Fig and Pistachio Tarts

Regularly flicking through my cookbook collection gives me lots of ideas that remain in the ‘thinking about’ stage. But sometimes a food-thought sticks in my head and won’t go away until I make it a reality! 😉 The latest thought has been puff pastry. I’ve never used it before, but I kept seeing pictures of beautiful but rustic, free-form tarts (or galettes) and I decided I really wanted to make one.

We almost never have dessert after dinner at home (eating out is a different story). As much as I love making and eating dessert, I know it’s not ideal when you want to get rid of any extra kilos 😐 However, sometimes a treat is required.

Over the weekend I went to the shops with the intention of buying puff pastry (you can make your own of course, but that wouldn’t be as quick and easy 😉 ) and peaches to make a tart. The green grocer was selling figs for 99cents each though, and I remembered I still had leftover pistachios from the recent ice-cream that needed to be used! And the thought became reality…

I must say, this tart tasted pretty fantastic. I love pastry desserts, and this tart was so satisfyingly easy. You can use different fruit, cut the pastry into rectangles, or you could use a custard under the fruit instead of jam – so many possibilities!

Do you often have dessert at home? What is your favourite to make?

Fig and Pistachio Tarts (Serves 2)

• 1 sheet frozen, ready rolled puff pastry (I used Pampas Reduced Fat brand)
• 2 figs, sliced
• 1-2 tablespoons pistachios, chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons berry jam (I used a ‘threeberry’ jam – still working through leftover jars from the wedding favours!)
• Egg wash – 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon butter, melted
• Ice-cream to serve (I used So Good Soy Vanilla Bliss – it’s good)

1. Preheat oven to 220C. Defrost puff pastry sheet for 10 minutes. Cut out 2 circles in the pastry with a knife, using a bowl as the shape. Place pastry circles on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
2. Spread jam on pastry, leaving a 1cm space around the edges. Place figs on top, and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Brush pastry edges with egg wash (this will give it a glossy golden brown colour). Lightly brush figs with the melted butter.
3. Place in oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Serve with a scoop of ice-cream.

What would I do differently next time?

• I’d like to arrange the figs in a pretty, circular shape – unfortunately there wasn’t enough room to do this on the pastry size I’d cut.
• I’d leave the pastry in the fridge so it was well-chilled – I believe that will make it puff up more. Or maybe it was the reduced fat pastry that made it not puff up as much as it should – ideas?
• Learn how to shape a good scoop of ice-cream. It doesn’t need to be a quenelle… just round will do! 😉