Ginger Lemon & Bourbon Blood Orange Tart with Cardamom Almond Crust

Directions

1. PREPARATION FOR CRUST. In a large mixing bowl place the flour, almond meal, and cardamom. Take a whisk and vigorously stir the dry ingredients until uniform in color.
2. Place the sugar, butter and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream the butter on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Scrape down the sides with a large spatula and add 1 egg and vanilla. Mix on medium until incorporated.
3. Add all the dry ingredients to the butter and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
4. Split the dough into two balls. Flatten each ball into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap tightly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 325?F. Place a fluted 10 inch tart pan with removable bottom on a pizza pan or baking sheet for easy removal from the oven.
6. Take one ball of dough out of the fridge and place on a generously floured flat surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle, from the center to the outside of the disk. If the dough starts to stick, use more flour.
7. Carefully transfer the dough to the tart pan, trying not to stretch it (stretching it will cause the dough to shrink when you bake it). Fit it into the tart pan and trim and any excess dough off. This dough is pretty forgiving, so if you make any tears, feel free to patch it up by a little bit of extra dough that you might have.
8. Prick the bottom of the tart with a fork all over and place in the preheated oven to bake for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile make the egg wash by whisking the 1 remaining egg with the pinch of salt in a small bowl.
9. After the 15 minutes, pull the tart crust out, and brush the crust with the egg wash all over the bottom and sides of the crust. Place back in the oven for 3 minutes. Take the crust out and let cool on a wire rack.
10. PREPARATION FOR LEMON GINGER CURD. Fill a medium pot with an inch of water on the stove. Place a tightly fitted metal bowl (do not use an aluminum bowl as that will make the curd taste metallic) on top. Make sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl – if it does, pour out some of the water.
11. Place the 3 tablespoons of the arrowroot starch, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, grated ginger, white wine, 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks and pinch of salt in the metal bowl.
12. Turn the stove on to high, until the water starts to boil. This shouldn’t take long, as you a small amount of water in the pot. Once it starts to boil, lower the temperature so the water only simmers.
13. Make sure the metal bowl is fitted tightly on top of the pot of simmering water. Take a whisk and continue to stir the content of the bowl as the curd cooks. You’ll notice the curd start to thicken as it cooks. Be sure to constantly stir as it does. You want to bring the curd to about 185?F which should take about 7 or 8 minutes.
14. Once the curd has reached the right temperature turn off the stove and remove the metal bowl from the pot. Pour the curd into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to high and beat for 30 seconds to cool the curd. Then turn the speed to low and add one tablespoon of butter. Beat until it is melted and fully incorporated. Add the second tablespoon beating until it too is incorporated. Repeat with the final tablespoon.
15. Let the curd come to room temperature and pour it into a ziplock sandwich bag. Place the bag in the freezer for at least two hours or overnight.
16. PREPARATION FOR BOURBON BLOOD ORANGE CURD. In the same medium pot that had the simmering water refill to replace any water that had boiled off. Place the same tightly fitted metal bowl on top (don’t worry about washing the bowl out, you can leave the lemon curd residue in it). Again make sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl – if it does, pour out some of the water.
17. Place 4 tablespoons arrowroot starch, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, blood orange juice, blood orange zest, bourbon, 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks and a pinch of salt in the metal bowl.
18. Turn the stove on to high, until the water starts to boil. This shouldn’t take long, as you a small amount of water in the pot. Once it starts to boil, lower the temperature so the water only simmers.
19. Make sure the metal bowl is fitted tightly on top of the pot of simmering water. Take a whisk and continue to stir the content of the bowl as the curd cooks. You’ll notice the curd start to thicken as it cooks. Be sure to constantly stir as it does. You want to bring the curd to about 185?F which should take about 7 or 8 minutes.
20. Once the curd has reached the right temperature turn off the stove and remove the metal bowl from the pot. Pour the curd into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to high and beat for 30 seconds to cool the curd. Then turn the speed to low and add one tablespoon of butter. Beat until it is melted and fully incorporated. Add the second tablespoon beating until it too is incorporated. Repeat with the final tablespoon.
21. Let the curd come to room temperature and pour it into a ziplock sandwich bag. Place the bag in the freezer for at least two hours or overnight.
22. TO ASSEMBLE THE TART. Take the bags of curds out of the freezer. "Massage" the bag for 5 seconds to loosen it up. Snip a corner of each bag.
23. Pipe one stripe of lemon curd on the side of the tart shell. Pipe another stripe of blood orange curd next to it. Alternate stripes of curd until the tart shell is filled. There is a photo that shows this step.
24. Taking an offset pallete knife or butter knife, smooth the curd out on the tart but running the knife across the curds, flat, following the stripes, in parallel strokes. After each run over the curd, wipe the knife with a damp paper towel to clean it. If the edges of the tart aren’t super clean, don’t worry about it, you’ll cover it up with powdered sugar. There is a photo that shows this step.
25. Once the curd is smoothed out, turn the tart so the stripes are vertical as you look down on it. Take a toothpick and place it about an inch from the “top” of the stripes on the tart. Drag it across the tart, from left to right perpendicular to the stripes. Then move the toothpick down an inch and drag the toothpick perpendicular the other way across the tart. Repeat until back and forth, all the way down the tart. There is a photo that shows this step.
26. Taking a sifter or mesh sieve, dust the edges of the tart with a generous amount of powdered sugar. The powdered sugar will cover up any of the edges that were hard to smooth out with the knife. There is a photo that shows this step. Serve the tart chilled or at room temperature.