Orange and Brandy Pithivier

Preparation Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 20 - 25 minutes Serves: 4 people

This is a delicious French sweet puff pastry round tart that is filled with orange brandy custard. It is the speciality of Pithiviers, a French town in the middle of the Orleans region. Traditionally made with scalloped edges; it can be filled with both sweet or savoury fillings. I first made this at cookery school when we were learning how to make puff pastry; this recipe uses the ready made version, making it a lot quicker and easier to make. You can either make one large tart or little individual ones – so long as the base is slightly smaller than the top layer and you leave a border of 1 cm / ½ inch all around to encase the filling.

Ingredients
1 pound Ready rolled puff pastry
2 tablespoons margarine
½ cup caster sugar
½ cup ground almonds
1 tablespoon brandy
2 oranges – peeled and cut into segments
1 egg white – beaten
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Garnish: 2 cups physalis or cape gooseberries
Dusting of confectioner's sugar

Method
1) Line 2 baking cookie trays with non stick baking parchment paper.
2) Unroll the pastry and using a template (saucepan lid or cutter), cut out 4 5 inch rounds and 4 4 inch rounds. Cover and chill in the refrigerator.
3) Pre-heat the oven to 425F.
4) Beat together the margarine, sugar, almonds and brandy. Remove the skin and pith of the oranges and cut into segments.
5) Take 4 of the smaller pastry rounds and divide the almond mixture between them, leaving a ½ inch border of pastry all around. Lay 3 or 4 segments of orange across each heap of almond mixture.
6) Using the back of the knife, make 7 crescents –shaped cuts, radiating out from the centre, in the remaining pastry rounds.
7) Brush the pastry borders with egg white, top with pastry rounds and press edges together firmly to seal. Pull edges up and flute. Brush tops with the remaining egg white and dredge with some confectioner's sugar.
8) Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until well risen and golden.

To serve the stylish way: Dust the plate with confectioner's sugar and serve with some physalis.