We've had a decent first harvest of blackcurrants this year at Struan Farm. I'd intended to make jam with them, but stumbled upon Nigel Slater's Blackcurrant Almond Tart recipe and couldn't get past that. (Note: he spells blackcurrant as one word, so I'm doing the same.) Since John and I have been eating nothing but Piopio Berry Orchard strawberries, blueberries and raspberries for the past two months, it was nice to have a wee change for a weekend dessert, if only briefly!
The sweet pastry dough was quite crumbly, I ended up pressing it into the tart pan since I was unable to roll it out. (This may be due to the heat right now, not sure. But I don't usually have a problem rolling out pastry, scout's honour!) And while he said there was no need to weigh it down with beans or pie weights while pre-baking the pie shell if the pastry had been chilled, I found mine did rise more than I would have liked despite being chilled for the time specified. So I would recommend you weigh it down if you're making the recipe. I might actually try making the pastry in the food processor next time, which is how I usually do it, rather than by hand, to see if that helps.
There's a glorious aroma in the kitchen when this comes out of the oven, reason alone to try it if you can get your hands on some blackcurrants. And like most things Nigel Slater, the tart is delicious, served warm with a bit of whipped cream or yogurt.
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