More Than Sweet

Provençal blueberry tarts

Serves 8

Pâte sucrée

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Lavender syrup

75g granulated sugar
50ml water
1 tsp. lavender

Almond cream

50g almond flour
5g all purpose flour
50g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
1/2 egg 
40g toasted pine nuts

Bring the water and lavender to a boil, stir in the sugar until fully dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to steep for 30 minutes. Strain out the lavender and discard.

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and line 8 square tart rings with the pastry. Trim the edges and rest for another 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 175C and blind bake the tarts for 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile prepare the almond cream by mixing the ingredients together to a flowy paste. Spread the almond cream onto the blind baked pastry shells, sprinkle over the toasted pine nuts and bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown. Brush the frangipane with warm lavender syrup and cool completely on a wire rack.

 Fennel & basil cremeux

125ml heavy cream
125ml whole milk
60g egg yolks
25g sugar
3 gelatine leaves
12g basil leaves
6g toasted fennel seeds

To assemble and serve

350g blueberries
Fennel pollen

In a small saucepan, heat the cream and milk until just below boiling. Remove from heat, add basil leaves and fennel seeds and infuse for an hour. 

Soak gelatin sheets in cold water for 10 minutes. 

Whisk together sugar and egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Bring the milk to a boil, strain and discard the basil and fennel. Pour in ¼ of the hot milk to the egg yolks while whisking rapidly. Add the remaining milk and pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and reaches 82C. 

Squeeze excess water from the gelatin and stir into the cremeux until completely dissolved.  Strain into a bowl, press a piece of cling film onto the surface and chill in the fridge for a few hours. Pipe onto the cooled tart shells, arrange blueberries on top and sprinkle with fennel pollen.

Roasted fig tart with whipped greek yoghurt

Serves 8

Pâte sucrée

75 g butter at room temperature
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Almond cream

50g almond flour
5g all purpose flour
50g butter at room temperature
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
1/2 egg

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough to a 30cm circle and line a 24cm tart ring with the pastry. Trim the edges and rest for another 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 175C and blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the almond cream by mixing the ingredients together to a flowy paste. Spread the almond cream onto the blind baked pastry and bake for 15-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

Lemon pastry cream

250ml whole milk or half and half
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp. of salt
2 Tbls. cornstarch
50g sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. lemon olive oil
1-2 Tbsp. lemon juice, to taste

Warm the milk, lemon zest and salt in a saucepan to just below boiling over medium heat.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch and eggs. Slowly add 1/2 of the milk into the egg mixture and whisk constantly to temper them. Add the remaining milk and return the custard to the saucepan.
Cook while whisking continuously until you get a thick pudding like consistency.
Remove from heat and pour the pastry cream into a bowl, let cool for 10 minutes and then incorporate the olive oil, one tablespoon at a time, until the pastry cream is smooth and glossy. Whisk in lemon juice to taste.
Press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface of the pastry cream and let cool completely in the refrigerator.

Honey and olive oil roasted figs

12 ripe figs
2 Tbsp. red wine
3 Tbsp. thyme honey (or regular honey and a few crushed thyme sprigs)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 225C.  Trim stems and cut figs in quarters.  Arrange in a small ovenproof dish with stem side facing up, all the figs facing one way.  

Whisk together wine, honey, olive oil, lemon juice and season with salt. Drizzle over the figs and bake, uncovered, for about 12-15 minutes, until figs are slightly softened and just beginning to caramelise. Cool to just warm enough to handle.

To assemble and serve

150g greek yoghurt
100g heavy cream
25g honey
Fresh basil

Whisk greek yoghurt heavy cream and honey, beginning at low speed and then at high until whipped cream consistency. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Transfer the lemon pastry cream to a piping bag and pipe onto the cooled pastry shell. Top with the warm figs, garnish with basil leaves and serve with cold, whipped greek yoghurt.

Queen of plums! Greengages, or reine claudes as they are called in their native France, are my absolute favourite plums. Succulent honeysuckle sweetness and so juicy they almost burst when you bite into them. They are as delicious raw as they are baked in a tart, pie or cooked to a jam.

I paired the little green plums with a Chinese Oolong tea that also has those wonderful floral, honeyed notes, yuzu juice for a citrusy, floral tang and honey powder. 

Greengage tarts with oolong, yuzu and honey

4 tarts

Sablé 

125g butter, softened
50g icing sugar
1/8 tsp. vanilla powder
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1/2 tsp. salt
175g all purpose flour 

Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla powder until creamy. Beat in the egg yolk until fully incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour and salt. Slowly mix in the flour until just coming together. Be careful not to overwork the dough. 

Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least an hour. 

Roll out the dough to about 3-4mm thickness, cut four 15cm circles and transfer to four 7,5cm tart rings. Gently press the dough into the tart rings and trim the edges. Return the tart rings to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 175C and line the tarts with foil. Fill with dry beans or rice and blind bake for 12 minutes. Remove the weights and foil and bake until goldenbrown, about 6-8 minutes more. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. 

Oolong cream

Earl grey pastry cream

1 Tbsp. cornstarch
25g granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
65ml heavy cream
65ml strong Oolong tea
Pinch of salt
10g unsalted butter, room temperature 

Make the pastry cream by whisking together the sugar and cornstarch. Mix in the egg yolks and set aside. Warm up heavy cream and oolong tea until steaming hot. Pour about 1/3 of the warm tea mixture into the egg yolks. Whisk to temper the egg yolks, before pouring the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat while whisking rigorously until the pastry cream thickens into a luscious, glossy pudding. 

Yuzu poached greengages

50g mild honey
1/2 Tbsp. yuzu juice
250ml water
12 greengages, halved and pitted

Combine honey, yuzu juice and water in a saucepan over medium low heat and simmer until the honey is dissolved. Add the greengages, remove from heat and leave for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the poaching liquid and leave to cool. Reduce the poaching liquid to a thick syrup. 

Serving

Honey powder 

Transfer the pastry cream to a piping bag and fill the tart shells with the cream. Cut the greengage halves in quarters and arrange decoratively on top of the oolong cream. Brush the plums with a little of the honey-yuzu syrup and dust with honey powder, if you have. If not – they still taste amazing without! 

Apricot tarts with white grapefruit and lemon verbena

Eight 7,5cm tartlets 

Sweet shortcrust

65g softened butter
40g confectioner’s sugar
15g almond flour
30g egg
110g flour
1/4 tsp. salt 

Almond frangipane with white grapefruit

60g almond flour
60g softened butter
60g sugar
6g flour
1 egg
1 Tbsp. of finely grated white grapefruit zest 

Begin by making the shortcrust. Cream together the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in almond flour and egg followed by the flour and salt. Mix only until the dough comes together. Gather into a ball, press into a disc and wrap in clingfilm. Chill for an hour in the fridge. While the dough is resting, prepare the grapefruit & lemon verbena cremeux. 

Remove your shortcrust dough 10 minutes before rolling out. Preheat the oven to 180C, divide the dough in 8 portions and roll them to about 3-4mm thickness. Line eight 7,5cm tart rings with the dough and freeze for 30 minutes.

Blind bake for 14 minutes, while you make the walnut frangipane. Mix everything but the egg together, and when homogenous whisk in the egg. Don’t overwork the frangipane as that can cause the frangipane to split. 

Remove the foil and weights from the tart shells, fill about 1cm layer of frangipane mix in each of the tart shells and bake for another 8-10 minutes, until the frangipane is baked and the tart shells are golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. 

White grapefruit & lemon verbena cremeux  

100g granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. finely grated white grapefruit zest
225ml white grapefruit juice
125ml heavy cream
12g lemon verbena leaves, finely chopped
4 egg yolks
3 gelatin sheets

In a small saucepan, heat the cream until steaming hot. Add the verbena leaves, remove from heat and leave to infuse for an hour. 

Soak gelatin sheets in ice cold water for 5 minutes. 

Whisk together sugar, egg yolks, grapefruit juice and –zest in a heat proof bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a boil, then strain and discard the verbena leaves. Add ¼ of the warm cream to the grapefruit mixture while whisking rapidly. Pour the mixture back into the cream and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 82C. 

Squeeze excess water from the gelatin sheets and dissolve in the cream.  Transfer to a bowl, press a piece of cling film against the surface to avoid a skin forming and cool to room temperature. Transfer to a piping bag, pipe the cremeux on top of the cooled tart shells and transfer to the refrigerator for at least an hour. 

Assembly

12-16 apricots
200g water
200g granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. verbena leaves

Cut the apricots in half and remove the pit. Make a simple syrup by bringing the sugar, water and verbena leaves to a boil. Turn the heat down low and gently poach the apricots just until slightly softened, but not mushy. Slice the apricots in thin slices and arrange in a floral rose/ranunculus pattern beginning from the edge and working towards the center. Serve immediately or store cold until ready to serve.