Cherry & Almond Tart with Brandy Custard (Matt Moran)

I have been wanting to make this Matt Moran recipe for a few months now, & today I finally made it, (with a couple of changes).  It was in the December issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly magazine. I didn’t have any cherries or cherry jam but I did have frozen blueberries & raspberry  jam, I also didn’t have slivered almonds but did have flaked almonds. It still turned out great & tasted even better. I didn’t have time so I didn’t make the Brandy Custard. So here’s Matt Moran’s recipe.

 

 

 

 

Serves 10

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup icing sugar

180g butter, chopped into 1cm cubes

1 egg, beaten lightly

1 egg yolk, beaten lightly

2 tablespoons cherry jam

500g cherries, pitted

1/3 cup slivered almonds

Filling:

250g butter, softened

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

2 cups almond meal

1/3 cup plain flour

Brandy Custard:

2 cups milk

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup brandy

 

Directions:

Combin flour and icing sugar in a large bowl, rub in the butter. Stir in the egg and mix until ingredients just cling together, press the pastry into a ball. Knead the pastry gently on a lightly floured surface and press into a flat disc. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate for approximately 2 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 180C or  (160C fan forced).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until large enough to line a 28cm loose based flan tin. Ease pastry into the tin, gently pressing pastry into the base and side, trim the edge.

Place tin on a large oven tray, cover pastry with baking paper, fill with pastry weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove paper and beans. Brush with a thin coating of egg yolk. Return to the oven and cook a further 5 mins.

Filling:

Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sieve the almond meal and flour together, then fold into the butter mixture.

Spread the cherry jam over the base of the cooked pastry case, then spoon in the filling, smoothing the top with a spatula. Top evenly with the pitted cherries, pressing down slightly into mixture. Sprinkle with the almonds. Bake for about 45 minutes or until set.

Brandy Custard:

Combine the milk, vanilla seeds and pod in a medium saucepan. Bring milk to a simmer, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale. Add one third of the infused milk, then pour the egg mixture back into the pan with the remaining milk.

Return the pan to a low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the custard has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the brandy. Strain the custard through a seive and pour into a serving jug.

Serve the tart with the Brandy Custard.

This recipe is suitable to freeze.

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