Tarta de Santiago

Tarta de Santiago originates from Galicia, during the time of medieval pilgrimage. This tart is traditionally decorated with the St James cross. Bar 44 have developed this recipe as their interpretation of this traditional Galician cake, embellished with a salted caramel curd and berries.

Instructions

FOR THE PASTRY CASE

1. Preheat oven to 180 °C/ 350°F.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar very lightly – do not overmix, or you will add too much air to the pastry
3. Gradually add the eggs, mixing well between each addition. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all the ingredients are uniformly mixed
4. Add the flour and mix until you have a combined dough. Flatten out slightly then wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least one hour before rolling
5. After resting, remove the pastry from the fridge. Lightly dust your worktop with a little flour and roll out the pastry evenly and thinly.
6. Lightly grease a non-stick loose based tart tin (30cm) with butter. Line with the pastry, pressing into the edges well, leaving no air gaps. Trim the edges to neaten.
7. Line the case with baking parchment and then blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove your parchment/rice/beans and cook for another 5 minutes.

FOR THE FILLING

1. Blend the smoked almonds in a food processor until they become almond flour.
2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and icing sugar. Stir in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the lemon and orange juices and zest.
3. Finally, stir in the smoked almond flour.
4. Once all mixed together, pour the filling into the tart case.
5. Bake the tart for 45 minutes at 180 °C, then leave to cool.

TIP: If you have left over raw pastry, clingfilm and freeze.

FOR THE CURD

1. Set a mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, this is called a bain-marie.
2. In the bowl, carefully whisk the eggs. Gradually add the sugar and slowly start cooking out, until you have a deep dark rich caramel liquid. Be careful to keep the heat low so the eggs don’t curdle.
3. Once all mixed, slowly start adding the condensed milk, continuously stirring.
4. Add the butter to the mix cube by cube, stirring continuously. Continue this process for 10-15 minutes. You should have a smooth rich curd.
5. Add a few pinches of sea salt, to taste.
6. Brush some of the prepared curd, onto the top of the cooked tart with a pastry brush, reserve the rest in the fridge until plating.

FOR THE BERRIES

Add all ingredients to a pan and gently cook. Reduce until the fruit is cooked but still retaining their shape.

TO SERVE

Slice the tart into individual servings, dust with icing sugar. If desired, blow torch the top of the tart. It caramelises beautifully with the curd layer and icing sugar.

Arrange on a plate with a spoonful of the berries and some more salt caramel curd.

Ingredients

FOR THE PASTRY

• 450g butter
• 250g icing sugar
• 1.5 eggs
• 700g flour

FOR THE FILLING

• 200g smoked almonds
• 1 lemon, juiced and zested
• 1 orange, juiced and zested
• 200g butter
• 100g icing sugar
• 4 eggs

FOR THE CURD

• 2 eggs
• 75g butter (cubed)
• 80g muscovado sugar
• 100ml condensed milk
• Maldon sea salt

FOR THE BRAISED BERRIES

• 1 punnet blueberries
• 1 punnet blackberries
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 small squeeze of lemon
• 2 tablespoons of water

PAIR WITH

1906 Black Coupage

Free, nonconformist, a rebel… the black sheep of the family.

Available from Wholefoods.