[Apricot and pistachio tart]
I had a pâton of pâte sucrée in the fridge. And a little bag of roasted pistachios a friend brought back from Lebanon. And of course, too many apricots sitting on the counter.
An hour later, all this turned into a tart.
The kind of tarts that are simple and rustic. And yet, ever so delicious. We had a piece still warm from the oven for lunch. And another for dinner, after a baguette garlic steak sandwich that was so good I want to remember it forever. Inside, thick slices of juicy steak with plenty of grated garlic, a dollop of cancoillotte, and salad leaves from the garden.
With a glass of rosé and a few radishes we’d just picked, it was fairly close to the perfect summer dinner.
A few hundreds kilometres away, my friend Anna-Sarah* is having her very own perfect dinner. On a péniche [houseboat] with never-ending glasses of champagne. It’s her birthday and I wish her the happiest one ever.
And if I’m lucky enough, I might even join her on the boat next week-end. Just before I fly back to London. And step into whites again. At the Capital, to give a hand to my friend Richard Hondier who’s now running the kitchen and plating the most delightful dishes I’ve ever seen. And really, I can’t wait.
* You might know that Anna-Sarah hates apricots, she’s already told me off when I posted this a few days after she’d left (of the I-see-you’re-waiting-until-I’m-gone-to-write-about-apricots kind), so sharing an apricot recipe on her birthday, let’s hope she forgives me!
Tarte à l’abricot et à la pistache
This tart is super-quick to put together. Especially if you have some pâte sucrée ready in your fridge or your freezer. I know I always do, and this way, dessert is almost always less than an hour away.
There is nothing tricky. Pastry, crème d’amandes, fruits, and a little glaze. Ah, yes, just a quick word on crème d’amandes, a stapple in French pâtisseries. I forgot to include it in this list, and really it should be there. The mistake has been corrected since more often than not, you’ll find crèmes d’amandes that feeleither too buttery or too spongy. And most of the times, it even gets called frangipane, and trust me, crème d’amandes in no frangipane.
To make a gorgeous crème d’amandes, you just have to make sure the eggs are at room temperature. I keep my eggs in the fridge, so they never are. If you add them fridge-cold to the creamed butter, the mixture will split and might leak butter during baking. The trick I use is so simple it hurts. I just place the eggs in hot water – of the tap kind – while I cream the butter and sugar for several minutes. And then, one egg at a time, with a good two minutes of beating in between to bind the emulsion, and make it smooth and airy.
Now, enough words for such a doodle of a recipe…
Tarte à l’abricot et à la pistache
serves 8
For the pâte sucrée
130 g butter, at room temperature
95 g icing sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
30 g ground almonds
1 eggs
250 g plain flour
Cream the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract for a few minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the ground almonds. And the egg and beat well for around 3 minutes.
Tip in the flour and mix until just combined.
Flatten the dough and wrap in clingfilm. Chill for at least 3 hours – or up to 5 days – before using. Or keep frozen, for up to 3 months.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough into a 4mm-thick rectangle. Carefully wrap the dough around your rolling pin and place on top of a 10x30cm tart tin. Line the tart case with the dough, then trim the edges. Place in the freezer while you get on with the crème d’amandes.
For the pistachio crème d’amandes
80 g butter, at room temperature
100 g caster sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
60 g ground almonds
60 g roasted pistachio, roughly ground
30 g plain flour
For the montage
8 apricots, halved and stoned
1 tablespoon apricot jam
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, for 8-10 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl every now and then. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well – at least 2 minutes – after each addition.
Tip in the ground almonds and pistachios, then the flour and mix until just combined. Scrape the crème d’amandes into a piping bag fitted with a 12mm nozzle and pipe the cream at the bottom of the prepared tart case.
Arrange the apricots halves, cut-side up onto the crème d’amandes and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
In a small pan, place the apricot jam with a little water (around a tablespoon) and bring to the boil. Gently brush this glaze over the hot tart, and allow the tart to cool down at room temperature. Slice into wedges and serve, perhaps with a scoop of ice-cream or a dollop of whipped cream.
23 Comments
marghe@lechatdesucre.com
June 23, 2012 at 10:19 PMThis looks soooooo good!! Can’t wait to try it!! Bravissima!
Sarah
June 24, 2012 at 5:38 AMWhat a lovely post and a gorgeous tart! Thank-you for sharing! 🙂 x
fanny
June 26, 2012 at 9:41 AMhi Marghe and Sarah. Thanks for your kind words. xx
anna-sarah
June 24, 2012 at 10:14 AMla péniche t’attend
viens sans les abricots
xx
fanny
June 26, 2012 at 9:42 AMJ’ai hate. Pas d’abricots. Promis. xx
Amelia
June 24, 2012 at 12:41 PMThis looks so delicious, pistachios make such a good addition to cakes and tarts..Will put on my ‘To Make ‘ list!
Egle
June 25, 2012 at 8:55 AMthat tart looks really divine!
Lucia
June 25, 2012 at 3:49 PMI can feel the smell of apricots in the oven. I should always keep pate sucrée in the fridge too…
fanny
June 26, 2012 at 9:48 AMOoooh thank you Lucia. Pâte sucrée in the fridge is indeed a must. x
Paula
July 3, 2012 at 9:11 PMWow, I have to try this!!!!!! So nice colour, and I’m sure, so delicious!! I’m going to make it this weekend, it will be a nice surprise to my family!!
Thanks for sharing the recipe!!
maru
July 3, 2012 at 10:24 PMHi! Excellent recipe! I loved the mix of apricot & pistache.
I have one question about the dough: when I tried to wrap it around the rolling pin, the pâte started breaking in pieces, so in the end I pressed the dough down the tart tin with my fingers.
I followed the recipe of the pâte sucrée, so I would like to understand what I did wrong or which ingredient was not “good”.
As I said before, the result was delicious! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Laurelas
July 9, 2012 at 5:56 PMHmm, ça a l’air tellement bon! ♥
la fata della zucca
July 15, 2012 at 12:52 PMlooks really yummy!!txs for sharing! 🙂
Marion
July 15, 2012 at 4:14 PMCoucou !
Trop bien cette recette, la tarte abricot-pistache est ma préférée depuis que j’ai goûté celle de chez Paul.
Mais je ne suis pas une grande cuisinière donc j’hésite encore à me lancer!
En plus je ne suis pas fan de l’amande et j’ai peur que ça donne un effet “frangipane” ! On ne pourrait pas faire une crème de pistache sans amandes ?
Enfin elle a l’air délicieuse quand même 😀
fanny
August 8, 2012 at 3:14 PMTu pourrais utiliser 120g de pistaches en poudre et diminuer le beurre à 60g au lieu de 80. xx
Claire
August 8, 2012 at 1:19 PMThis looks delicious! May I ask what size eggs you use for this recipe? Thank you!
fanny
August 8, 2012 at 3:12 PMHi Claire, I always use medium eggs, around 50g each. Hope you like the tart! x
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Hazel
September 23, 2012 at 8:44 AMthank you for sharing such yummy recipes!
kat
November 1, 2012 at 3:31 PMlooks so delicious!
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Karen
July 21, 2020 at 8:10 PMI just made this chart this morning and it was absolutely delicious and so beautiful. I handed out pieces to my friends and they all flipped over it. I served it with a little dollop of fresh whipped cream but I think you’re right, that vanilla ice cream would be very nice to. Thank you for sharing this recipe and now I’m looking at all your recipes and there’s so many I want to try