I suggest serving a grenadine flavoured cream with the tart, though unflavoured whipped cream is also lovely here. The grenadine syrup is made from pomegranate juice a flavour that also pairs really well with rhubarb and oranges.
Ingredients
Serves 6-8
Pastry
- 200g chilled butter
- 250g Plain White Flour
- Pinch of salt
- 155g Sour Cream
Filling
- 450g Rhubarb, thinly sliced
- 150g Sugar
- 1 vanilla pod halved lengthways and very finely chopped
- 2 Blood oranges, Peeled and cut into 5mm Slices
- A little beaten egg
- A little extra caster sugar
- Grenadine Cream
- Softly whipped cream
- Grenadine syrup
Method
- To make the pastry, chop the chilled butter and place in a food processor with the flour and a pinch of salt. Pulse the butter and flour until the texture is similar to coarse breadcrumbs.
- Add the sour cream and pulse again until the pastry barely comes together. Remove to a floured work surface and gently bring the pastry together with your hands and form into a flat disc.
- The pastry may appear a little streaky and that if fine as it comes together beautifully in the cooking. Do not be tempted to knead the pastry as you will just toughen it.
- Wrap the pastry and allow to chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 200c / 400f / gas 6
- When ready to assemble the tart, flour your work surface and roll out the chilled pastry to a 36cm circle. If the edges of the pastry are a little uneven looking, that is fine, though the neater it is the better the cooked tart will look.
- Now place the pastry circle on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Place the sliced rhubarb on the pastry to within 5cm of the edge.
- Mix the chopped vanilla pod with the sugar and sprinkle ¾ of it over the rhubarb.
- Cover the rhubarb with slightly overlapping slices of blood orange and sprinkle on the remaining sugar.
- Fold in the rim of uncovered pastry to hold the rhubarb and oranges in place. Brush the surface of the pastry edge with a little beaten egg and sprinkle a little caster sugar over the egg.
- Place the tart in the preheated oven and cook for c 40 minutes or until the fruit is cooked and the pastry edge has a rich hazelnut colour.
- During the cooking, some syrupy juice will escape from the tart and at intervals, I spoon these juices back over the fruit to create a rich and delicious glaze.
- Remove the cooked tart from the oven and allow to cool a bit before serving. I like the tart best while still warm but not red hot from the oven.
- Serve softly whipped cream or grenadine flavoured cream on the side.
