I am writing this post on a Friday and Friday means treat food and sweet things for the weekend. I am being utterly lazy in both my recipes and my approach to writing this blog post, because these are super simple treats I have tried by two ‘celebrity chefs’ (dare I utter those words?) and I am not even re-writing the recipes, but giving you the links to them in all their glory.
The first is this fabulous summer fruit tart, by Nigella Lawson in her most recent series ‘Kitchen’ and from the book of the same name. ‘Summer is over’ I hear you cry, but yes hear me out. There are still many berries you can get your hands on at the moment to capture the last of the sunny days. Raspberries are classed as a summer fruit but in fact autumn fruiting raspberries have come into their own right now, my bushes are full of the berries so it’s an excellent excuse to make this dessert.
Also pick up blueberries and blackberries, but never strawberries that aren’t British, just go without, imports don’t taste as good.
The reason this tart so simple is because it has a no-cook biscuit base – like a cheesecake – pressed into a tart tin and chilled. It is filled with cream-cheese mixed with lemon curd. Not sounding like a culinary joy? Wait till you try it…. Adorn with berries, and leave in the fridge until you are ready.
Link here to the YouTube clip of the recipe, where you’ll even be able to enjoy the seductive lick of the spoon by Nigella herself!
Next up a perfect little dessert for any time of year from Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals book. Buy good quality individual sweet pastry cases for these frangipane tarts. Fill with a jam of your choice (I used some homemade damson jam given to me, which was perfect because it was nice and tart, not too sweet like strawberry jam), plum would be good and Jamie uses raspberry. Then you make a frangipane mix, spoon on the top, bake in the oven and serve warm with crème fraiche.
As the recipe makes six tarts, and the packs of tarts tend to include six cases, the best thing to do is make all six, cook them, then freeze them. Simply re-heat from frozen another time, or defrost and enjoy cold in a lunch box. Get the recipe here