Circular recipes: Coffee, hazelnut and orange tart

Summary

• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation: 90 min (plus 2 hours rest)
• Serves for: 8 people
• Cost: Medium

Ingredients

For the hazelnut milk

• 200 g of toasted hazelnuts
• 1 l water

For the hazelnut cream

• 1 l hazelnut milk
• 100 g of starch
• 150 g of sugar
• Hazelnut paste (about half the final weight of the cream)
• 1 vanilla bean

For the orange marmalade

• 800 g of orange peel
• 600 g of sugar

For the shortbread

• 180 g of butter
• 80 g of sugar
• 1 egg
• 250 g of 00 flour
• Vanilla baking powder to taste.
• Dry mocha coffee grounds
• Hazelnut pulp

Proceedings

• First prepare the hazelnut milk: blend the roasted hazelnuts with water until smooth. Strain through a gauze or fine strainer, collecting the milk on one side and keeping the remaining pulp, as dry as possible, which will be used for the pastry.
• Move on to the orange marmalade: blanch the peels for a few minutes, changing the water if necessary to tone down the bitterness. Then cook them with the sugar until glossy and firm; if desired, whisk for a smoother, more uniform texture.
• Prepare the shortcrust pastry by working the butter with the sugar, then add the egg, flour, vanilla baking powder, dry coffee grounds, and hazelnut pulp. Knead quickly until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and line a tart mold. Bake the base until golden brown.
• For the cream, heat hazelnut milk with the vanilla bean cut in. In a bowl, mix sugar and starch, then pour in the hot milk at a trickle. Return to the heat and cook until thickened. Once cool, incorporate the hazelnut paste.
• Assemble the tart by spreading the hazelnut cream over the baked and cooled shortcrust base. After further cooling, add a thin layer of orange marmalade. Top with hazelnut crumbs to taste. Allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving. Excellent in symbiosis with a cocktail made with mocha coffee and orange juice, mixed in the proportions you prefer.

Circular kitchen and symbiosis

This tart is based on the concept of symbiosis, understood as a functional and sensory relationship between different ingredients that support and enhance each other.

Orange, coffee and hazelnut build an integrated system in which each preparation generates resources for the next one: hazelnut milk produces a pulp that becomes a structural ingredient in the pastry; coffee grounds, a residue from the preparation of the drink, enter the dough as an aromatic element; and citrus peels, usually discarded, are transformed into marmalade and become an element of flavor balance.

The recipe functions as a culinary ecosystem in which waste and by-products are not external to the process but an active part of it, demonstrating how cooking can operate through interdependent relationships, reducing waste and increasing the overall value of the dish.

Photos by Alessia Dinatale