Tart London's farewell apricot tart

Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison say farewell with a summery apricot tart
Tart's tart
Lucy Carr-Ellison18 July 2019

It has been hard, and actually quite emotional, deciding what recipe to do for our final column in ES Magazine.

We had lots of ideas but kept coming back to a beautiful, seasonal tart — it seemed appropriate. When we started our business seven years ago, we were nicknamed ‘the kitchen tarts’ and it stuck. We thought we should close this chapter by honouring the place where it began.

We chose this recipe not just because of our nickname but because tarts encompass so much of what we love about cooking and eating. Tarts are an ideal dessert at this time of year: light and surprisingly simple, filled to the brim with bright summer fruits. The crust on this one is something we’ve been doing for years, since our early catering days. It’s crunchy, nutty, made in minutes and can take on a wide range of fillings.

It’s been sparkling: the Tart girls

A fun alternative to this recipe is to paint the crust with melted chocolate, then fill with mascarpone, lemon curd and scattered raspberries. A juicy, ripe apricot is a rare and exhilarating find. So many are hard and slightly fluffy because they’ve been picked too early. However, you can usually pick up heavenly scented ones in good greengrocers, markets and at Natoora, which stocks perfect specimens. If they’re a bit hard, leave them in a bowl out in the sun and they’ll come to life in a couple of days; alternatively, roast them with a little brown sugar or honey.

You can substitute apricots with peaches, nectarines or figs, or autumn plums and greengages. Serve after a summer feast, sitting outside on a balmy evening while sipping a chilled, buttery white wine — for us, that’s perfection.

Apricot and mascarpone tart with honey glaze

Serves 8

Ingredients

For the crust

150g chocolate Hobnobs

100g almonds, toasted

100g hazelnuts, toasted

150g butter

1 tsp sea salt

For the apricots

500g apricots, quartered

½ glass of Marsala or white wine

1 tbsp demerara sugar

Small bunch of thyme

50g butter, cut into small cubes

For the mascarpone filling

200g mascarpone

200g yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g lemon curd

Zest of ½ a lemon

For the glaze

150g honey

Small bunch of thyme

Juice of ½ a lemon

Recipe

Whiz the Hobnobs in a food processor (or bash in a bag) to a fine crumb and put in a bowl. Roughly chop the nuts and add to the Hobnobs.

Melt the butter in a pan then add to the nut and biscuit mixture with the salt to combine. Tip the mixture into a tart case, spreading evenly over the base and sides. Leave in the fridge to harden.

Heat the oven to 190C. Halve the apricots and de-stone them before placing on a baking tray, drizzling with wine and sugar, a sprinkling of thyme and dots of butter. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, then leave to cool.

Mix together the mascarpone, yoghurt, vanilla, lemon curd and lemon zest. For the glaze, bring the honey and thyme to a simmer then take off the heat and add the lemon juice.

Remove the tart case from the fridge and take the crust out of the tin (top tip: dip a cloth in hot water, running it around the tin case until it comes loose). Dollop in the mascarpone mixture, spreading evenly. Place the apricots on top then brush the honey over with a pastry brush. Eat straight away or within 24 hours.

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