a "eggy" taste to it. And I was going to bail out and buy the ice-cream but then I thought that would only be half the fun in making the recipe.

There are 3 components to this recipe, the ice  cream, the tart and lastly the filling. So this is my very first attempt at making ice-cream and I approach the task at hand very warily not knowing what to expect. I followed the recipe to a tee like my life depended on it and was glad at the end result.

Orange Ice-Cream

Ingredients:

600ml thickened cream
300ml milk
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
1 cinnamon stick
220g caster sugar
6 egg yolks
100ml orange juice

Method:

1. To make ice-cream, stir cream, milk, vanilla seeds, zest and cinnamon in a saucepan over low heat until hot. Remove from heat. Stand 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick.
2. Beat sugar and yolks with an electric mixer until thick and creamy. Gradually add hot cream mixture to egg mixture, whisking continuously.
3. Return mixture to saucepan and stir over a medium heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in orange juice. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 3 hours or until cold. Transfer to a ice-cream machine and churn according to manufacturers instructions.

Note: I did not use an ice cream machine, I just let it freeze overnight and I still got the consistency of ice cream the next day.

Cream mixture ready for freezing

Pastry
225g plain flour
50g caster sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
180g butter
1 egg yolk

Filling
5 green cardamom pods, seeds only
200g blanched almonds
300g shelled pistachios
250g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
2 eggs
Grated zest of 1 orange

Top: Filling
Bottom: Baked Tart from oven

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 24cm round tart tin with removable base.
2. To make pastry, process flour, sugar, salt and butter to form crumbs. Add egg yolk. Process to combine. Form pastry into a disc and cover in cling film. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out pastry between two sheets of baking paper to line base and side of prepared tin. Ease pastry into tin. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Prick base all over. Line with baking paper and fill with pastry weights.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Remover paper and weights. Bake for a further 5 minutes or until light golden and crisp. Cool.
5. To make filling, grind cardamom seeds in a pestle and mortar to form a fine powder. Place in a processor with nuts and sugar. Process to form fine crumbs. Add remaining ingredients. Process until combined. Spread filling into pastry case.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Cut into small wedges.
7. Serve tart with ice cream, orange segments and crushed pistachios.

Making the ice cream was'nt as daunting as I initially thought and I actually enjoyed the whole process. My kid loves it and wants me to try a chocolate flavour next which I might just do for my next blog. The tart and ice cream was a great combination together.