Ingredients:

• 300g Sweet Pastry Dough

Filling

• 5 Medium Sized Oranges (zest finely grated, fruit segmented and juice reserved)
• 3 Large Pink Grapefruit (fruit segmented and juice reserved)

Orange Pastry Cream

• 250ml Half and Half
• 1 Egg (plus 1 additional egg for egg wash)
• 2 Egg Yolks
• 50g Sugar
• 5g Salt
• 15g All Purpose Flour (sifted)
• 10g Cornstarch (sifted)
• 30g Unsalted Butter
• 50ml Orange Liquor (Grand Manier, Triple Sec, or Cointreau)

Glaze

• 1 Lemon (zest finely grated, and juiced)
• 75g Apricot Jam (strained)

Instructions:

1. Roll out the sweet pastry dough to a thickness of 2mm and roughly 11-12 inches in  diameter and carefully line a 10 inch tart mold/ring with a removable bottom.  Fold in the excess dough around the edges of the tart to produce a double layer/thickness and use a sharp knife to trim off any excess.  Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30mins.
2. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
3. Make a egg wash, by cracking one egg and whisking it with a bit of salt.
4. Remove the chilled tart case from the fridge, and place onto a baking sheet/pan.  Cover the tart pastry with parchment paper, and fill with baking beans.  Place the tart case in the center of the oven and blind bake for 30-35mins, till 80% cooked through.  Take it out of the oven and remove the parchment paper and baking beans from the tart case. Apply the egg wash all over the surface of the tart shell and return to the oven for a further 15mins till the tart shell is golden brown and fully cooked.
5. In a pan, add the half and half, and half the sugar and cook over medium low heat until it reaches a simmer.  Whisk together the two egg yolks, whole egg, remaining sugar, salt, flour and corn starch until thoroughly combined and pour the hot cream mixture over the eggs and whisk thoroughly.  Return the mixture back into the pan and cook over medium high heat while continuously whisking to remove any lumps.  When the mixture comes to a boil and starts to thicken, reduce the heat down to low and continue whisky for 3-5mins.
6. Pass your cooked pastry cream through a strainer and add your orange liquor, orange zest and butter, and stirred until well combined.  Allow to cool.
7. In a pan, add your apricot jam, grapefruit, orange and lemon juice and cook over  high heat until reduced by ¾ and the glaze is thick and syrupy.  Stir in your lemon zest after you’ve finished cooking.
8. Fill your cooked tart shell with your cooled orange pastry cream mix, spread your pastry cream so that there’s a even layer across the top.  Top your pastry cream with your orange and grapefruit segments till you’ve completely covered the surface of the tart, alternating around the edges with grapefruit and oranges.  Finish by applying your apricot and citrus glaze.  Allow to cool and chill in the fridge till you’re ready to serve.

Notes:

• Conceptually, I think this is one of my favourite desserts that I’ve ever come up with.  Visually it’s stunning, and the flavours are very fresh, clean and well balanced.  With the fresh orange and grapefruit segments interacting with the soft and decadent pastry cream, and the crisp crunchy tart shell offering texture and contrast with the other elements.  Truly this is a wonderful dessert.
• This is truly a labour of love.  Garnishing the top of your tart with your orange and grapefruit segments is a bit finicky and time consuming to do, but it’ll pay off in the end when you have a beautiful and delicious tart to show off to your love ones.
• I would recommend you make the orange pastry cream mixture a day before you decide to bake your tart shell, as it takes a bit of time for the pastry cream mixture to cool before you can begin filling in the tart case.
• This dessert can be made several days in advance and kept in the fridge without any problems.  In fact I would recommend you do so, as this dessert is a bit time consuming to build.
• The application of the apricot glaze isn’t only to provide a lovely gloss/sheen to the tart, it also provides a air tight seal that will prevent the filling from oxidizing extending the shelf life of this dessert.
• It’s best not to cut into this dessert ahead of time until you’re ready to serve.  The reason being that the natural juices from the segmented oranges and grapefruit will run to the bottom causing the cooked pastry shell to turn slightly soggy.