Stolen, yep, stolen from chef Paul Foreman of Marque IV in Hobart… I worked there before heading to New York (I had a rather long wait while the tedious visa process took place). This cracker can be made the day before, with a shop-bought pastry case. If there are any confit cumquats left, pair them with a good blue cheese. It’ll bring a tear to your eye, trust me.
Ingredients
Confit cumquats
Sweet pastry
Method
Main
1.For confit cumquats, prick cumquats with a fork, combine in a saucepan with remaining ingredients and 200ml water. Bring to a simmer (25-30 minutes). Remove from heat, cool to room temperature (25-30 minutes), then repeat 3 times or until tender (don’t cook too quickly or cumquats will burst). Cool.
2.Meanwhile, for sweet pastry, process flour, butter and icing sugar in a food processor until fine crumbs form, add egg and process until mixture just comes together. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and bring mixture together with the heel of your hand, form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (2-3 hours). Roll out on a lightly floured work surface to 2mm thick and use to line a lightly greased 26cm-diameter tart case, trimming edges. Refrigerate until firm (30 minutes). Preheat oven to 180C and blind bake (12-15 minutes). Remove weights and bake until golden (7-8 minutes), then cool.
3.Reduce oven to 150C. Combine cream, lime rind, vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan, bring to the boil, remove from heat and stand for 30 minutes to infuse. Whisk egg yolks, sugar, gin and lime juice in a heatproof bowl to combine. Bring cream mixture to the boil again, pour over egg yolk mixture, whisk to combine, then return to pan and stir continuously over low heat until mixture thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon (15-20 minutes). Strain into tart case and bake until set in the centre (10-12 minutes). Cool to room temperature and serve with confit cumquats. This tart is best eaten on the day of making.
