APRICOT TART TARTIN

Recipes -

APRICOT TART TARTIN

100g caster sugar
3 tbsp Marsala (sweet)
60g butter
500g apricots (about 10)
150g puff pastry (try and use the Paneton brand as it is superior to most others)
3 tbsp icing sugar
100ml double cream
100ml yogurt
25g flaked almonds

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Put the sugar and Marsala in a 21cm tartin dish (or frying pan with a metal handle) and warm over a moderate heat until the sugar has dissolved. Continue cooking until the mixture starts to caramelise, thickening to a syrup and turning walnut brown. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the pan, removing it from the heat as soon as the butter has melted.

Halve and stone the apricots, tuck an almond in the hollow of each, then place them, snugly and cut side down, into the caramel. Roll the pastry out then, using a bowl or tart tin base as a template, cut a disc of pastry 23cm in diameter. Lower the pastry into place on top of the fruit, tucking the edges in as you go.

Bake the tart for 20-25 minutes until the pastry has risen and the fruit is tender. Leave to rest before turning out upside down. (Take great care with this, as the caramel will still be hot.)

Toast flaked almonds until golden brown and set aside to cool.

Pour the cream into a chilled mixing bowl and beat until soft and thick (stop well before it is thick enough to stand in peaks). Fold the yogurt into the cream, followed by the sugar.

Scatter with flaked almonds and serve with the tart.

Recipe courtesy of Nigel Slater.