It’s fig season in Sydney, late summer, and the figs are plentiful and cheap. I love the look of green figs, with their lustrous skins and bright pink centres.
I have a confession to make. I think figs look really pretty, but I’m not always convinced that they taste as delicious as they look. I think recipes can be a little bit hit and miss.
The figs in this recipe do work very well. The recipe is tweaked from an Ottolenghi recipe for little fig tartlets. I love the idea of the frangipane in the tartlets, with beautiful baked figs, so I decided I would make one large tart, filled with frangipane, with slices of figs placed on top. I added raspberries as they are superb at the moment. I think the large tart idea worked well, it looked nice and tasted delicious!
Ottolenghi’s original recipe for Fig and Pistachio Frangipane Tartlets is in his beautiful book Sweet, and the link to the recipe is here.
Here is my Fig and Raspberry Frangipane Tart recipe:
Ingredients
For the sweet shortcrust pastry (you will probably only need 3/4 of the pastry)
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
90g icing sugar
¼ tsp salt
200g unsalted butter, fridge-cold, cut into cubes
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 large free range egg yolk
20ml water
For the frangipane
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
35g ground almonds
35g plain flour
⅛ tsp salt
1 tbsp brandy
4 large ripe figs, quartered (choose the best quarters – you will need about 12)
12-15 raspberries
Method
To make the pastry, put the flour, icing sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and lemon zest, then pulse a few times, until the mixture is the consistency of fresh breadcrumbs. Whisk the egg yolk and water, then add to the mix. Process once more, just until the dough comes together, then tip on to a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough into a ball, wrap loosely in cling wrap and press gently into a flattish disc. The dough will be very soft, so keep it in the fridge for at least an hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees C. Brush a tart tin with melted butter and dust with flour. I used a rectangular tart tin but you could use a circular tin (use a medium diameter rather than a big one).
If the dough has been in the fridge for more than a few hours, let it rest at room temperature for up to 30 minutes before rolling. Put the dough between 2 pieces of cling wrap or baking paper and place onto a large board. Tap all over with a rolling pin to soften slightly, then roll out to a 2-3mm thick rectangle to fit your tin (or circle to fit a circular tin). Gently ease the pastry into the tin, pressing it down to fill the tin, making sure the pastry comes up the sides. Refrigerate the tin for at least an hour.
Place a piece of baking paper over the pastry and fill with a layer of rice or baking beans, and blind-bake for 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is light golden brown around the edges. Remove the paper and rice or beans, then leave the pastry to cool in the tin.
For the frangipane, put the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a food processor. Blitz on a medium speed until well blended and light but not too fluffy, then gradually add the beaten eggs. Don’t worry if the mix curdles a bit at this stage, it will come together again later. Add the ground almonds, flour and salt. Pulse until combined, then add the brandy.
Turn up the oven to 180 degrees C. Using a tablespoon, fill the baked tart shell with the frangipane. Place a quarter-fig cut side up in rows in the tart, and press down gently, so they slightly embedded in the mixture. Place the raspberries in between the rows. (Arrange the figs and raspberries in whatever way you like for a round tart).
Bake for about 20 minutes, until the frangipane starts to brown at the edges but the middle is still slightly soft. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then ease the tart out of the tin and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature with a spoonful of thick cream or Greek yoghurt.
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I’m still celebrating late summer fruit in Sydney. Berries are still good, especially raspberries which are plump and juicy, and well priced. But the standouts for me are the last of the stone fruit – peaches and nectarines, and gorgeous super sweet plums of all colours.
The Quirk and the Cool 