One from Rick Stein’s Long Weekends series – Lisbon, in this case, hence the Portugal tag – which was great if you could avoid the title music.
Mr. Stein said he doesn’t do complex desserts and this certainly isn’t. IMHO, after his main strength of fish, I actually think Herr Stein is quite good at desserts; it’s his meat dishes that I think are his weakest suit. But what do I know?
Planning
| serves: | 8 |
| preparation time: | 60 mins |
| cooking time: | 50 mins |
Ingredients
- 150g plain flour
- 75g butter
- 60g caster sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 225g flaked almonds
- 120g butter
- 120g caster sugar
- 4 tbs milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5.
Make the pastry. Blitz the flour, butter and sugar together in a food processor to the famed breadcrumb stage. Add the egg yolk and 2 tbs cold water and mix until the dough comes together. Roll the dough out on a floured board to a thickness of ~5mm, a little bigger than the base of a 24cm fluted tart tin. Lift the dough on the roller and line the tart tin, using your fingers to press the pastry into the corners. Rest the lined tin in the fridge covered in clingfilm [the tart, not the fridge 🙂 ] for 30 minutes.
Once rested, remove the clingfilm, prick the pastry base all over with a fork and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the blind baking beans and paper and return the pastry case to the oven for 3-4 minutes to dry out without colouring.
Now make the filling. Over medium heat, dry toast the almonds in a frying pan until they are a light golden-brown. Tip them into a bowl. Add the butter, sugar and milk to the same frying pan over medium heat. Stir gently until the sugar has dissolved. Now bring it up the boil and let it bubble for 1 minute. (Not too long – you don’t want caramel or toffee.) Add the almonds, mix well and spread the mixture evenly in the pastry case.
Pop it back in the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a rich golden-brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
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