The tart of winter S

Phone: 01484 721333 Opening hours: Sun-Thurs 5pm to 11.30pm and Friday and Saturday 5pm to 12.30pm. Children: Absolutely Disabled access: Good access and a disabled toilet (as plush as the rest of the restaurant) The bill: £43.15 including a bottle of Would you go back? O here goes, then. Time to put on the tin hats and brace ourselves. 2017 stretches before us and I don’t know about you, but I think it might be interesting.

In the way that watching a building collapse, say, or an asteroid hitting a small planet might be interesting, but interesting nonetheless. We just have to keep going and hope for the best.

It is the British way, after all. In this spirit, I’m right back into the kitchen after the festive period, full of ideas and recipes, doing what I do best, cooking.

And this week’s recipe is a lovely seasonal affair, perfect for these blustery, ever so slightly miserable days when the revelry has faded, the presents are stored away and the dead Christmas trees sit forlornly in the garden.

I’m making a classic frangipane tart, a favourite of mine. It’s one of those recipes that I default to on occasions when I can’t think of anything interesting to make for guests – it’s satisfying and simple; gets the job done.

There’s a lovely comforting feel to the warm, fluffy frangipane within the crunchy, buttery pastry, hiding fruity treasures within. In summer it’s the perfect way to serve fresh raspberries or cherries, and later in the year it’s a great showcase for stone fruit such as apricots and peaches.

It’s brilliant with dried fruit, too, and at this time of year, when fresh fruit is thin on the ground (need I remind you that you should most definitely not be buying strawberries at this time of year? There is no excuse. None whatsoever!) it’s nice to use the more concentrated, intense flavours of dried or semidried fruits, either solo or in combinations.

Lovely squishy Agen prunes work brilliantly, as do semi-dried apricots. So this week’s recipe takes this idea and elaborates it into something a little more seasonal and fancy. We’re using fresh plums and figs along with a few dried fruits, and adding a couple of other ingredients too.

I always like the warm, toasty flavour of golden, deep-roasted hazelnuts, so there’s a few of those tucked into the citrussy frangipane, and on top we’re strewing some fresh pine-nuts. The notion of putting pine nuts on fruit tarts is quite common across Europe, from Spain, all the way around the Mediterranean and into the Middle East.

They add a lovely aromatic crunch to proceedings, and make the top of the tart look visually appealing.

It’s a great recipe to make for an informal get-together, but would also make a great dessert for a dinner party, either sliced in wedges or made as individual tartlets.

And whilst one can serve this tart with pouring cream, clotted cream or even a scoop of good vanilla icecream, I wanted to serve mine with a big, billowy blob of proper whipped cream on this occasion, laced with a hint of Calvados, that fiery apple brandy of which Normandy is justifiably proud.

Don’t worry if you have no Calvados, any brandy will do, or even a slug of malt whisky. It adds a decidedly decadent note to the rich, fruity, nutty tart.

What a smashing way to lift the spirits as the year, this crazy year, begins in earnest.