Well, possibly, a world first. I googled it and couldn't find anything like this. There are versions that use lemon though, and its all in the (citrus) family...
There is a magnificent kumquat tree on Pigdon street - Gabe and I always stop there because a) he likes to crush the fallen Kumquats under his feet and b) there are a great deal of snails to be found in that garden. I had been building up the courage for weeks to knock on the door and ask if I could take some of the kumquats. Although I am a fairly confident person, I am not much one for the unsolicited conversation. So I knocked on the door (so did Gabe). A woman calls out querulously "Yes?". I ask her about the kumquats. "Oh, yes take as many as you want" - she can't find her keys apparently and so can't open the door to actually look at me.
I plan to come back there next day. The next day I do my back in so devastatingly that I can barely walk around without pain, much less reach into a tree and pick at tiny citrus fruit.
Two weeks later, I make it back. I feel like my mandate to pick may already be over, so I climb on the fence (all the lower fruit have been taken) with a guilty feeling. I get ready to explain myself should the shut -in come bounding out to ask what I'm doing.
I take about 40 kumquats. To give you an idea of the generous proportions of fruit on the tree, my 40 kumquats leaves not even a dent.
Gabe and I go home and begin the extraction of juice. I have chosen to assemble my recipe from three different sources.
The base:
Preheat oven to 170
90 grams melted butter
1/2 cup brown suigar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup almond meal.
Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the butter. Stir until it all comes together - you can add a bit more butter if it looks floury, but it should resemble large breadcrumbs, so don't panic. Press that into a lamington tin or slab tin, mine is 18 x 30, the recipe says use 18 x 32 which seems ambitious given that the base seems to just fit mine. Put in the oven for about 12 mins or until browned.
The Second layer
I stole this from a lemon meringue pie recipe that looked good. I wanted a firm kumquatty curd for the middle. In order to make this, I juiced 40 kumquats, and still didn't quite have 180 mils of juice. So I cheated with a bit of mandarin.
Juicing kumquats is messy work. I'm starting to see why they are so few recipes that include this as a preparation.
56 gms cornflour
170 gms sugar
180 mls of fresh juice (lemon, mandarin, orange, kumquat.. whateva)
230 mls water
60 gms butter
3 large egg yolks
I had a dicey moment when I thought that my trusty electronic scales were going to finally decide that they really did want a new battery (56 gms of cornflour.. honestly)
Combine the first four ingredients in a saucepan and and stir until smooth, cook on med high until it boils. It will thicken quite suddenly. Turn the heat down when it thickens and keep stirring till the mix is looking transparent and had a thick, gloopy consistency. Take it off the heat and let cool for a min. Add the eggs and butter and beat the whole thing soundly. It should look thick and smooth. Cool that sucker way down.
Heat the oven to 170 again.
When the two elements are cool layer the curd on the base and stick it in the oven again for about 10 mins. Why? No idea. I just thought that this might kind of solidify it more. Which it did. I was then left with a quandary, how to finish the slice. I wanted to have a meringue top, but meringue has such a short life expectancy.. instead I went with chocolate..
I latticed across some 70% dark Lindt, and it looked pretty good. When I tried it after first being made I was a bit let down. But now a day later I am liking it a lot more, plus it's nicer out of the fridge. Very piquant with a unique citrus flavour, definitely not lemon or orange..I'm looking forward to feeding it to Carolyn tomorrow and seeing her reaction...
With the spare egg whites I made some brown sugar meringues.. Man I love those things!
There is a magnificent kumquat tree on Pigdon street - Gabe and I always stop there because a) he likes to crush the fallen Kumquats under his feet and b) there are a great deal of snails to be found in that garden. I had been building up the courage for weeks to knock on the door and ask if I could take some of the kumquats. Although I am a fairly confident person, I am not much one for the unsolicited conversation. So I knocked on the door (so did Gabe). A woman calls out querulously "Yes?". I ask her about the kumquats. "Oh, yes take as many as you want" - she can't find her keys apparently and so can't open the door to actually look at me.
I plan to come back there next day. The next day I do my back in so devastatingly that I can barely walk around without pain, much less reach into a tree and pick at tiny citrus fruit.
Two weeks later, I make it back. I feel like my mandate to pick may already be over, so I climb on the fence (all the lower fruit have been taken) with a guilty feeling. I get ready to explain myself should the shut -in come bounding out to ask what I'm doing.
I take about 40 kumquats. To give you an idea of the generous proportions of fruit on the tree, my 40 kumquats leaves not even a dent.
Gabe and I go home and begin the extraction of juice. I have chosen to assemble my recipe from three different sources.
The base:
Preheat oven to 170
90 grams melted butter
1/2 cup brown suigar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup almond meal.
Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the butter. Stir until it all comes together - you can add a bit more butter if it looks floury, but it should resemble large breadcrumbs, so don't panic. Press that into a lamington tin or slab tin, mine is 18 x 30, the recipe says use 18 x 32 which seems ambitious given that the base seems to just fit mine. Put in the oven for about 12 mins or until browned.
Back to Base (ics)
The Second layer
I stole this from a lemon meringue pie recipe that looked good. I wanted a firm kumquatty curd for the middle. In order to make this, I juiced 40 kumquats, and still didn't quite have 180 mils of juice. So I cheated with a bit of mandarin.
Juicing kumquats is messy work. I'm starting to see why they are so few recipes that include this as a preparation.
56 gms cornflour
170 gms sugar
180 mls of fresh juice (lemon, mandarin, orange, kumquat.. whateva)
230 mls water
60 gms butter
3 large egg yolks
I had a dicey moment when I thought that my trusty electronic scales were going to finally decide that they really did want a new battery (56 gms of cornflour.. honestly)
Combine the first four ingredients in a saucepan and and stir until smooth, cook on med high until it boils. It will thicken quite suddenly. Turn the heat down when it thickens and keep stirring till the mix is looking transparent and had a thick, gloopy consistency. Take it off the heat and let cool for a min. Add the eggs and butter and beat the whole thing soundly. It should look thick and smooth. Cool that sucker way down.
Mmm Kumquatty
Heat the oven to 170 again.
When the two elements are cool layer the curd on the base and stick it in the oven again for about 10 mins. Why? No idea. I just thought that this might kind of solidify it more. Which it did. I was then left with a quandary, how to finish the slice. I wanted to have a meringue top, but meringue has such a short life expectancy.. instead I went with chocolate..
I latticed across some 70% dark Lindt, and it looked pretty good. When I tried it after first being made I was a bit let down. But now a day later I am liking it a lot more, plus it's nicer out of the fridge. Very piquant with a unique citrus flavour, definitely not lemon or orange..I'm looking forward to feeding it to Carolyn tomorrow and seeing her reaction...
finished with the choc
overhead, more dewy angle
With the spare egg whites I made some brown sugar meringues.. Man I love those things!
brown sugar meringue!
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