Recipe: Jamie Oliver's Pecan Pie

Pecan pie is Anderson’s favorite kind of pie. Here’s Jamie Oliver’s recipe for the pie seen on the show...

Bourbon Pecan Tart
Serves 10-12
 
1x quantity sweet pastry
3 3/4cups pecan halves
3 large eggs, preferably free-range or organic
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
scant 1/2 cup molasses or black treacle
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons bourbon whiskey
vanilla ice cream, to serve
 
Start by making the pastry, adding the optional vanilla seeds and orange zest from the list of ingredients.
 
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Take half your pecans and put them inside a clean dish towel or in a sandwich bag.  Use a rolling pin to bash them up finely.
 
After the pastry has had 30 minutes in the refrigerator, continue through the method until baked blind.
 
To make the filling, use a whisk to mix the eggs, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add your finely bashed pecans and mix again with a spoon until completely blended and smooth. Add the molasses, melted butter, and bourbon, mix well, then fold in your reserved pecans. Pour this mixture into the tart crust.
 
Put the tart into the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling starts setting at the sides. Remove and leave to cool in its pan for an hour (if you can wait that long), to really help it set, before serving. I think a slice of slightly warm tart with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is absolute heaven.
 
Wine suggestion:
Spanish sweet sherry – Pedro Ximénez
 
Sweet Pastry
Makes generous 1 lb.
 
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1.2 cup confectioners’ sugar
9 tablespoons good-quality unsalted cold butter, cut into small cubes
optional:  1 orange
optional:  1 vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped out
1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic, beaten
a splash of milk
 
You can make your pastry like this by hand, or pulse it in a food processor. From a height, sift your flour and confectioners’ sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, gently work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  If using orange or vanilla for extra flavor, either finely grate in the zest of your orange or add the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix again.
 
Add the egg and milk to the mixture and gently work it together using your hands until you have a ball of dough.  Remember not to work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short.
 
Sprinkle a little flour over the dough and on a clean worktop, and pat the ball into a flat round about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle over a little more flour, then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and pop it into the refrigerator to rest for at least 30 minutes. Get yourself a 9 1/2-inch nonstick loose-bottomed tart or quiche pan (approx. 1 1/4 inch deep) and, using a splash of vegetable oil on a paper tower, lightly oil the inside.
 
Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour, then carefully roll out your pastry, turning it every so often, until it’s just under π inch thick. Carefully roll your pastry around the rolling pin, then unroll it carefully over your oiled pan. Ease the pastry into the pan, making sure you push it into all the sides. Trim off any excess by running a knife along the top of the pie crust, then prick the base of the pie crust all over with a fork and pop it into the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
 
Get yourself a large square piece of parchment paper, scrunch it up, then unwrap it and use it to line your pie crust, pushing it right into the sides. Fill the pie crust right up to the top with rice, and bake blind for 10 minutes in your preheated oven. Take the pie crust out, carefully remove the rice and parchment paper (you can save the rice to use for blind baking another time), then return the crust to the oven to cook for a further 10 minutes, until it’s firm and almost cookie-like. Let cool.
 
Recipe © Jamie Oliver