Saturday, March 27, 2010

A Daring Orange Tian

This month's challenge to make an Orange Tian perplexed me more than most challenges have so far.  We were allowed to make the Tian of any citrus flavour we wanted......and I would have easily been happy with Blood Oranges if the state of them had not been so poor in the grocery store at the moment.  Had it been last month's challenge.....it would have been perfect timing.....but here at least, they seen to be at the end of their season.  My next thought was to make a lemon one......which I think would make a lovely marmalade, but as for topping the dessert with that much fresh lemon was sounding like it was going to be too tart for me....which is saying something.  So in the end I opted to go with plain old navel oranges, and I think the flavour will be perfect if not very adventurous.  Essentially the recipe looks like a fruit topped cheese cake, however the 'cheese cake' layer is a layer of stabilized (with a bit of gelatin) flavoured whipped cream followed by a bottom of sweet pastry crust.  Because I chose to make my dessert in a 9 1/2" spring form pan, I decided to double the amount of the cream filling so it would produce a thick enough layer in the dessert.  There were quite a few little steps in the recipe....none of which were terribly difficult....just a bit time consuming.
Should you like to give this recipe a go....instructions are below.  Just be careful when making the caramel to add the orange juice very slowly at first (like a tablespoon at a time) because the high temperature of the caramel will make it sputter.  Once the overall temperature has dropped from adding the juice you can add it at a faster rate.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.
What did I think of the Tian?? I really liked the opportunity to make Marmalade that this challenge offered.  I was happy with the marmalade, the pastry crust although I made the dough a little too crumbly as I was worrying about adding too much water, and I really liked the creamy filling.  I did not care much for the caramel  sauce as it had a very strong marmalade flavour.  Just a bit too bitter for me.   I found the instructions as to what to do with the caramel a little too unclear.  I assumed I was to pour half of the thin caramel sauce over the orange segments once they were layered in the pan.  Perhaps my interpretation has too much caramel in it??   In the end this caramel did not firm up while in the freezer and made a bit of a mess when I flopped it out on to the serving dish.  Funny enough the caramel in this dish tasted very much like one from a flan or creme caramel that I love......but I found it just a bit too brash form this recipe.  If I was to repeat this recipe, I might try it without the caramel or more likely with strawberries or kiwis with a small amount of chocolate sauce rather than the caramel.
Orange Tian
For the Pate Sablee:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams
Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.
Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.
For the Marmalade:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked
Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.
Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.
In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.
For the Orange Segments:
For this step you will need 8 oranges.
Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.
[See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]
For the Caramel:
Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams
Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.
[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]
For the Whipped Cream:
Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon
In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]
Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

6 comments:

Jeanne said...

I love that you doubled the cream! I definitely would have enjoyed my tian with twice as much cream. Great job!

Amy Lucille said...

Great job on the challenge, I had the same problem with the caramel. I did not like the flavor of it to the point that I did not include it in the dish. Any way the rest was just fabulous, yours look just delicious.

Anonymous said...

Oh wow! It's gorgeous and my mouth is watering!

LittleRed said...

Thanks everyone:) I really liked this challenge and will be waiting for the opportunity to make it again...maybe with some different flavours next time!

Mary Bergfeld said...

This is amazing. You did a really wonderful job with this challenge. Kudos.

LittleRed said...

Thanks, it turned out to be a very delicious challenge