For almost my whole life we've had a fig tree in the backyard that produced ridiculous amounts of figs each year. For about the first fifteen years, I ignored it completely, then when I started working, my colleagues were amazed that I had such easy access to figs and requested that I bring them in some. We had so many, that I started bringing kilos and kilos to them, from which they made jams, and tried to convince me to taste them. I always refused. Then this year, I suddenly had a change of heart and decided I needed to try these figs that everyone raved about. Last year my instagram feed was filled with photos of fig tarts that Thanh from I Eat Therefore I Am fame made, and so I decided to try and replicate his success. This recipe is almost the same as his, with a few tips and tricks that I discovered along the way.
Ingredients:
Pastry:
1 and 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
125g butter, room temperature, cut into small squares
1/4 cup ice cold water
Pistachio Frangipane:
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup pistachios, ground finely
1/2 cup plain flour
Method:
Pastry:
1. Put the flour and the salt in a food processor, with the dough attachment and wizz them up for a few seconds.
2. Add the butter, and wizz up again, until the mixtures resembles a breadcrumb texture. This can take a minute or so, depending on the temperature of the butter.
3. Slowly add the water. It is important that the water is cold as this helps the texture of the pastry.
4. Keep processing until the dough forms a ball and then remove from the food processor. It is important not to overwork the dough.
5. Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 20 mins to firm up.
6. After 20 minutes, remove the pastry from the fridge, and roll out. You can flour the bench if you feel the pastry is too sticky, but usually I haven't needed to.
7. Transfer the pastry into a tart tin. I've found the best way to do this is to loosely roll the pastry onto the rolling pin, and then unroll it into the tin. Then place the tin in the fridge for another 20 minutes, to let the pastry firm up again. Now is also a good time to preheat the oven to 200C.
8. After 20 minutes, remove the tart shell from the fridge, line it with foil, and blind bake for 25 minutes using rice or beans.
Pistachio Frangipane:
Generally I complete this step while the tart shell is blind baking.
1. Cream the butter and sugar together. I usually prefer to do this with the back of the fork, but depending on how soft your butter is, you could do with with the beaters.
2. Add the whole egg, additional yolk and vanilla extract and continue beating until you have a gooey paste.
3. Add the flour and ground pistachios and beat some more. Ideally, the pistachios should be ground to a fine powder, in a coffee grinder or a small food processor. The texture should be similar to almond meal. The more finely ground the pistachios, the lighter your frangipane will be. Keep beating the mixture until it is well combined. Don't be afraid of overworking it, the more you beat, the better.
Assembling The Tart:
To assemble the tart you need:
1 blind baked tart shell
1 portion of the pistachio frangipane
As many figs as you can get your hands on!
1. Spoon and spread the pistachio frangipane into the tart shell evenly.
2. Arrange the figs in any pattern you like over the top of the frangipane. Because I always have so many figs, I tend to quarter them, and arrange them tightly. The more figs you use, the stronger the flavour.
3. Bake in a 180C oven for 35 minutes or until you are satisfied with the consistency of the frangipane. I prefer my frangipane gooey, so 35 minutes works well for me. If you prefer the frangipane to be more 'baked' then just leave it in the oven for an extra five to ten minutes.
4. Allow the tart to cool in the tin, and then serve with ice cream.
Once fig season was over, I made this tart with peaches which also tasted great. I suspect most stone fruit will pair well with the pistachio.
