emirates Date tart

Recipe by Nicholas Cuomo, Executive Chef at Emirate Golf Club, Dubai, UAE

book

Serves 4

Ingredients

Short Crust

• 12ml Olive Oil
• 250g Flour
• 2 Tbs. Water
• 10g Sugar
• Pinch Salt

Date Filling

• 250g Dates (stoned and chopped)
• 200g Almond Powder
• 1 Tangerine (zest)
• 2 Tbs. Anisette Liquor

Vanilla Chiboust

• 4 Egg Yolks
• 125g Sugar
• 40g Flour
• 500g Milk
• 1 pod Vanilla
• 100g Cream

French Meringue

• 4 Egg Whites
• 240g Sugar
• 2 drops Green Food Dye
• Salt to taste

Garnish

• 100g Coconut
• 100g Pistachio Flakes
• 10g Edible Flowers
• 20g Candied Fruit
• 2 Black Currents
• 1 Raspberry 
• 25g Strawberry
• 1 Chocolate Ring or Chocolate Roll
• 40g Cream Cheese
• 4g Gold Leaves
• Coriander Leaves to taste

Preparation

Short Crust

Rub the olive oil into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the water and mix a firm dough, then wrap in cling film and chill for 45 minutes.

Place the dough in a tartlet mold 4 cm in diameter.

Blind bake at 180°C for 9 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Date Filling

Melt the dates in a saucepan. Cook for 4 minutes over low heat. Stir in the tangerine and anisette liquor. Add the almond powder to the mix to have a firm paste and set aside.

Vanilla Chiboust

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and flour together in a bowl to combine. 

Boil half the milk with the vanilla pod.

Add the egg mixture to the milk mixture to make a crème patisserie.

Cool at room temperature. Whip the cream and fold into the crème patisserie. Set aside in the refrigerator. 

French Meringue

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt, adding a little of the sugar at a time. Keep beating until shiny and stiff.

Separate half of the mixture and keep it white. Add the green food coloring to the other half and mix.

Place the mixtures into two separate baking trays and dry in the oven at 100°C for 1 hour.

Keep both meringues in airtight containers in a dry place and set aside. 

Assembly

Fill the tartlet with around 70g of date paste, coat with coconut and pistachio flakes and set aside.

Crumble the meringue into pieces then place as shown in the picture.

Pipe or spoon 5 dots of the vanilla chiboust along the plate, placing the edible flower petals over the cream.

Place the cut berries along the meringue arrangement as shown in the picture.

For the chocolate ring you can use a chocolate roll. (chocolate ring can be purchased from a gourmet store)

Take the canned cream and make a quenelle and place on top of the tart.

Wine Match
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Tokay d’Aszu 5 Puttonyos, Hungary.

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Emirates Golf Club with the Dubai skyline behind the majestic clubhouse.
​Image by Diana DeLucia