Almost a whole month has gone by since my last post and I'm due for a catch-up. You may be tempted to think that no baking has been going on chez nous but that is definitely not so. We have been so busy that finding time to post is the problem. On top of that, it has been so debilitatingly hot that I just haven't felt like writing anything much.
Some friends came round for an "eclipse party" on 12th August and one of them brought with her a small box of beautiful purple figs. Her fig tree has produced tons of fruit this year, a year when we have had more heatwaves than ever before, the result of which is that we have hardly any produce at all.
I looked through all my French themed cookbooks for a recipe. There were more for savoury dishes than sweet ones but I really wanted to make a dessert. I found one in Rick Stein's wonderful book "Secret France" which is based on the equally wonderful TV series of the same name. In the days when we were only part-time in France we would watch our recording of the series to help us get through grim Derbyshire winters until we could return to our house in France in the spring. You can see his recipe here.
His recipe was for six small tartlets and I wanted to make just one large tart so I did a bit of internet research to reassure myself (not that I really needed to) that the ingredients would work for one large tart. That's when I found a recipe on the brilliant blog "La Recette du Jour" written by Veronica. She had a couple of very handy tips that I decided to adopt. You can see her blog post here.
We were having a number of people round for an evening BBQ where I wanted to serve the tart. The weather was hot, 30°C in the kitchen by the afternoon. It would make sense to bake the tart early in the morning so I used Veronica's tip, made the pastry case and the frangipane mixture the day before and kept it in the fridge overnight. It worked!
Veronica's recipe also includes instructions for ginger custard to serve with the tart. I thought that sounded like a great idea but couldn't face standing at the stove to make custard from scratch. Instead, I bought a pack of ready made "crème anglaise", the very thin version of custard that is ubiquitous in France. I stirred a tablespoon of syrup from a jar of preserved ginger into it and served it cold with the tart. It was a big hit with the guests.
The tart was delicious, something a bit different from my usual offerings, easy enough to do and looked gorgeous.
Ingredients
1 pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust or sweet shortcrust pastry (mine was plain as that's what was available when I went shopping and in this heat I wasn't keen to make an extra journey to another supermarket)
For the filling
100g butter at room temperature
100g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp almond extract
100g ground almonds
9-10 figs, quartered vertically into wedges, depending on the size of your figs
a sprinkling of flaked almonds
To serve
1 pack of ready made crème anglaise
1-2 tblsp ginger syrup from a jar of preserved ginger, to taste.
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk6.
Use the pastry to line a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin. Line with baking paper and fill with baking beans and blind bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
To make the frangipane filling, beat the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl, either with a wooden spoon or an electric hand whisk, until smooth. Add the eggs and almond extract and whisk in. Stir in the ground almonds and mix well.
Transfer the almond mixture to the pastry case, spreading it out evenly, and level the top.
At this stage you can keep the tart in the fridge until needed or overnight.
Set the oven to 190°C / 170° fan / gas mk5.
Arrange wedges of fig on top of the frangipane. Don't worry if they look like they are just perched on top of the filling and don't sink in; the filling will rise up as it bakes.
Scatter flaked almonds over the top.
Bake for 20-30 minutes until the frangipane is golden and cooked. Turn out of the tin carefully when still warm.
Serve warm or at room temperature with cream, ice cream, crème fraîche or ginger crème anglaise.
Serves 8-10 slices.
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