– preferably use Solliès figs
– make sure they are not too large
– make sure they are good and ripe
– for the roasted figs, do not pile them up on the tray and do not overcook them
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With a mixer
Sift the flower into a bowl. Fit a plastic blade to the mixer, cut the butter up into pieces, and put the butter, flower of salt and sugar in the bowl. Add the egg yolk and milk. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Then add the flour. Mix until the dough forms a ball, then switch off. Wrap the ball of dough in a piece of cling film. Leave it to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
By hand
Place the finely diced butter in a bowl. Soften the butter by squashing it with a wooden spatula, stirring it quickly. In a bowl, mix together the milk, flower of salt and sugar, then trickle this into the butter, mixing at regular intervals. Add the egg yolk.
Sift the flower into a bowl. Incorporate it into the butter a bit at a time. Quickly knead the dough.
Place the dough on a floured working surface. Using the palm of your hand, squash it and push it away from you. Gather it into a ball and repeat the operation. Form the dough into a ball, then slightly flatten it. Wrap it in cling film. Leave it to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
You can either use the dough immediately, after the resting time, or keep it in the refrigerator for 2 days, or freeze it in airtight sealed portions. Before using it, allow it to thaw slowly in the refrigerator. Roll it out once it has thawed, but do not work it any further as this would make for a hard texture.
Preheat your fan oven to 180 °C (Gas mark 4).
On a lightly floured working surface, roll out the sweetened shortcrust pastry to a thickness of about 2 mm, and use it to line a stainless steel tart ring 22 cm in diameter and 2 cm deep, forming it into a rim above the ring. Prick it with a fork and leave it to rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Next cover the dough with a piece of baking parchment, the edges snipped to make a fringe. Fill with dried beans. Put into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and the beans. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
Bring the milk to the boil with the ½ vanilla pod, split in two, and with its seeds scraped out. Leave to infuse for 30 minutes, then strain. Whisk the sugar and egg yolks together, then add the flour and flan powder. As you continue to whisk, add one-third of the hot milk to this mixture at first, and then the remaining milk.
In a saucepan, bring the mixture back to the boil for 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Leave the crème pâtissière to cool, standing the pan in a large mixing bowl filled with ice cubes. Once it has cooled to 60 °C, add the butter in small pieces and mix. Cover the crème pâtissière tightly with cling film, leaving no air gaps, and keep it in the refrigerator.
Using a mixer fitted with a flat or flexi-beater, beat the butter, taking care not to make it fluffy. Then add all the other ingredients one by one, continuing to mix at low speed.
You must not incorporate air into the butter or the full mixture. If you do, the almond cream will expand as it cooks and then collapse unevenly immediately afterwards. Use straight away or store in the refrigerator.
Mix the ingredients together.
Preheat the fan oven to 230 °C. Remove the stalks from the figs and cut them into quarters, spread them out on a non-stick tray, dust them with the cinnamon sugar and cook them for 3 minutes. Remove them from the oven and leave to cool. If the figs release a lot of water, you are recommended to dry them prior to use.
Soften the gelatine leaves in very cold water for at least 20 minutes. Mix the sugar and pectin together in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, heat the lemon juice, fig puree and roasted figs to 40 °C; add the sugar/pectin mixture and bring to the boil. Then add the softened, squeezed-out gelatine, the diced fresh figs and the fig flavour. Mix together and pour 300 g of it into a 16 cm diameter stainless steel ring to set. Freeze then remove from the ring and store in the freezer.
Fresh raspberries
Using a disposable piping bag fitted with a no. 12 plain nozzle, pipe 200 g of the cinnamon almond cream into the tart base and arrange 90 g of fresh raspberries on top. Bake in a fan oven at 160 °C for approximately 25 minutes. Leave to cool at room temperature.
Cut the figs into quarters. Warm the apricot jam to approximately 35 °C and completely cover the sides of the tart. Stick the cinnamon sugar to the sides and rim of the tart. Warm the raspberry jam to approximately 35 °C. Place the disc of fresh and cooked fig compote on a rack placed on a tray; cover it with the raspberry jam then smooth the top with a palette knife. Carefully place it in the centre of the tart. Around it arrange the quartered figs and then, on top, decorate with 5 fresh raspberries.
Keep at room temperature. Before serving, dust the tart with cinnamon sugar. To be eaten on the day it is made.
Mineral water, black tea, coffee.
– preferably use Solliès figs
– make sure they are not too large
– make sure they are good and ripe
– for the roasted figs, do not pile them up on the tray and do not overcook them
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