Fig Tart
Growing up in an Italian family, it was natural that we had fig trees in our yard, despite the fact that a New York winter would be almost guaranteed to kill them. I remember that late every autumn, after the figs were picked and the leaves had fallen off, the men of the family would prune the branches and wrap the stump in burlap and canvas, and the tree would stand there like a ghost until the next spring, when it would make a reappearance, green and full of fruit by summer.
In LA, we were lucky enough to buy a house with two mature fig trees on the property, and most years we get an ample crop for eating as-is with breakfast, with prosciutto for an appetizer, and to make this melt-in-your-mouth galette. If I’m feeling fancy I’ll make it in my French tart pan, or else I’ll just free-form it on a baking sheet. If you have access to a good, ripe crop of figs, this is the perfect farewell to summer.
Recipe adapted from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.
Pastry crust:
2 cups AP flour
1 tbsp sugar
12 tbsps Butter
1/3 c Ice water
Filling:
16-24 fresh ripe figs sliced in half
2 tbsp butter, melted w/ 1 tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp aniseed
- Mix flour and butter with your fingertips or in a food processor, with a few tablespoons of ice water as needed, until you can form it into a ball. Flatten it into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Flour a board, put the dough on it, and roll it out to 1/8 inch thick. Lay in a tart pan or out on a baking sheet.
- Arrange figs on the dough, cut side up.
- If you’re using a baking sheet, fold the edges of the dough over some of the figs.
- Pour the melted, spiced butter over the figs and dough edges.
- Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes until the crust is browned and the figs are jammy.
- Cool, slice and serve, as is or with vanilla ice cream
Comments
Post a Comment