Zachary Golper's Orange-Bergamot Custard Tart with Rosemary-Chocolate Ganache

By ltrodrigu

Mr. Golper, of the Bien Cuit bakeries in New York, simplified his recipe for home cooks so we, too, can knock the socks off our guests (and ourselves) with one of the most bewitching strains of citrus. If you want to simplify the recipe further, use a prebaked crust from the grocery store instead of making your own pâte sucrée.

Ingredients

• For the Pâte Sucrée:
• 1 1/2 cups pastry flour
• 7 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons softened butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Vanilla bean
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• For the ganache:
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon couverture chocolate
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter
• For the citrus custard:
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup naval orange juice
• Zest of 1 naval orange
• 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon granulated white sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch, wheat starch or potato starch
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 4 drops bergamot essential oil

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from online.wsj.com

Preparation

Step 1

To Make Pâte Sucrée:
Sift together dry ingredients. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine dry ingredients, vanilla and butter on low speed until mixture has a coarse, sandy texture. Add egg and mix until a dough forms. Wrap dough in plastic, flatten into a disk and place in refrigerator. Chill at least 1/2 hour or up to 6 days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or lightly spray with cooking spray a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Roll chilled dough out to about 1/8-inch thick. Place dough in prepared tart pan, trim to fit and use a fork to prick bottom of unbaked tart shell all over. Place tart pan on a baking pan and bake until shell is golden, 12-16 minutes. Remove shell from tart pan while still warm to avoid cracking.

To Make Ganache:
Wash rosemary in cold water. In a small pan, heat cream to a simmer, then drop in rosemary. Remove pan from heat and allow to steep 4-5 minutes. Remove rosemary and discard. Reheat cream to almost boiling, then pour it over chocolate and let rest 3 minutes. Add butter and stir until mixture is fully combined and shiny.

Fill Pâte Sucrée tart shell (see recipe above) 1/3 of the way up with ganache. Place tart shell in refrigerator and allow ganache to set, 1/2 hour.

To Make Citrus Custard:
Bring milk, juice, zest and half the sugar to a boil in a heavy bottomed saucepan. In a separate bowl combine yolks, cream, starch and remaining sugar and whisk together into a paste. Add boiled milk mixture to paste, little by little, stirring continually, until paste is too hot to touch. Pour it all back into the saucepan and stir continually on medium heat until mixture bubbles. Continue stirring as mixture bubbles 2-3 minutes more, making sure no part is left unstirred at bottom of pan.

Remove pot from heat. Add bergamot oil to pan and stir to combine. Pour custard over a baking pan. Place baking pan in refrigerator and let sit until custard cools, 1/2 hour.

Transfer cooled custard from baking pan to a bowl. Use a whisk to whip custard until it softens. Pour custard over the set ganache in the tart shell and fill to top of shell.