Recipe: whey caramel tart by Crocadon’s Dan Cox

Where possible, ensure all of your ingredients come from a source of good agriculture, says chef and expert grower Dan Cox, founder of Crocadon.

A project five years in the making, Crocadon is located on a 120-acre organic farm near St Mellion in Cornwall. The 25-cover restaurant, which opened in February, celebrates the connection between food and agriculture.

Ingredients

Tart dough

• 350g plain flour
• 110g icing sugar 
• 140g butter
• half a beaten egg
• 50ml cold water

Yoghurt and whey

• two litres of whole unhomogenised organic milk
• 1 tbsp of live yoghurt

Whey caramel

• 1lt yoghurt whey (see above)
• 200g caster sugar

Whey caramel custard

• 1lt double cream
• 270g egg yolks
• 150g sugar
• 284g whey caramel (see above)
• 14g salt

Method

For the tart dough

• Mix the flour and sugar together.
• Add the butter and mix till it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Mix the egg and the water together.
• Add to the dry ingredients and knead gently into a ball
• Chill in fridge.
• Once chilled, roll out the dough, cut it into rounds and line the tart cases.
• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Blind bake for 15min.
• Remove the blind baking beans and continue to bake until golden brown (approximately five minutes).
• Take the cases out of the tins and egg wash with whole egg. Bake for one more minute.

For the yoghurt and whey

• Bring the milk to 85C and then allow it to cool to 38C.
• Add the spoon of yoghurt and whisk well, then place in a pan inside a dehydrator (or use a yoghurt maker) and hold at 38C for 8 hours. Allow to cool and then chill.
• Once chilled, place the yoghurt in double muslin cloth, in a colander over a bowl or pan to hang the yoghurt and catch the whey below.
• Leave in the fridge overnight.
• In the morning, take the hung yoghurt, place it in a bowl and whisk it until smooth, adding whey back if necessary.

For the whey caramel

• Bring the cream to a boil,
• Mix the yolks and sugar
• Pour the cream over the egg and sugar mix.
• Whisk in the whey caramel and pass the mixture through a chinois strainer.

For the whey caramel custard

• Pour the custard into the tart cases and bake in the oven at 95C until just set with a good wobble. Allow to cool and refrigerate.
• When set, cut into desired portions and dress each slice with some of the yoghurt and drizzle over some of the whey caramel.
• We like to add caramelised apple puree and fresh apple slices soaked in a sorrel and marigold syrup, then finish with little leaves of sorrel.

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