Friday, February 26, 2010

Walnuts Gone Wild - Carameled Walnut Tart al'Orange

I have been craving walnuts like crazy. Probably because of all the coffee posts I have been doing lately. As a result, I decided to revisit a recipe I posted on BakeSpace over a year ago, when I was having just such a walnut craving and wanted something closely akin to Pecan pie. My end result was not really Pecan Pie-esque, but it was REALLY good... More of a Carameled Walnut pie.

This time instead of my normal Pâte Brisée, I decided to use a Fillo crust. A word of warning about Fillo.... It's extremely thin and sometimes hard to work with, the key to Fillo success is speed, you have got to get it situated and get the butter on it before it dries out.


Caramel Walnut Tarte al'Orange


Crust:
9 inch Pie Plate
6 sheets of Fillo
4 TB of melted Butter (so it's lower in fat than Pâte Brisée)

Melt the butter and preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Grab the Pie plate and brush it with the melted butter.

Unwrap the Fillo

Unroll it, removing 6 sheets, then wrap it up and place the unused portion back in the refrigerator.

Lay down the first sheet and brush it with butter.

Lay down the second sheet in the opposite direction, then brush that one with butter as well.

Continue laying sheets perpendicular to the previous and buttering each sheet until you have completed all six layers.

Brush the final sheet with the remaining butter and cover with wax paper, then cover that with a baking sheet.

Flip the whole thing over and cut around the pie plate with a pizza cutter or pastry wheel....

to remove the excess phyllo.

Flip it back over and dispose of any little pieces and the waxed paper.


Line with parchment paper and pie weights bake for 13 minutes.....

Remove the wights and parchment and bake an additional 3 minutes, until golden.

Set aside to cool while completing the filling below.......

Filling:
1 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
2 TB Orange Blossom Water
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
8 TB Unsalted butter
1/4 tsp orange oil or the zest of 1 orange
2 1/2 cups Walnuts; Rough Chop (although I cheated cause I was just shy and added 2 TB slivered almonds)
Large pinch of Salt

Combine sugar and orange blossom water in a 6 or 8-inch heavy bottomed saucepan and place over medium flame.

Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until sugar melts; continue cooking, stirring occasionally and scraping sides with a flexible spatula, until mixture turns golden.

Don't let it get too dark.

Reduce the flame to low, and then carefully add cream and the butter, in chunks while whisking the mixture.

Careful, cause it will sputter and spit.

Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until butter melts and mixture is uniform.

Stir in walnuts, orange zest and a large pinch of salt.

Spread the hot filling into the cooled tart shell, evenly, and refrigerate for about an hour to allow the filling to set.

Serve naked or prepare UN-sweetened whipped heavy cream with a drop or two of Cointreau and the zest of 1/2 orange. (I personally like it naked)

Mangia!!
~~

2 comments:

Unknown said...

ooooh man does that look incredible. Id like to do that with a pecan pie...mmmmmm

Patti T. said...

Hmnmm somehow I did not get this recipe in my e-mail. It looks wonderful. I would never have thought of using the phyllo sheets for the crust. If you have any left, send me a small slice, please??