wild blueberries Arkiv - More Than Sweet

Chai custard tarts with blueberries

Sweet shortcrust

250g all purpose flour
135g butter
A pinch of grated nutmeg
90g sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Rub together the flour, butter and nutmeg until the texture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and whisk together the egg yolk and whole egg. Slowly add the eggs to the mixture and gently knead just until the pastry forms a ball. Wrap the pastry ball in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Roll out the dough until 2-3mm thickness and line six 10cm tart rings with the pastry. Return the tart shells to the refrigerator for 15 minutes, while you preheat the oven to 175C.

Prebake the tart shells until golden brown, remove from oven and turn the heat down to 120C.

Chai custard

500ml cream
1 Tbsp. chai spice
75g sugar
160g egg yolks
Pinch of salt

3 Tbsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. bitter cocoa

Bring the cream to a boil and dissolve the chai masala in the warm cream. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks and pour in the warm cream while whisking. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a jug and skim off any foam forming on top.

Pour the custard into the tart shells and sieve over a mixture of cinnamon and cocoa powder.

Bake the custard for 20 minutes, or until the custard is just set. Remove from the oven and leave to cool to room temperature.

Blueberry gel

100g wild blueberry purée
20 gr sugar
25g water
1 tsp. lemon juice
1g agar agar
1/4 leaf gelatine

Soak the gelatine in cold water. Bring blueberry purée, sugar, water, lemon juice and agar to just below boiling. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and dissolve in the warm liquid. Fully set in the fridge and purée to a smooth gel. Transfer to a squeeze bottle.

To assemble and serve

Fresh blueberries
Fresh herbs (I used a mixture of orange marigold leaves, lemon verbena and lemon thyme)

Pipe dots of blueberry gel on the cooled tarts and place fresh blueberries on top. Garnish with fresh herbs and serve.

Sour cherry sorbet

Makes 1 liter

500g sour cherries
200g water
200g sugar
80g glucose
20g lemon juice
4g ice cream stabiliser, preferably Cremodan Coldline
Pinch of salt

Mix 20g of sugar with stabiliser and set aside. Add sour cherries, water, 180g sugar, glucose and lemon juice to a pot. Warm up to 35C, add stabiliser mix and bring the sorbet mixture up to 82C. Remove from heat, season with a pinch of salt and blend with an immersion blender. Strain through a sieve, transfer to a bowl and rest overnight in the fridge. Blend a second time with an immersion blender and churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Sloe & Sour Cherry Apple Tart

Makes eight 5cm tarts

Almond biscuit

85g almond flour
80g of melted butter
75g sugar
20g confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
20g egg yolk
20g egg white
40g cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
95g egg whites
15g sugar

Preheat oven to 160C.

Sieve together flour and baking powder, set aside.

Whisk together almond flour, sugar, icing sugar, salt, egg yolk and 20g egg white. Drizzle in melted butter while whisking, then gently fold in the flour.

Whip 95g egg whites with the remaining sugar to a stiff, glossy meringue. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining meringue.

Pour the batter onto a baking tray lined with parchment and spread out to about 1/2cm thickness.

Bake the biscuit in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, until sponge springs back when touched. Leave to cool at room temperature.

Pâte sucrée

75 g butter at room temperature
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and line eight 5,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Insert a 2cm round cookie cutter in the center of the tart ring and line with pastry to make a tart wreath. Trim the edges and rest for another 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tarts for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Almond namelaka

150g Valrhona almond inspiration
1/2 gelatin leaf
85g whole milk
170g heavy cream
Pinch of salt

Add almond inspiration chocolate to a heat proof bowl and melt chocolate over a water bath.

Soak the gelatin leaf in cold water for 10 minutes. Bring the milk to a boil, squeeze excess water from the gelatin leaf and add to the warm milk. Remove from heat and pour over the melted chocolate. Emulsify using an immersion blender and pour in the cold cream while blending. Transfer to the fridge to set.

To assemble and serve

8 apples
150ml sour cherry juice
Sloe gin syrup (Bring 75ml water and 25g sugar to a boil, cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in 50ml sloe gin. Cool completely.)

Slice apples 2mm thick then cut out small leaves. Add half the apple leaves to the sour cherry juice and the other half to the sloe gin syrup. Leave to macerate for 15 minutes in the fridge.

Cut out 8 circles of cake that fit in the cooled tart rings. Brush with sloe gin syrup and pipe almond namelaka on top. Alternate sour cherry and sloe gin macerated apple leaves on top and serve with quenelles of sour cherry sorbet.