Cooking with gin take one!

We’re getting creative in the Unexpected Guest Kitchen and we’re looking to cook up something scrumptious featuring gin every month, so if you’ve got a recipe you think we should try send us an email. Sweet, savoury, we're game for anything.

Today e’re making a tart, crowd round people.

It’s not just any tart though, it’s a ‘Gin and Tonic Tart’ made with our very own Bobby’s London Dry Gin and StrangeLove Coastal Tonic.

Now credit where credit is due we’ve found this recipe on delicious.com click to view it here.

However, we found a handful of things we changed (and/or screwed up) so we’ve made some changes to the recipe, and you can find that below.

It’s cooking time:

What you need for the Lemon Curd:

1 and 1/3 cups (295g) caster sugar

8 eggs

4 egg yolks

250g unsalted butter, chopped

Finely grated zest and juice of 3 lemons

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime

2 tsp juniper berries (either whole or roughly crushed)

2 titanium-strength gelatine leaves (or 3 platinum strength gelatine leaves)

What you need for the Almond Crust:

1/2 cup (50g) almond meal

1 and 1/4 cups (185g) plain flour

1/3 cup (40g) pure icing sugar

125g chilled unsalted butter, chopped

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1-2 tbs StrangeLove Coastal Tonic water, chilled

What you need for the Candied Citrus:

1 and 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar

1 cup (250ml) StrangeLove Coastal Tonic water, chilled

2 lemons, thinly sliced

1 Lime, thinly sliced

1/4 cup (60ml) Unexpected Guest Bobby’s London Dry Gin

Method: Let get cookin’

1. To make the curd, place sugar, eggs, egg yolks, butter, lemon zest, lime zest, lemon juice, lime juice and juniper berries in a large heatproof bowl. Whisk to combine. Place over a saucepan of gently simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water) and cook, whisking constantly, for 6-8 minutes until thickened.

2. Meanwhile, soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes to soften. Remove curd from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and add the leaves to the bowl, whisking to combine. Strain into a clean bowl, discarding solids. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or until thickened.

3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 22cm springform cake pan with baking paper. For the almond shortcrust, place the almond meal, flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and whiz until a rough crumb. With the motor running, add the egg yolk (not the egg) and vanilla, then add the tonic water, a little at a time, until pastry comes together.

4. Press dough into the lined cake pan to create a 3mm thick base and sides about 3mm thick. Chill for 30 minutes. Trim the sides of the tart to a straight edge, about 3.5cm deep. Using a fork, prick holes in the bottom of the tart (make sure to do this or the base will puff up). Line the tart with baking paper and fill with pastry weights. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove pastry weights and baking paper. 

5. Beat remaining egg and brush over tart. Return tart to oven for a further 10 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Set aside until cool, then remove from pan. Spread thickened curd into the tart case and chill for 4 hours or until firm.

6. Meanwhile, for the candied citrus, place sugar and tonic water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and add lemon and lime slices. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes or until soft, then remove the lemon and spread evenly over a wire rack to cool. Cool syrup slightly, then add Bobby's London Dry Gin and cool completely.

7. Top tart with candied lemon and extra lime slices. Drizzle with gin syrup to serve.

We had a lot of fun making this one, however we won’t be on MasterChef or bake off any time soon. Even if you screw this recipe up it still turns out a delicious mess and we will be making the candied citrus and gin syrup over and over again cause it’s just so good (and so pretty).

Also we started making this at 11am and before you know it, it’s the end of the day and I’m watching pastry brown in the oven, so make sure to reserve some time and be patient.

Just remember that in the end it’s all worth it.