Plum Tart

Fresh fig 

or

Plum Tart
with an Almond Cream

It is wonderful to put a dessert together at the drop of a hat.
With an almond cream that can be made well ahead of time, this dessert takes 5 minutes to assemble and can be ready to eat in 35!!

Makes one 23 cm/ 9-inch tart

Preheat the oven to 200 °C | 400 °F

3 firm plums or 10 figs cut in half

1 pastry sheet, rolled out

Slice the plums, toss with 1 tablespoon of sugar, and keep aside—you do not need to do this with figs.

In a pie pan, place a rolled out sheet of puff pastry. Sprinkle it with a teaspoon of brown sugar crystals.

Press down on one part of the almond cream. It should be chilled but not frozen. Press it down with the back of the spoon, spreading it all over.

Place the plums or figs all over the top of the tart. Sprinkle with another teaspoon of brown sugar crystals.

Bake for 22 minutes, turn the oven off and allow it to rest in the warm oven for 10 minutes. Remove and serve it right away.

Tips

While it is delicious on its own, you can serve it with whipped cream, creme` anglaise, vanilla bean ice cream, or a custard if you prefer.

Like all puff pastry, it tastes best when fresh and cannot be reheated.

Almond Cream  (makes enough for 3 tarts)

250 g/ 8 oz butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 cups almond flour 
2 tbsp corn flour
9 egg yolks, beaten with a fork
1 tbsp rum
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Cream the butter well. Add the sugar and beat until light. Add the almond meal and corn flour and mix it well. Lower the speed, and add the beaten egg yolks with the rum and vanilla.

Divide into three equal parts and freeze any leftovers.

 

Tips

Alternatively, try 2 cups of ground pistachios, unsalted.

Finely ground almonds can be used instead of the flour.

                                                

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on Amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is a 3 award winning book. It has been self published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through amazon book depot book depository and from the publishers.

Photo Courtesy Niloufer Mavalvala

Frangipane FruitTart

Frangipane Tart

What a wonderful idea when the base is the shell and the filling. How much simpler could anything be yet taste delightful.  Try this wonderful fruit tart. You can use peaches, pears, apples, plums, oranges or any of the berries. I love pears and am going to use them for this recipe.

Frangipane is originally referred to as almond cream scented with like the beautiful Frangipani trees. Named after the Marquis Frangipani it is very popular in Europe particularly in France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland to serve an assortment of individual frangipane fruit tarts in cafe`s. They continue to be my personal favourite to date. 

Prepare an 8/10 inch/ 21 cm pan with parchment lining and butter. 
or Four individual ones in a 31/2 inch/9 cm round pie plate

1 cup ground almonds
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3/4 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

2 small ripe pears
spice of choice,  1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp apricot marmalade +  Optionally 1 tbsp rum to glaze

In a bowl mix the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon.
Add the eggs and vanilla, Give it a good stir with the spoon. It will be a thick liquid.
Pour 3/4th in the pan. Lay out the pears fanned out, pour the remaining over and around it.
Bake in a preheated oven of 350F/180C for 30 minutes. Test with a skewer  to see if  cooked through. When still hot brush with the glaze made of the marmalade and rum. Serve warm on its own or with salted caramel ice cream or delicious creme-anglaise ar a caramel sauce.

Preparing the caramel sauce

In a pan, on a medium high flame melt

1 1/4 cup sugar

Swirl over the heat until beautifully amber coloured.

Remove from the fire and add 1 cup of cream over the caramel; This will splatter so be careful.

Add 1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp of Tahitian Vanilla

Optional 2 tbsp Rum

Tips
Lightly toast the ground almonds in a warm oven for 10 minutes before mixing it with the sugar. This refreshes the almonds and ensures it does not clump together. It keeps the frangipane" light"; hence it is an important step.
Choose the spice according to the fruit. Some of the other choices are nutmeg, ginger, all spice or cardamom.

Pour it into one large or 8 to 12 small tartlets. While this recipe does not need a pastry base it works well if you prefer to have one. Reduce baking time to just 8-10 minutes if its in a mini tartlet. While picking the size of the tartlet it works best if the diameter of the tartlet is slightly larger then the length and breadth of the fresh pear you plan to top it with. You may need to buy some additional pears to cover the individual pear tarts.

To make your own sweet short crust pastry 

The skewer test must come out clean. Pierce where there is no fruit.

For more delicious recipes download 
Niloufer's Kitchen: French Bistro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J2KMB4C



Enjoy my published cookbook The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.

Kainaaz R. Patell

Today at 8:06am

Niloufer Mavalvala, thank you for this most wonderful recipe, your pear tart turned out rich and cinnamony, with the right balance of flavours. I paired it with some finger lime flavoured whipped cream.

Busboosa

Arabic by descent, this egg free sweet is rooted from Egypt. A typical dessert from the Nile. Abundantly available in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran and even Greece, each one in slight variations according to  the abundance of local produce; like the nuts and the rosewater and orange blossom.

Here is my variation of this delightful treat. This is a fool proof family recipe that I share. Be adventurous and try adding your favourite nuts and the essence you enjoy most.

A touch of saffron, some pistachios or walnuts perhaps? 

Moist and delicious

Busboosa

Beat with in an electric beater

1 cup yogurt

½ tsp salt

add in alternately

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup fine sugar

now add 2 cups semolina ~ preferably coarse and not fine.

Pour the whole mixture into a flat, buttered, pie plate. Spread the top with almonds and bake in a  preheated oven at 350F/180C till golden brown and quite firm. It will take about 50 minutes.

In the meantime prepare a simple sugar syrup mixing

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

Bring this to a boil, lower the heat and check for it to become sticky; aik tar no seero.
Check if it is correct by dipping a spoon into the syrup then hold it over the pan and allow the liquid to stream down. The final drops will be a longish slow drip wiry and thick. When perfect remove from the fire and add

1/2 cup salted butter

1 tsp of lemon juice

Mix it well and allow it to cool.

When the Busboosa  is ready to come out of the oven, turn the oven off. Immediately pour all of the sugar syrup, covering the surface all over, cover the Busboosa  with a plate or foil and leave inside the oven to soak for 10 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

For more recipes try my e-cookbook
Niloufer's Kitchen: Persian Fusion

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OSMWS74

For Parsi Food recipes click The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.

To download an e-book click https://read.amazon.com

Photo credit Sheriar Hirjikaka

Readers Comment
February 09th, 2015

Mehreen Uneeb My attempt! It's sooo yummy!

Like · Reply · 6 hours ago