Saffron and bay custard tart with sticky blackberries

Serves 6 Desserts and puddings

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Method

To make the pastry, mix the flour, icing sugar and semolina flour together in a bowl. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, then pour it over the flour mixture. Add the orange blossom water and mahlab and, using your fingers, mix well until you have a malleable pastry.

Transfer the pastry to the tart tin and use your fingers to press it across the base and up the sides of the tin, leaving a good edge to allow for shrinkage. Transfer to the fridge and chill for 10 minutes to set.

For the sticky blackberries, pour the pomegranate juice into a pan and add the sugar, peppercorns, cinnamon stick and orange zest. Set over a high heat and bring to the boil, then continue boiling until the liquid reduces by half. Reduce the heat to low, add the blackberries and simmer for 4 minutes or until they are tender and the syrup is rich and sticky. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool completely.

Remove the blackberries from the syrup, then set both aside separately.

Line the pastry with baking paper and cover with baking beans or uncooked rice. Bake the pastry for 10 minutes or until set and just baked – it should still be quite pale in colour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin. Leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, make the custard. Put the cream and bay leaves in a pan and heat until bubbles appear around the edge. Turn off the heat and add the saffron threads. Whisk the egg and extra yolks with the caster sugar in a bowl until light and pale, then whisk in the warm cream until fully incorporated – do this slowly to avoid curdling. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat very gently, stirring, until it thickens.

Remove the pan from the heat, pour the custard through a fine sieve into the pastry case, and add the bay leaves from the sieve.

Arrange the blackberries in the custard. Add a little water to the beaten egg to make an egg wash, then brush it over the edges of the pastry, to glaze.

Put the tart tin on a baking tray and return to the oven for 20 minutes or until the custard is just set and the pastry has browned. The blackberries will have started to burst through.

Transfer the tart to a wire rack and allow to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the tin, then leave to cool completely. Garnish with a few of the extra blackberries, if using, and spoon the reserved blackberry syrup over to serve.