Tarte au kumquat?? ^^

This is for you, mel.. ^^ thanks for the idea!

When I saw mel's kumquat tart, I knew it was exactly what I needed to do to use up my kumquat puree and candied halves in syrup ^^

Kumquat tart (inspired by mel, adapted from david lebovitz's french lemon tart and here)

French pastry dough (by paule caillat)*
100g unsalted butter
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp sugar (slightly less is fine because filling is sweetish ^^)
1/8 tsp salt
150g flour

1. Preheat oven to 210C.

2. In a medium oven-proof bowl (Pyrex), combine butter, oil, water, sugar and salt.. and place bowl in the oven for 15 minutes, till butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges. Smells heavenly ^^

3. When done, remove from oven (be careful of hot bowl and sputtering mixture!). Immediately dump flour in and stir quickly till it comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

4. Transfer dough to a 9-inch tart mould with a removable bottom, and spread it out with a spatula/spoon. I baked mine in a small round tart tin and 2 mini rectangular tins ^^.

5. When dough is cool enough, press to fit tart mould. Prick dough all over with a fork and bake tart at 200C for 15 minutes or till golden brown. Leave to cool before filling.

Kumquat curd filling
1/2 cup/ 125ml kumquat puree + syrup (I probably had about 100-120g puree, topped up to 125ml with kumquat syrup.. next time, I'd add some lemon juice ^^)
grated zest of 1/2 orange (on hindsight, lemon zest would've been a better choice)
1 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp/ 85g butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

1. Beat together eggs and yolks.

2. Heat kumquat puree + syrup, orange zest (use lemon zest next time ^^!), sugar and butter in a saucepan.

3. When butter is melted, whisk some warm lemon mixture into the eggs, stirring constantly. Then add the warmed eggs into the saucepan and cook over LOW heat, stirring constantly, till mixture thickens and begins to bubble around the edges.

4. Pour kumquat curd through a strainer directly into the pre-baked tart shell.

5. Smooth the surface of the tart and pop it in the oven at 180C for 5 minutes to set the curd.

6. Leave to cool before slicing and serving.

Did I ever mention that this pastry shell recipe makes the yummiest, crumbliest crust ever?? ^^ It's gorgeous and I love it! But it is so extremely crumbly that the lightest handling is necessary when removing/moving it ^^

I'm happy the kumquat filling worked ^^ it is pleasantly fragrant and sweet.. and a little rich, probably due to the kumquat puree and syrup. I think some lemon zest and juice would diffuse the hint of richness quite nicely.. next time ^^

Anyway, this tart is really nice.. everyone enjoyed it, especially so for aunt, fatty hubby and piggies who can't take tart pastries ^^ but big and I really prefer the tangy lemon tart more! We like a good lemon punch! ^^

And alvin, if you're reading this, 2 lemon tarts and 3 kouign amanns survived the trip home from tiong bahru bakery ^^. After deconstructing the lemon tarts, big pig and I agreed that david lebovitz's french lemon tart is a serious contender for the lemon tart crown ^^!

Personally, we felt david's crust was hands down the winner. Tiong bahru's was way too hard and thick! But big likes tiong bahru's lemon curd texture which had a nicer softer custard-y rich consistency to it.. david's soft and wobbly curd, spread thinner and baked for a few minutes, was "jam-my" in comparison.

However, taste wise, we liked david's lemon curd better because it was really lemon-lemon.. whereas tiong bahru's curd while very pleasant to the palate, had too much hints of lime (pastry chef in a very generous mood? ^^) and less lemon sting! ^^ Overall, we still enjoyed tiong bahru's lemon tart ^^ but if you like a good lemon kick, I recommend you try david's very lemon tart, pronto! ^^

p.s. love the kouign amann, btw ^^.. and believe or not, i still have some kumquat halves in syrup ^^||