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Blood orange tart

Time1 hour 55 minutes
YieldsServes 8
Blood orange tart
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There are very few things as flat-out gorgeous in market stalls now as blood oranges, those glorious citrus orbs that darken over the course of spring until the exterior can be almost as deep red as the fruit inside. But they won’t be here for long, as this dark color also heralds the approaching end of the season: A folksy caveat marks Easter as a the signal of the end, the blood of Christ a reminder that the blood oranges will soon be gone from the trees.

Moros, the type most widely grown in California and likely the only ones you’ll find this late in the season (which started in January), have only a few weeks left. But now’s the perfect time to get them. Earlier in the season, before they’ve had time to ripen thoroughly, they’re more tart and tangy. You have to search out the darker ones, rolling them around in their bins and crates like enormous avant-garde marbles. No need for that now, though; they’re almost uniformly at their peak.

“I don’t bring the oranges until they’re really dark on the outside,” says Armando Garcia of Garcia Organic Farm in Fallbrook at the Santa Monica farmers market Saturday. He says they’re sweetest now, when the colors from the inside have bled out until the skin gets almost purple. But, as with all fruit, it’s a delicate balance. You don’t want to wait too long: The fruit begins to dry out after it reaches its peak, and the flavor can lose its bright citrus notes and become murky.

This is a terrific season for blood oranges, as it’s the less productive year of what fruit producers call an “alternate bearing” crop. Last year’s yield was huge, so this year the crop is much smaller, Bob Polito of Polito Family Farms in Valley Center explains. But he also says that a smaller crop can often produce more desirable fruit: “This year the quality seems to be better; they’re darker, and when they have that color, they’re the best.”

So grab them now, as they’re easy to find and pretty inexpensive: around $2 per pound at farmers markets and some grocery stores.

You can eat them out of hand as you would any orange, or peel and section them, or cut them into glorious segments like jeweled wedges. They’re fabulous tossed into a fruit salad with the strawberries that are also at their peak. Or, with a handful of arugula and a crumble of goat cheese, they’re a delightful first course, particularly with a vinaigrette made with the garnet-colored juice.

Juice them to make a fresh, tangy sorbet or use them for a stunning blood-red martini, a curl of the rind like a tongue of flame inside.

There aren’t too many chefs who get as excited about blood oranges as Lindsey Remolif Shere, longtime pastry chef, now retired, at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse. She loves them in sorbets and compotes, in tarts and cold citrus soups. “To me, blood oranges have a flavor of raspberries that’s sometimes quite strong; their flavor is richer and more complex than plain navels or Valencias,” she writes in a recent e-mail. She should know: Not content simply to write a dessert cookbook, she and the chefs at Chez Panisse penned one about fruit as well.

Shere’s blood orange tart, from “Chez Panisse Desserts,” is gorgeous, with the blood orange segments arranged like a wide-open rose on the top. The flavor of the blood oranges plays beautifully with a hidden, thin layer of caramel that gives unexpected crunch. A pillowy pastry cream and buttery short crust shell pull it all together.

But if you want something more market-sudden, try the compote from “Chez Panisse Fruit.” A bowl of strawberries and crimson citrus segments, with a thatch of candied peel like a little nest on top, it’s a simple tribute to fruit at the peak of its season. It looks stunning, like a jewelry box filled with garnets, and the flavors are remarkable. And it’s so easy, especially if you candy the peel ahead, that it comes together in a flash.

Which is a good thing, considering how little time there is left in the season. You can’t stockpile blood oranges in the fridge the way you can Meyer lemons -- they dry out too quickly. So do what many chefs do and buy them now, juice them and freeze the juice for use year-round. Frozen in ice cube trays, it’ll last for months.

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Tart shell

1

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and lemon peel. Cut the butter into half-inch slices and work it into the flour mixture with your hands or a pastry blender until the butter is mostly cornmeal-size pieces and the mixture begins to hold together; the softer your butter is, the faster this will happen.

2

Combine the water and the vanilla and work it into the flour-butter mixture just until the pastry is blended and will hold together if you press it. Gather it into a ball and wrap it in plastic. Let it rest for 30 minutes so the flour will absorb the moisture more completely.

3

Press the pastry into a 9-inch tart pan, making sure that you have a layer of even thickness over the bottom and the sides. If the thickness is uneven, some parts will bake too much before other parts are cooked. Set the shell in the freezer for 30 minutes or overnight, wrapped in foil.

4

Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until the shell is light golden brown and baked all the way through. Cool before filling.

Pastry cream

1

Scald the milk -- that is, heat it to just under boiling. Mix the flour and sugar in a heavy non-corroding saucepan. Beat the egg yolks until thick and light colored, about 2 to 3 minutes in a mixer. Thoroughly whisk the hot milk into the mixed flour and sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture has boiled for 1 minute or 2.

2

Whisk a little of the mixture into the egg yolks to warm them and stir back into the flour mixture. Mix well, being sure to incorporate all the flour mixture from the sides of the pan, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the pastry cream begins to hold a slight shape (170 degrees). It is important to cook the pastry cream thoroughly after adding the egg yolks, but don’t let it boil. Cook until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

3

Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, then put through a medium-fine strainer. Cool and whisk occasionally to keep a crust from forming, or cover with plastic and refrigerate until cool, then whisk to smooth it out. Stir in vanilla to taste. Don’t over-beat after cooking or the cream will thin out -- a useful thing to remember, because you can thin it, if it is too thick, by beating it. Beat it when cold, just before using, to smooth and thin slightly -- it should look shiny.

Tart and assembly

1

Shell the pistachios and toast them in a 350-degree oven for about 5 minutes, just long enough to bring out their flavor but not so long that they lose their green color. Cool them slightly, rub off their skins, chop them into one-sixteenth-inch to one-eighth-inch pieces and set them aside for the garnish.

2

Section the blood oranges into a small bowl, removing peel and membranes. Cover with their juice, cover tight and refrigerate if you are not making the tart immediately.

3

Put the sugar, butter and water into a small, light-colored saucepan and cook over medium heat until it becomes a light golden caramel, about 4 minutes. Pour it quickly into the bottom of the tart shell and swirl it over the bottom. It probably won’t cover the bottom completely, but try to get an even covering by pouring the caramel in circles. This caramel makes a nice, crunchy texture contrast in the tart.

4

Stir a little Armagnac, Cognac or brandy into the pastry cream. Be careful not to beat it too much or it will thin out. Spread the pastry cream in a layer over the caramel in the bottom of the shell.

5

Dry the orange sections on a towel or paper towel, then arrange them over the pastry cream, overlapping the sections slightly. Begin from the outside of the tart and turn the sections in opposite directions in each successive ring. If the center is too small to make a final circle, fill it with small sections, perhaps in the form of a rose or an open flower. Sprinkle pistachios around the outside edge or around the center row of sections, or wherever you think they will look best.

Adapted from “Chez Panisse Desserts” by Lindsey Remolif Shere. Do not use a black tart pan or the crust may burn. The tart shell and the pastry cream can be made in advance. All you really need to do the day of serving is bake the shell, prepare the nuts and caramel, section the oranges and put the tart together. If possible, assemble the tart just before serving. You can substitute navel oranges. This recipe uses half the pastry cream. Set the rest aside for another use.