This dessert, filled with silky nutmeg-spiced custard, is lifted by a sweet and slightly tart apple compote – it’s no wonder it goes down such a storm at London restaurant Fenn, where it was created
Ingredients
BUCKWHEAT PASTRY
- 125g plain flour
- 125g buckwheat flour
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 nutmeg
- 125g butter, cold, cubed, plus extra for the tin
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
CUSTARD FILLING
- 750ml double cream
- 1 nutmeg, roughly chopped
- 7 (freeze the whites for making pavlovas) egg yolks
- 135g caster sugar
BRAMLEY APPLE COMPOTE
- 3 bramley apples, peeled, cored and diced
- caster sugar, for sweetening the apples
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Method
- STEP 1
Mix the flours, sugar and 1 tsp of salt in a bowl, then finely grate over the nutmeg. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly add cold water a drop at a time, mixing until it comes together into a smooth dough. Wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
- STEP 2
To make the custard filling, put the cream and nutmeg in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
- STEP 3
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks and sugar for 2-3 minutes – try to incorporate as little air as possible. After 15 minutes, pour the infused cream through a fine sieve into a clean pan to remove the nutmeg, then bring back to the boil. Once boiling, slowly drizzle the hot cream over the egg mixture, whisking for 30 seconds until combined. Try not to add too much air. Remove from the heat and cool while you bake the pastry.
- STEP 4
Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. After the dough has chilled, butter an 18cm tart tin, then roll out the pastry to a ½cm thickness and drape it over the tin. Press the pastry into the base of the tin using a small piece of excess pastry. Trim the edge with a knife, then prick the base all over with a fork. Line with a sheet of baking paper, then fill with baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and paper, brush the whole case with the beaten egg and bake for a further 10-12 minutes or until golden.
- STEP 5
Turn down the oven to 140C/fan 120/gas 1. Pour the custard into the tart case and bake for 50-55 minutes, checking it every 20 minutes. You want it to be set but still have a little wobble in the middle. Remove from the oven and chill until completely cold and set, ideally overnight.
- STEP 6
For the apple compote, weigh the diced apples, tip into a pan and add 10% of the apple’s total weight in sugar. Cook gently until the apples have completely collapsed and turned into a compote. Stir in the lemon juice. Slice the tart into wedges and serve on plates with a grating of more nutmeg, if you like, and tablespoons of the apple compote on the side.
