Jessie's Clementine and Chocolate Tart 

with a Macadamia Nut Crust 
From 'In the Sweet Kitchen' by Regan Daley

                                                                                     Jason McCool

Ingredients

Rich Nut Tart Pastry:

3/4 cup nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, macadamias all work well - if you use macadamias or almonds, use raw ones and then toast them)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk, cold

Roasted Clementines:

10 medium-sized clementine oranges, washed and dried but not peeled

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1-2 tablespoons grand marnier (or other orange liquor) - optional but very recommended!

3 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed

Chocolate Ganache:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

Directions

Make the Crust:

    1) combine the nuts and the sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Use quick pulses to whir the mixture until the nuts are finely ground. Don't overprocess, or the nuts will release their oils and you will end up with a lovely but un-usable nut butter! Add the flour and pulse once or twice just to blend. Add the cold butter pieces and pulse for 10-20 seconds or until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of fat peas. Add the egg yolk and pulse for 5-7 seconds until the mixture just begins to come together. Turn the crumbly dough out into a clean bowl and use your fingertips to knead it lightly, rubbing the ingredients together until the dough is uniformly moist. It should be moist, sticky and crumbly, with no dry floury patches or streaks of egg yolk. But don't overwork the dough, and be sure to use just your fingertips - there is enough heat in your hands to melt the butter, preventing it from remaining in little pockets and adding tenderness and flakiness to the baked crust.

    2) Press the crumble into a 10- to -11 inch tart tin with a removable bottom. Make sure the dough is evenly pressed and that there are no bare patches. Cover the shell with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours or overnight (The shell can be frozen at this point, well-wrapped, for up to one month).

    3) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prick the bottom of the shell all over with a fork and line the bottom with a piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper slightly bigger than the shell itself. Fill the liner with pie weights or dried beans reserved for this purpose and place the shell on a baking sheet. Set the sheet in the center of the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until the edges of the pastry are dry and just beginning to color. Remove the liner and weights and return the shell to the oven for another 7-13 minutes or until the floor of the pastry is dry and tinged with gold. Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Make the Tart:

(EDITORS NOTE: Make After finishing the crust!)

    1) preheat the oven to 325 degrees. With a sharp knife, slice the clementines crosswise into very thin rounds, discarding the stem and flower ends. Lay the slices overlapping in the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Pour the orange juice and grand marnier, if using, over the clementines, and sprinkle them with 3 tablespoons brown sugar. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and roast in the oven for 60-70 minutes or until the peels are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.

    2) Increase the temperature to 375 degrees. Uncover the dish and sprinkle the clementines with the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar. Return to the oven for another 30 minutes or until the liquid has become syrupy and the oranges have begun to caramelize. Lightly cover the baking dish and allow the clementines to cool to room temperature. (They may be prepared up to 3 days in advance and stored, well-covered, at room temperature until needed).

    3) To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a medium-sized bowl. Bring the cream just to the simmer over medium-high heat, watching closely to see that it does not boil. Immediately pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until thoroughly combined. Allow the ganache to cool until it has the consistency of a soft icing, then spread it evenly over the bottom of the tart shell. (The ganache may be prepared up to 3 days in advance and stored covered in the refrigerator. When ready to use, allow it to come to room temperature, then warm it very gently in a bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water until it reaches a soft consistency.)

    4) Once the tart shell has been lined with the ganache, lay the clementine slices over the chocolate in an overlapping circular pattern. I find a pair of kitchen tongs extremely useful for this, but if you have none, your fingers or a fork will work fine. Scrape the syrup from the bottom of the baking dish with a rubber spatula and spoon this liquid over the clementines. The finished tart may be assembled up to 1 day before serving and stored, lightly covered, at room temperature.

                                       Jason McCool

Jessie Rothwell is a composer, musician, writer and massage therapist from Washington, DC. She's also the DVCG's resident wine enthusiast, and "loves gin the way a Zamboni love ice shavings."