Bergamot Tart

Pale green trees, grey skies and endless rain can only mean one thing; winter is finally behind us and spring is here. It also means citrus season is nearly over so grab the last of the bounty. Make this delicate bergamot for your next dinner or tea party and celebrate the start of spring!

On a trip to the Costa Blanca in Spain a few weeks ago citrus season was in full swing. Tree branches were bending over with the weight of oranges and lemons. Shining like neon lights agains the rocky terraces, each bend you took along the mountain roads revealed yet another citrus plantation. Crates of fruit were stacked high on the sides of the roads, waiting to be collected. Lemons were the size of both of my fists combined with beautiful wrinkled skins, in places green, in places pockmarked . The flavour was delicate, fragrant. So wildly different to the acidic uniform fruits you tend to find in UK supermarkets. Back home however I was delightfully surprised when I came upon a bag of bergamot oranges at the supermarket. Even better, they were reduced – clearly not many people knew what to do with them. I started dreaming about all the amazing dishes I would be cooking – bergamot cured salmon, bergamot panna cotta, bergamot sorbet… I settled on this beautifully simple tart.

Bergamot oranges look like a cross between a lemon and a lime with green to yellow wrinkled skin. They are thought to be a cross between a lemon and a bitter orange. The most famous region for growing bergamot oranges is southern Italy and it is even the symbol of the city Reggio di Calabria in Calabria. If you have ever drunk Earl Grey or Lady Grey tea you will be more than familiar with the distinctive flavour. Delicate, yet intensely floral, almost like drinking perfume. The juice isn’t particularly great or usable, the zest is what it is all about. You can use it in place of lemon zest for most recipes. It would make a fantastic cure for an oily fish such as salmon or mackerel.

This tart makes a perfect dessert as it is both light and spectacular – in particular if decorated with edible flowers.  If you cannot get hold of bergamot, you can make this tart with lemons or limes. Just make sure to buy unwaxed fruit otherwise you will be busy scrubbing wax off the fruit!

If you can, make the filling the night before. The pastry case can also be made ahead – it keeps wrapped in clingfilm and unfilled for a couple of days. Ideally keep it in the tart case.

Pastry:

If you are very scared of pastry work or short of time, you could buy a ready made pastry case. However making pastry is actually quite straightforward and tastes miles better than anything bought. Plus, you know what has gone in it! For the method that I learnt (and that always works if followed correctly) look at the Leith’s website: https://www.leiths.com/how-tos/how-to-make-a-shortcrust-pastry. This is the method for making it by hand. In the recipe I’ve given instructions on how to make it in a food processor.

Key to Success:

• Keep all the ingredients cold. Cold pastry is the key to successful pastry. Keep the butter, the water, the eggs all fridge cold.
• Don’t overwork the pastry – when combined knead just a few time to bring it all together nicely and then shape into a flat disk. You want this to be quite thin so it is easier to roll out after. Working the pastry too much results in tough pastry.
• Let the pastry rest in the fridge. Resting relaxes the gluten and results in tender pastry.
• After resting the pastry and before rolling it, ridge it gently with a rolling pin. You may need to leave it out for a few minutes if it is very cold and solid.
• Ridge it until it is about twice the size as the disk was. Then roll out. As you roll it keep turning the pastry to make sure it doesn’t stick to the surface and it rolls out evenly.
• When baking the pastry you want it to be very cold. This will prevent the pastry from shrinking.

Print Recipe

Bergamot Tart

Prep Time

1 hour

Cook Time

1.5 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

Shortcrust Pastry

• 250 g flour
• pinch of salt
• 140 g butter, cubed, cold
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 3-4 tbsp chilled water

Filling

• 3 bergamot oranges
• 2 lemons
• 150-170 g caster sugar
• 225 ml double cream
• 6 eggs
• 1 egg yolk

Prep Time 1 hour Cook Time 1.5 hours Servings people Ingredients Shortcrust Pastry 250 g flour pinch of salt 140 g butter, cubed, cold 3 tbsp caster sugar 2 egg yolks 3-4 tbsp chilled water Filling 3 bergamot oranges 2 lemons 150-170 g caster sugar 225 ml double cream 6 eggs 1 egg yolk

Instructions

1. Ideally the night before baking the tart, zest the bergamot oranges and squeeze the lemons. Add the eggs, yolk and most of the sugar in a large bowl and beat together. Add the cream, zest and about 125ml lemon juice and mix together. Cover and leave. The flavours will develop overnight. Otherwise give it as much time as you can.
2. For the pastry, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined and rough crumbs form. Beat the egg yolks and cold water with a fork and then add 2.5 tbsp of the liquid to the pastry. Keep pulsing until combined. If the mixture seems very dry add a little more liquid.
3. Tip the mixture onto a work surface and bring together with the hands and knead just a couple of times. Shape into a disk and cover in clingfilm. Leave to chill in the fridge for 30 min.
4. When chilled, ridge the pastry and then roll out to 3mm thick. Line a 24 cm tart, cover with cling film and chill again until cold. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan.
5. When the pastry is cold to the touch line it carefully with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Make sure the beans are in every corner of the case and that the paper is hanging over the edges of the tart case.
6. Blind bake the pastry for 20min, then carefully remove the beans and keep baking for a few minutes. The pastry should be pale golden and sandy to the touch.
7. Meanwhile taste the filling and adjust by either adding more of the lemon juice or more sugar. Strain the mixture into a jug.
8. Take the pastry out of the oven and lower temperature to 140C/120C fan. Pour the filling into the tart case and bake for 45-50 min until it is just set. You should only see a soft wobble in the middle.
9. Remove tart from oven and let cool briefly, then remove tart case. Leave to cool completely before decorating.

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