Tarting up a favourite nut

It’s technically not a nut, but Kristina is nuts for this nut.

When we returned to the property in the Marlborough Sounds where we are care-takers, we found that there was a new member of the family waiting to meet us.

Sally (originally christened Schnitzel) is an adorable little black piglet. My brother warned my husband Paul that we would never be able to eat her if she had a name. Fortunately, the eating of the piglet is not my personal concern. While I feel concerned for Sally, she does belong to someone else who will do the dastardly deed when the time comes.

Hopefully, we won’t be here to witness it because (a) my husband really likes pigs, and (b) we are mostly vegetarian (for many different reasons).

One of the great perks of living in Clova Bay is harvesting nuts from a huge old walnut tree. According to one local, it is possibly over 100 years old, although there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on its age. Whatever the figure, it is a massive specimen.

Our bedroom looks right out onto it. We get to witness the gauntlet of seasonal change as the tree moves through its cycles of buds, leaves, catkins, green developing nuts, ripe nuts, and finally its bare skeleton through winter.

We nickname the developing lime-green nut shells ‘green bombs’. This is due to the incredible crash they make when they fall off the tree onto the roof above our heads and wake us up in the wee hours of the night. The nuts from this particular tree are quite big and each one in its fresh green suitcase weighs around 70g. That’s about the weight of a jumbo egg.

When I first came across the recipe for a nut tart, it called for pecans. In North America, where pecans grow, people battle with squirrels to get the nuts. Here we are in a war with possums, rats, weka, and now potentially Sally.

If it is a pesky possum (usually the reason they are falling at night), Paul reluctantly gets out of bed to shoot the blighter out of the tree.

Before you wag your finger at me, I know that my concern for the pig being eaten and lack of concern for the possum being shot are directly at odds with each other. I offer nothing in my defence. However, I can lock the pig up. Covering the tree so possums can’t get it at it is not an option.

My Canadian-born husband has very fond memories of pecan pie. Unfortunately, I find the pecans sold out-of-shell here in New Zealand are often rancid (many oils in nuts go rancid when exposed to air).

But what about walnuts? Walnut tart is a favourite in France, known as tarte aux noix. The French version is caramelised and made with cream, an over-indulgence that is so extremely rich, small portions are advised. The same could be said for this walnut tart too

We nickname our walnuts ‘green bombs’ as they are the size of jumbo eggs and fall with enormous noise

READY IN 90 minutes SERVES 6-8

This recipe calls for walnut halves but I have to say that I rarely manage to get even one complete half out of a shell so I just make do with big bits. If you want your tart to look very fancy, then use halves and maybe get a bit geometric with the placement of the nuts. To roast walnuts, place halves on a baking tray and put into the middle of an oven pre-heated to 100°C for 20 minutes. Tip the nuts into a bowl to cool.

INGREDIENTS Pastry

1¼ cups flour 2 tbsp icing sugar 125g chilled butter, diced roughly 2 tbsp chilled water

Filling

75g butter ½ cup good quality bush honey ½ cup castor sugar 4 beaten eggs ¾ cup ground almonds 1–1½ cups roasted walnut halves

METHOD

Heat the oven to 180°C. To make the pastry, put the first three ingredients into a food processor. Pulse 5-6 times to chop the butter into the flour. Slowly mix in just enough water to form smooth moist balls of dough. Don’t let it get gooey. Press into a greased, 23cm, loose-bottom metal flan dish, ceramic or pottery flan dish. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 180°C until pastry edges start to brown a little. For the filling, melt the butter, honey and sugar together in a pot, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cool the mixture down until the pot is just barely warm to touch, then add the beaten eggs and ground almonds, stirring quickly to mix. Pour into pastry base and either sprinkle on or arrange your walnut halves/ pieces. Bake for 10 minutes at 180°C, then lower to 160°C for a further 20-25 minutes until tart is golden and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 20 minutes before serving to allow it to set. Great with whipped cream, Greek yoghurt or ice cream.