This free-form tart works with all sorts of seasonal fruit combinations
We love a dessert that you can cater to the tastes of your family or guests. Just remember that some fruits take longer to cook than others, so adjust the size of the pieces accordingly – raw apple will take longer to soften than raspberries, so the apples should be thinly sliced. It’s best to assemble the tart right before baking to prevent a soggy bottom.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
For the pastry
180g plain flour or a mix of half spelt and half plain flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
120g cold butter, cubed
110g full fat cream cheese
2 tablespoons iced water
For the filling
200g rhubarb, cut into inch-long pieces
275g strawberries, leafy tops removed, and halved
100g blueberries
1 tablespoon cornflour (or 2 level teaspoons for non-juicy fruits such as rhubarb, stone or orchard fruits)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or the scraped seeds from half a vanilla pod
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons ground almonds
1 heaped tablespoon flaked almonds
1 small egg, beaten
Method:
- Put the flour, sugar and a pinch of salt into a food processor and whizz for 5 seconds. Add the butter and spoonfuls of cream cheese.
- Pulse for 10 seconds or until it looks like crumbs. Add the water and pulse until it forms a dough. Pour onto a large piece of non PVC cling film and press into a ball. Wrap and freeze for 15 minutes to chill it quickly.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.
- Mix together the fruit, cornflour and vanilla and set aside.
- Put a large piece of baking paper onto the work surface, then sprinkle with the flour. Unwrap the pastry and put into the centre of paper. Sprinkle a little flour over the pastry and roll out to a large thin circle5–7mm thick. Move the pastry and its paper onto a flat baking tray. Spoon the ground almonds onto the pastry and spread out until about 5cm from the edge. Heap the fruit on top of the almonds.
- With the aid of the baking paper, pull up the sides of the pastry to hug the fruit and stop it falling out. Don’t worry if the pastry has to fold over itself. Brush the pastry with beaten egg then stick the flaked almonds to it, patting them on with your fingers.
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until the pastry is brown and cooked all the way through. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream or custard.
This recipe was extracted from The Little Grower’s Cookbook, by Ghillie James and Julia Parker and first appeared in the print version of Irish Country Magazine.
