In this recipe, rhubarb and orange combine together in perfect celebration of two in season fruits! The short crust pastry has a rich nutty taste and texture with the added almond meal, along with flavours of orange zest and vanilla. This is a great short crust pastry base and frangipane recipe to use with other fruits when in season.

INGREDIENTS:

• 120g unsalted butter chilled

• ½ cup icing sugar

• 1/3 cup almond meal

• 1 egg

• 1 ½ cup all purpose flour

• Zest of ½ orange

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 3-4 Rhubarb stalks cut on a 45-degree angle in 8mm slices

• Zest of ½ orange

• Juice of ½ orange                         

• ¼ cup caster sugar

For the frangipane filling:

• 1/3 cup pistachio meal (or almond meal as a substitute)

• 3/4 cup and 1 tbsp almond meal

• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

• 125 grams butter softened

• ½ cup Caster sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Zest of ½ orange

 To serve:

• 1 tbsp Pistachio nuts roughly chopped

• Dollop of yoghurt

 METHOD:

1. Combine the butter and icing sugar by creaming them in a stand mixer or by hand. Once they are well combined, add the vanilla extract, egg and orange zest and stir in. Add the almond meal and flour a little at a time. The dough will look crumbly, but try not to over work the dough as it’s a short crust pastry. Once it comes together in a crumbly ball, wrap it in cling wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180° degrees and line a removable base tart tin with a round circle of baking paper.

3. To make the rhubarb-topping, combine all of the ingredients into a bowl, stir well to coat all sides of the rhubarb and set it aside.

4. Take the pastry out of the fridge and gradually roll it out between two sheets of baking paper to a size a little larger than the tin. Gently pull back the top sheet of baking paper and lay the pastry face down over the tin and pull back the 2^nd sheet of baking paper. Gradually press the pastry out to the edges, if there are any rips or gaps, press in an extra scrap of pastry to fill. Trim off the top of the pastry using a knife along top edge of the tin.

5. If your kitchen is warm, place the pastry back in the fridge to chill a little before proceeding to work with it. Prick the pastry with a fork; cover the base with baking paper and blind bake for 15 -20 minutes at 180° degrees using some old baking beans or rice filled in the tart. Once the pastry is lightly golden, set it aside to cool down and disregard the blind baking beans.

6. To make the frangipane-filling, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla and cream together until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by both nut meals and remaining orange zest.

7. Fill the cooled down crust casing with the frangipane filling using a spatula to level it off. Place the rhubarb slices slightly over lapping in a spiral pattern, starting around the outside and finishing in the centre. Bake for 30 minutes at 180° degrees.

8. Take the tart out of the oven and allow to cool down in the tin on a cooling rack.

9. Warm up the left over sugar and orange zest that the raw rhubarb slices had been marinating in, in a small saucepan. Allow to simmer while it reduces and the sugars dissolve. If the syrup becomes too thick, add a dash of water and stir in. Gently spoon the syrup over the top of the tart while its still warm.

10. Serve chilled with chopped pistachio nuts sprinkled over the top and a dollop of yoghurt.

Prep time: 30-40 minutes

Chill time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 45-50 minutes

Recipe and photography by Bonnie Coumbe. Visit her site here & Instagram here.