MANDARIN ORANGE CROSTATA

One of my favorite citrus fruits is mandarin orange.  They are so popular during Lunar New Year celebration that bring luck and wealth.  Since I have them in stock,  decided to bake  this Mandarin Orange Crostata  or free form tart.

If you find baking a tart  a little intimidating, you can check  my tips  here. .

First of all, prepare the crust  as per the recipe below. While waiting for the crust to be chilled, peel the mandarin oranges, remove the white thread on the outer segment.  Using a sharp knife, cut crosswise into 1/4 in thick slices.  Remove  the seeds, carefully transfer onto a plate, sprinkle with some sugar. Refrigerate.

After rolling and filling, you suppose to brush the mandarin orange with apricot preserves but  omit this step since I don't have it.  Alternately, just sprinkle more sugar over the mandarin orange just before baking.

You can always buy a ready made pie crust  but nothing  beats a homemade one!

MANDARIN ORANGE CROSTATA
Serves   :    6-8

PASTRY
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup butter  cubed
1/4 tsp salt
4-5 tablespoon ice water

FILLING
3 medium mandarin orange peeled and cut crosswise into 1/4 in slice
1-2 tablespoon sugar to coat the fruit
1/2 cup apricot preserves, melted

METHOD

For the pastry. place flour, sugar, salt and butter in a mixing bowl.

Rub the butter into flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.

Gradually add ice water to form into soft dough.

Wrap with plastic and chill for 30 minutes-1 hour.

For the filling, combine  mandarin orange with sugar.  

Roll out  pastry into 9.5  in  circle on floured board. 

Transfer dough onto baking sheet.  Arrange mandarin slices over pastry.

Brush preserves over mandarin orange slices or sprinkle more sugar if you don't have any preserves.

Gently fold the border over the orange to enclose the dough.

Bake for 30-35 minutes in a preheated oven @ 190 C until the crust turns golden brown.

Allow to cool. Serve warm at room temperature.

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