Daring Bakers March 2010 Challenge: Orange Tian

This month's Daring Baker's Challenge was Orange Tian. I'd never heard of Tian before this challenge, so I was quite pleased to learn something new.

tian
[TYAHN ]
A French word describing a shallow, earthenware casserole, as well as the food that it contains. A tian can be any of various dishes, but originally referred to a Provençal dish of gratinéed mixed vegetables.

© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

They call them "challenges" for a reason, folks. Everything must be made from scratch, including the marmelade, and there are a lot of steps. This is partly why I chose to make the dessert "family style" (this term will always remind me of The Salt Lick when we went to Austin, TX) rather than in individual portions. Also, I could bring this dessert to the manfella's mom's house for Easter this weekend.

Step 1: Blanch the orange slices 3 times to remove the bitterness from the orange peel and pith.


Step 2: Arrange orange (I used mandarins) segments in a shallow blow. Make orange carmel and pour it over top of the segments.


Step 3: Mince the blanched orange slices in a food processor, add an equal weight of sugar and pectin. Cook to make marmelade!


One orange, plus some orange juice made me a whole jar of marmelade!


Step 4: Make a pâté sablé crust.
Step 5: Spread the crust with a thin layer of marmelade.


Step 6: Layer the carmel-y mandarin segments in your tian vessel. In this case, I used a fluted rectangular tart pan.


Step 7: Layer stabilized whipped cream (that's whipped cream with gelatin, folks) over the mandarin oranges, then layer the pâté sablé crust--marmelade side down--over the whipped. Here you see the flaw in using a vessel that is narrower on the bottom than on the top, however it isn't THAT big a deal because the dessert gets inverted.


Step 8: Invert the vessel so that it is crust side down. Cut into slices.


Step 9: Before serving, drizzle each slice with some of the orange carmel you made in step 2.

Obviously I have over-simplified the steps for the sake of blogging, so the way I've presented it here may look like less work than it actually was. However, this dessert was very well-received! If I made it again, I wouldn't use equal weights of sugar and orange in the marmelade, as I found it a bit too sweet.

All in all though, my first Daring Baker's Challenge was a success!