Editor’s note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from chef Neil Perry’s book Rockpool. Neil also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we’ve added at the bottom of the page. For your convenience, we’ve converted the measures — with as much accuracy as possible — from Australian to American. For those who have metric equipment and wish to follow Neil’s recipe to the milliliter, we’ve included the original measures too.
To read more about Neil and Australian cuisine, click here.
This tart should be to Australians what lemon tart is to the Poms. If one fruit stands out in my mind as Australian it would have to be the passion fruit. Its intensity sets it apart from other fruits and, it is an ideal partner for cream and eggs. We cooked the Roux brothers’ luscious lemon tart for many years at Rockpool and this tart draws its inspiration from that.
Chris Manfield runs the Paramount Restaurant in Sydney with Margie Harris, and makes a terrific passion fruit tart from a pastry shell filled with passion fruit curd. The food at the Paramount is extremely creative and delicious; Chris cooks in her own unique style and is one of the very best contemporary Australian chefs, but she is at her best and most creative when it comes to desserts. I see no need to serve cream with this tart. You will need a 26 cm (10-inch) tin.
Serves eight.
INGREDIENTS
- nine 55 g (large) eggs
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350 g (1 1/2 cups) superfine sugar
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300 ml (1 1/4 cups) double cream (45% butterfat)
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350 ml (1 1/2 cups) passion fruit juice, strained
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all-purpose flour, for rolling
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1 recipe sweet shortcrust pastry
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a little egg wash for glazing
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confectioner’s sugar for serving
DIRECTIONS Put the passion fruit mix together the day before you wish to bake the tart (resting it in the refrigerator helps avoid splitting). Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk. Add the sugar and continue to whisk until well incorporated. While stirring gently, pour in the cream. Add the passion fruit juice and continue to stir until well blended. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Spray a 26 cm (10-inch) tart tin with Pure and Simple (vegetable cooking spray).
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to an 11-inch round. Roll the pastry over your rolling pin and gently ease into the tart case, pushing the sides in gently so that it takes the fluting. Rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line the tart case with foil, place rice in the foil and bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the rice and foil, brush the tart shell with egg wash and cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 140°C (290°F). Return the tart case to the oven.
With the case sitting in the oven, carefully pour in the passion fruit custard. Fill the tart right to the top. Bake for 40 minutes.
Check — the tart should be halfway set but still be quite wobbly in the middle. If you take it out too soon it will not set and will run when you cut it; if you leave it in too long it will set too firmly and lose its elegance. Through experience you’ll find the optimum set for the tart in your oven.
Remove the tart from the oven, balance on a cup and remove the sides. Put on a cake rack and, with a palette knife, slide the base off the tart tin. This will allow the tart to cool and the pastry to crisp up rather than sweat. Invert the pastry ring back onto the tart to help hold the sides in as it cools and sets. Allow to cool for 1 hour. Carefully cut with a serrated knife and place in the middle of large white plates. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve.
Chef Neil Perry shares his tips with Epicurious:
• This recipe calls for double cream, which is available at gourmet grocery stores. In a pinch, heavy cream can be substituted.
• To make passion fruit juice, cut the fresh fruit in half and push the pulp and liquid through a fine-mesh strainer.
• Perry’s method of removing the tart from the pan as soon as it comes out of the oven produces a nicely crisp base, and can be used with any tart baked in a removable-bottom pan.
