The Daring Bakers Challenge, March 2010: Blood Orange Tian with Honey, Saffron and Cinnamon

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

I was pretty excited when I saw the reveal for the March challenge. Tian. I had no idea what a tian was... and I still don't really understand what it is. Consulting various online food dictionaries indicated that tians are commonly considered to be some sort of mixed vegetable casserole, a definition that did not match the challenge recipe. Our hostess, Jennifer, selected a recipe for what was called an "orange tian". The desert comprised of thin pate sable crust, covered in a thick layer of whipped cream, topped with a final layer of citrus segments and drizzled with caramel sauce.

Definitions aside, this was yummy, and I think I will definitely be making it again... or at least I will be making this type of tian again. I am embarrassed to admit how much of the dessert (and dessert components!) I inhaled before A made it home. It took him just minutes to polish off the leftovers when he did arrive.

As part of the challenge, Jennifer required that we stick to citrus and attempt to supreme said citrus. It was a little messy, but definitely a skill I needed to master. Sadly, the perfectionist in me has now decided that citrus for salads will no longer be quickly chopped... going forward only cleanly supremed segments would suffice.

I deviated from the original recipe a bit. I am a little burned out on oranges (my husband eats about 9 of them a day meaning that there is always an orangey scent in our home), but lemons and limes aren't really my thing. Grapefruit - too winterey. Blood oranges were the only solution as they offered a sweet flavor and striking color for my dessert. With some help from the Flavor Bible, I opted to add honey, cinnamon and saffron to the blood oranges to give the dish a little something extra.

Pate sable is really just a giant sugar cookie. In fact, in the end I decided not to mold all four of my tians in favor of eating the crusts like cookies. For this dessert, any old pate sable recipe will do. Just roll the dough out before you cook it and cut it into rounds with the mold you plan to use for building your tian. The dough should be fully baked before constructing the tian.

Assembling the tian can be a little tricky, particularly since the ring mold has a tendency to slide around as you arrange the citrus layer on the bottom. The citrus slices are particularly juicy, as it is best to allow them to soak in their juices (and a bit of caramel sauce) overnight after they have been supremed. I placed my orange segments in a circular pattern, starting from the edge of the mold and spiraling inward until the entire bottom layer was covered.

When you have finished arranging the citrus, spoon a thick layer of stabilized whipped cream on top until the cream reaches the edge of the mold taking care to ensure that the cream is spread evenly. (Note: to stabilize whipped cream, mix a small amount of dissolved gelatin into the cream as it is being whipped) Take a one of the pate sable rounds and spread thin layer of marmalade on the top. Place the round on top of the mold, marmalade side down, pressing gently to secure.

Once all of the tians have been constructed on the sheet, move the sheet to the refrigerator and chill the desserts for several hours or until the cream has had time to grow firm. (My kitchen was hot, so I had to move mine to the freezer. When you are ready to serve the desserts, remove them from the refrigerator, place them crust side down on a plate and gently remove the mold. (Full disclosure: easier said than done!) Drizzle with orange caramel sauce and enjoy!

Of course in the end, if you have trouble with assembly, it makes a lovely trifle. Just crumble up the crust, and fill a glass with alternating layers of crust, cream, citrus sections and marmalade. Garnish with a slide of orange.

After reading through this post, I don't think I have done a good job at all of describing this dessert. Recipes for a few of the components are posted below. For the rest, ask if you have questions... or... as this is a Daring Baker's challenge and not my own creation, I am sure that others have posted better descriptions on their sites.

Marmalade recipe and orange caramel sauce recipe can be found after the jump!

Screw winter: Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

Today definitely felt like the first day of spring here in Hoboken. Sure, I suppose it could still snow a few more times before winter is truly over, but the cloudless skies and warmish weather made me forget that snow was still falling just a day or two ago. It is melted now - even the giant mountains of it that plows had pushed to the corners of parking lots are gone. Andstill more exciting than the beautiful weather are the golden crocus bulbs that are poking their way out of the soil.

Sounds idyllic right? It could have been, except for the sounds in the background of drunken revelers that marks the first weekend in March for all Hoboken residents. Yes, today was the annual Hoboken St. Patrick's Day Parade, a drunken orgy where twenty-somthings from the tri-state area descend on my town to "get wasted", vomit, and get in fights. No chirping birds for me - I get whooping ex-frat boys instead. Kill me now.

The stream of green t-shirts passing by my window left me inclined to start the day in a rotten mood. Apparently the kids these days prefer to wear "kiss me I'm shitfaced" over "kiss me I'm Irish". Further annoying me, A had left me home alone for the weekend while he dealt with work in Mexico. Poor lonesome me, holed up in the apartment all day so as to avoid the aggressive drunks outside. It makes me feel so old, as just a few years ago, I might have joined in on the festivities. Ok, maybe not.

Screw winter! Screw the town! If I can't go outside and enjoy the first real day of spring weather, spring would come to me via the kitchen. Time to rebel against seasonal vegetables! Comfort food is in order! I want basil... and chives... and cheese... maybe even a tomato or two. Surely in these "modern times" I should be able to find at least one decent tomato.

Tomato and goat cheese tart seemed like the perfect solution to my mood. Non-seasonal, cheesy goodness. Of course it would be better to hold off on this recipe until summer, but at this point, even mediocre tomatoes would make me feel better than another meal of root vegetables.

Goat cheese and tomato tart was a dish that I discovered last fall, before I started keeping this blog. It was a recipe that I put together after studying a number of different goat cheese tart recipes, both from Epicurious and elsewhere on the web. Specifically I was looking for a savory brunch dish that had components you could do ahead, so as to minimize active prep time in the morning. With this recipe, the tomatoes and garlic can be roasted a day ahead and stored in the fridge. The tart crust can also be prepared and placed into the tart pan ahead of time. If you really want to get ahead, you could probably saute the shallots and mix the custard a day early too. This only leaves pre-baking the crust and assembling/baking the tart the day that you serve it.

Recipe after the jump!