You might remember that, last summer, a nearby friend invited me to come pick figs from her very productive fig tree. Fresh, ripe figs are delicious and we ate a lot of them various ways. But we couldn't eat all I picked before they went bad, so I trimmed the stems and froze them whole for later.
While a batch of figs thawed, I made and blind-baked a pâte brisée (short crust) and assembled the ingredients for an amandine filling, namely ground almonds, all-purpose flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. I spread the filling into the crust, pressed the whole figs into it, and baked it for about thirty minutes.
I often cut the amount of sugar that a recipe calls for in half. This tart was no exception. I find that most things don't need to be that sweet and, without the full amount of sugar, the taste of the fruit is front and center and not masked by too much sweetness. The tart was delicious and we had dessert for three days!
If only the pastry chefs in the states could do the same as you concerning sugar! The traditional apple pie is no exception! Too much cinnamon also!
ReplyDeleteLovely!
ReplyDeleteBee you tee ful!!
ReplyDeleteOh my! I had to look up blind-baking. It turns out I knew what it was but didn't know what it was called. And again, oh my!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! And lucky you to have scored all those incredible figs.
ReplyDeleteI only recently learned the term mise en place. I now say this out loud while I am cooking to make sure - or is it a blessing? - on my ingredients.
ReplyDeleteThat looks extraordinarily good. And I had no idea you could freeze whole figs. Useful information.
ReplyDeletechm, less is more. ;)
ReplyDeletejean, :)
judy, :)
bettyann, and I'll bet that spell check didn't have any problem with that!
mitch, it could also refer to a visually impaired pastry chef. ;)
chris, very lucky!
michael, getting all the ingredients out and measured before hand makes things go better, and I'm less likely to forget something if I do the "mise."
emm, yes, they're a little softer after freezing, but not much.
Fig tart! A nice accompaniement. When I move and if I have a garden, I want a fig tree!
ReplyDelete