Rustic Abricot & Pistache Tarte (v)
It’s so nice to be back in our home in France. Most mornings we wake up to the sound of the cockerels cockadoodle do-ing and I know it’s time to wander around what my husband calls my ‘kingdom’, the garden. I check what new things have sprung to life and what creatures have visited overnight. The garden has mounds of soil right now created by our visiting moles. A family of Robins have nested in the ivy on the barn. we watch the parents coming and going with worms to feed their young. We hear the occasional sound of scurrying geckos making their way across the gravel in the courtyard. There’s enough activity to keep me focused. I can sit for hours and watch and listen to nature’s coming and goings and feel very blessed to be here.
I love spending time cooking in my kitchen and trying to remember what’s in what cupboard, becoming familiar again with utensils that I’ve not seen for months. Everything feels like new again. I’m often surprised when I come across cutlery and items I’d forgotten I had, but then my attention turns to what delights I can rustle up and display on the beautiful crockery, that I discover at the back of the cupboard.
I couldn’t resist these amazing apricots at the local market in Poitiers on Saturday. They look so beautiful and bring so much sunshine to a dish with their bright saffron coloured glow. Once cooked in this delectable tart they are sweet, tangy and incredibly juicy. This tart melts in the mouth. With a hint of tangy lime zest, warmth from cinnamon and cardamom, sweetness from honey encased in flaky pastry and a pistachio crunch, it’s a delightful dessert served with a dollop of crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream. The fruit is at its best at the height of the season and you’ll find them everywhere this month in France. I’ve used them in sweet and savoury dishes. They are beautiful with a cheese board, as in Keith Floyd’s recipe Apricot Farcis; apricots stuffed with cream cheese from his book Floyd on France. They are just as perfect in a classic Tarte Tatin where Elizabeth David uses a goats cheese in the pastry from Poitou, in her recipe for a Touteau Fromage, Apricot Tarte Tatin. Or if you are lucky to get a glut of apricots past their sell by date from a local grower or farmer, you could try making David Lebovitz’s Glace aux Novaux D’Abricots, apricot ice cream just using the kernels and the fruit for a classic crumble.
I hope you’ll give my recipe a go, it’s simple and tastes amazing, a great dinner party dessert.Happy Baking — N x
Ingredients
Serves: 8 | Prep: 30m | Baking: 40m
10/12 fresh apricots, halved, stones removed
500g puff pastry
2 tbsp honey
4 tbsp apricot preserve
1 lime, zest only
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp ground cardamom or crushed cardamom pods
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g pistachios, finely chopped
2 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tsp butter or oil for greasing tart tin
Crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream to serve
Easy Puff Pastry Recipe (500g)
225g plain flour, extra for dusting
140g unsalted butter, cold cubed
150ml ice-cold water
1/4 tsp salt
Equipment
23cm loose bottom fluted tart tin
Parchment paper
Baking beans
Method
Using a bowl that’s been chilled in the refrigerator for 20 minutes add the sieved flour, salt and cubes of cold butter (not too hard you want it slightly softened, but cold.)
Using a round bladed knife stir the butter into the flour coating the butter pieces. Rub the butter into the flour slightly, then add the water little by little until the mixture is combined. Working quickly, bring the mixture together to form a rough dough ball. Tip the dough out onto the work surface, pushing the butter into the flour creating a sausage roll shape. Wrap and chill for 15 minutes.
Remove the dough and roll out on a lightly floured work surface into a square. Folding the dough in half, roll again and fold in half again. Repeat this process three times, try to keep the edges straight and as square as possible.
Fold the bottom of the pastry up and the top half down creating a book-like fold. You want your pastry to be approx 15cm x 15cm .
Turning the dough so the open edge is facing you, roll it out again and repeat the process three more times keeping it square at all times.
Wrap the folded pastry and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Tarte Recipe
If making your own puff pastry, I suggest you make this ahead of time and leave to chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Once chilled roll out on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of a pound coin and line the greased tin with the pastry, leaving an overhang.
If using shop bought pastry, roll out to the thickness of a pound coin, grease the tart tin with butter or a little oil and line your tart tin with the pastry, pushing into the fluted edges. Leave an overhang of pastry around the rim to avoid the pastry shrinking. You can trim this once cooked to neaten the edge, if you prefer.
Prick the pastry base with a fork and pop into the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to Fan 180C Gas Mark 4.
Whilst the pastry case is chilling, halve the apricots and remove the stones. In a bowl add the apricots, lime zest and sugar. Leave to macerate for 20 minutes or so.
Next, remove the tart case from the fridge and add a scrunched up piece of parchment paper and some baking beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further five minutes. Remove from the oven.
Add the cinnamon, cardamom and thyme leaves to the apricot conserve mix and spread over the base of the tart. Add a tablespoon of chopped pistachios sprinkled over the top.
Layer the apricots cut side down around the tart filling the case completely.
Drizzle over the reserved juices from the apricot bowl and a tablespoon of honey and more pistachios.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the apricots are soft and squishy and the pastry is golden in colour.
Leave to cool slightly, drizzle over a little more honey, pistachios and lime zest.
Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy — N x
