FRUIT AND NUT TART

1 HOUR + CHILLING

SERVES 8-10 | EASY

This is a great recipe for clearing out the cupboard. Left-over chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, flour, sugar, the lot. Make the pastry in advance, if you like.

butter 100g (any kind), cut into cubes egg 1 whole, plus 1 yolk plain flour 200g, plus extra for dusting

icing sugar 80g

sea salt º tsp

GANACHE FILLING

dried fruit (such as raisins, sultanas and cranberries) 80g, plus extra to decorate

nuts (such as hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachios) 80g, chopped, plus extra to decorate

double cream 200ml dark or milk chocolate (or a mixture) 200g, broken into small chunks

whole milk 2 tbsp

• Put the butter in the freezer for 5 minutes.

• Whisk together the egg and egg yolk in a mug. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the chilled butter to the flour mixture and blitz for 30 seconds, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Pour in half the egg mixture and blitz again to bring the dough together, adding a bit more egg if needed. Work the dough as little as possible. As soon as it resembles pastry dough, tip onto a worksurface, bring together with your hands briefly and wrap in a large reusable freezer bag. Chill for at least an hour, or preferably overnight.

• Remove the pastry from the fridge 30 minutes before you roll. Roll out the pastry to 5mm thickness onto a well-floured worksurface, roll up loosely onto the rolling pin and use to line a 23cm tart case. Trim any large overhang, leaving a 2-3cm border all the way around. Roll the trim into a ball, dip it in flour and use it to nudge the pastry into the rivets of the case. Put the lined tart case on a baking sheet, put back in the large freezer bag, seal and chill for at least 40 minutes.

• Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Tear off a large piece of baking paper, scrunch it up then stretch out again. Retrieve the chilled pastry from the fridge and put the baking paper on top. Pour baking beans or rice onto the paper to completely fill the pastry case and bake for 20 minutes until the pastry looks sandy and dry but still pale. Carefully remove the paper and beans, and bake for another 10 minutes. The pastry is done when it is dry, golden and sandy. Cool on a wire rack. Use a bread knife to carefully trim the pastry edges.

• For the ganache, put the dried fruit and chopped nuts in a small bowl, and set aside. Heat the cream in a medium pan until it’s almost simmering. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir very well to melt and combine, and then fold in the milk, fruit and nuts. Pour the ganache into the tart case, then sprinkle the extra fruit and nuts around where the ganache meets the pastry edges. Chill for at least 1 hour 30 minutes (or overnight) before serving.

SWAP-INS

Use flavoured chocolates, if you like. Chocolates with a hint of orange or mint are great.

PER SERVING 481 KCALS | FAT 32.8G

SATURATES 17.2G | CARBS 38.6G | SUGARS 21.4G

FIBRE 3.1G | PROTEIN 6.5G | SALT 0.4G