Pistachio and Leatherwood Honey Tart

Australian pistachio custard tart in a shortcrust shell with Leatherwood honey and native finger lime

Origin: Australia

From the journey of Pistachio.

The Australian pistachio industry was established in the 1980s in the Murray-Darling Basin region of New South Wales and Victoria, centred on the town of Mildura and the irrigated orchards of the Sunraysia district. The semi-arid climate, with its hot dry summers and cool winters providing the chill hours the pistachio tree requires to set its buds, proved well-suited to the crop. Australian pistachios, grown primarily from the Iranian Kerman variety and from the newer American Lassen variety, have developed a following among Australian chefs for their clean, sweet flavour and their freshness compared to the imported product. Two Australian native products give this tart its distinctive character. Leatherwood honey, produced by bees foraging on the Leatherwood tree (Eucryphia lucida) in the wilderness rainforests of western Tasmania, is among the most distinctive honeys in the world: intensely floral, slightly spicy, with a complexity that survives cooking and persists in the finished custard as a warm, aromatic depth. Finger lime (Microcitrus australasica), an Australian native fruit whose oblong pods burst on the palate with tiny, bead-like vesicles of intensely sharp citrus juice, has moved from its rainforest origin on the Queensland and New South Wales border into Australian chef culture as a native garnish of extraordinary visual and flavour impact. The combination of Mildura pistachios, Tasmanian Leatherwood honey, and finger lime expresses the particular form of contemporary Australian cuisine: the formal techniques of the European pastry tradition applied with native ingredients that could not be sourced anywhere else on earth.

Ingredients

Pastry

200 g plain flour
30 g icing sugar
100 g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp ice water
1 pinch fine sea salt

Pistachio

120 g raw Australian pistachios (or best available), blanched and peeled, half ground to a fine meal and half left whole for the top

Custard

3 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks
100 ml Leatherwood honey (or the most floral wildflower honey available)
200 ml double cream
100 ml full-fat milk
0.5 lemon, zest only
1 pinch fine sea salt

To garnish

2 finger limes, halved and vesicles scooped out with a teaspoon, to garnish (substitute 1 tsp finely diced lime zest and 1 tbsp lime juice if unavailable)

Method

Make the pastry: pulse flour, icing sugar, salt, and cold butter in a food processor to coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk and ice water; pulse until the dough just coheres. Press into a disc, wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll to 3 mm, line a 23 cm loose-bottomed tart tin, and refrigerate a further 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C). Blind-bake the pastry case with baking paper and weights for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and weights and bake for 5 minutes more until the base is dry and very lightly coloured. Remove and reduce the oven to 150°C (fan 130°C).
Scatter the ground pistachio meal over the base of the blind-baked tart case in an even layer.
Whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, honey, cream, milk, lemon zest, and salt until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve. Carefully pour the custard into the pastry case over the pistachio meal.
Bake at 150°C for 30 to 35 minutes until the custard is just set with a slight wobble in the centre. Do not allow the surface to colour significantly. Remove and cool completely in the tin.
Once cool, refrigerate for at least 1 hour. To serve, scatter the whole pistachios over the surface and dot with the finger lime vesicles just before bringing to the table.

Notes

Finger lime is available from specialist Australian fruit suppliers and some farmers' markets in season (typically April to August). Outside Australia, a combination of finely diced preserved lemon rind and a squeeze of fresh lime provides a reasonable approximation of the sharp, perfumed citrus note. Leatherwood honey is available from Tasmanian honey producers online and from specialty food stores. A good Portuguese or New Zealand manuka honey makes the nearest substitute if Leatherwood is unavailable, though neither has the same distinctive spice note.

The Gastrographer

Name: Pistachio and Leatherwood Honey Tart
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Australia
Ingredients: 200 g plain flour; 30 g icing sugar; 100 g cold unsalted butter, cubed; 1 egg yolk; 2 tbsp ice water; 1 pinch fine sea salt; 120 g raw Australian pistachios (or best available), blanched and peeled, half ground to a fine meal and half left whole for the top; 3 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks; 100 ml Leatherwood honey (or the most floral wildflower honey available); 200 ml double cream; 100 ml full-fat milk; 0.5 lemon, zest only; 1 pinch fine sea salt; 2 finger limes, halved and vesicles scooped out with a teaspoon, to garnish (substitute 1 tsp finely diced lime zest and 1 tbsp lime juice if unavailable)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control