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

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

• 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.

Dan Cox recently featured in our Food & Drink newsletter. Sign up for exclusive interviews and recommendations.