Giant Portuguese custard tart

Serves 8-10 Desserts and puddings

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Method

For the custard filling, place 240ml water, the sugar, cinnamon and orange zest into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat, cooking for a couple of minutes until the sugar has fully dissolved. Remove from the heat, cover and set aside.

Lightly grease a 23 x 33cm baking tin and line the base with parchment paper. Arrange the shelves of the oven so two are very close together, leaving around a 13cm gap between them. On both shelves, place a pizza stone or baking steel, if you have one, otherwise use two stacked baking trays per shelf. You can make this recipe without the pizza stones/ baking steels/ baking trays, but the effect won't be quite as close to the real deal.

Preheat the oven to 190C/ 170C F/ Gas 5 half an hour before the tart is ready to bake.

Unroll the puff pastry and roll out into a rectangle that is roughly 2mm thick. Trim the pastry into a neat 28 x 38cm rectangle and drape into the prepared baking tin. Freeze for around 10 minutes or until the pastry is solid. Line the pastry case with a crumpled piece of parchment paper and fill with baking beans or rice.

Transfer to the rack you have assembled in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, then remove the beans/rice and parchment paper and bake for a further 10 minutes until lightly browned. Brush the inside with the beaten egg yolks, then bake for a further 2 minutes, or until the yolks are set. Remove from the oven and set aside. Increase the oven temperature to 240C/ 200C F/ Gas 9, or as hot as your oven will go.

To finish the custard filling, tip the cream, milk and vanilla into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Place the eggs, egg yolks and cornflour in a heatproof bowl and whisk together until smooth. Pour the hot cream mixture over the eggs, whisking to combine, then pour the cream mixture back into the pan. Pour the sugar syrup into the pan, pouring it though a sieve to remove the cinnamon and orange. Place the pan over a medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to the boil and thickens, Immediately pour into the blind-baked tar case and spread evenly.

Bake on the rack in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the custard is burnished. As the tart is larger than a traditional custard tart, it won't brown all the way to the middle before the egg overcooks, so take it out while the centre of the tart is still yellow. Leave to cool completely in the tin before serving.

To serve, dust with a little icing sugar and ground cinnamon and cut into portions. This tart is best served on the day it is made, ideally, within a few hours of baking.

This recipe was taken from the August/September 2020 issue of Food and Travel.

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