Orange and ricotta tart

I was in a bad mood yesterday, nothing seemed to work for me.

I went shopping and I forgot my wallet on the coffee bar table (which thankfully the bar owner put it away for me!), I twisted my ankle on the stairs and finally when I came home I remembered I left beans cooking on the stove and I forgot to switch off the gas before leaving.. a little longer and the house would have been on fire.. and then I would have been in serious trouble!! I cleaned it all up so nobody in the house would realize what happened (well until they read this).

Today got off to a better start!! I baked an orange tart with a filling of ricotta using a perfumed organic orange and lemon; the zest gave off an uplifting perfume around the house so you can imagine how delicious this cake was.

When making the shortcrust pastry shell make sure you work your ingredients quickly without handling the mixture too much to avoid overheating; you want a crunchy and crumbly pastry and this will help in achieving this.

• Prep Time : 25 minutes
• Cook Time : 40 minutes

Ingredients

• flour – 250 g -2 cups
• butter – 120 g – 1/2 cup
• eggs – 3
• caster sugar – 150 g – 3/4 cup
• confectionery sugar – 3 tbsp + extra to sprinkle
• salt – a pinch
• orange organic or unwaxed – 1
• lemon zest organic or unwaxed – of 1 lemon
• ricotta cheese – 500 g – 2 + 1/2 cups
• candied orange rind – (optional)
• vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Instructions

Make the pastry by putting the flour in a heap on your work surface.  Make a hole in the middle and add one egg, salt, confectionery sugar and the butter cut into cubes.

Quickly incorporate the ingredients with your hands and form a ball then put it in the fridge for 30 minutes wrapped in cling film.

Using a rolling pin flatten the dough 1/2 cm thick and lay it in a greased round mould. I have used a mould of 20 cm diameter.

Prick the base with a fork.

In a bowl mix (0r you can use a processor if you wish) the ricotta, the zest and the juice of the orange, the zest of the lemon, the sugar, the vanilla essence, the 2 remaining eggs to make a creamy mixture.

Pour it in the mould on the pastry and bake at 190 C for 40 minutes.  If you find that the filling is still too soft leave it in the turned off oven for a little longer with the door ajar.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate with candied orange zest if you wish.

Advertisement