BLACKBERRY & ALMOND CROSTATA

Serves 6-8

• ½ of a 500g block of ready-made shortcrust pastry l Plain flour, for dusting

• 170g (6oz) good-quality ‘ready-to-roll’ natural marzipan, chilled

• 400g (14oz) fresh blackberries

• 50g (1¾oz) demerara sugar

• 1 egg, lightly beaten with a pinch of sea salt

• A small handful of flaked almonds

• Icing sugar and mint leaves, to decorate (optional)

• 250g (9oz) crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream, to serve

Roll out the pastry directly on to a large lightly floured sheet of silicone or baking parchment roughly into a circle, about 38cm in diameter (wobbly edges are fine!), then transfer to a medium (lipped) baking tray (the pastry may overhang the edges of the paper a bit, but that’s fine as they will be folded over). Alternatively, roll out on a floured worktop and move onto the parchment.

Coarsely grate the marzipan over the pastry, leaving a 5cm border. Arrange the blackberries on top of the marzipan in the middle of the pastry. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the demerara sugar and then scatter the remainder over the fruit. Bring the edges of the pastry up and over the outside edges of the filling, leaving most of the blackberries showing in the middle. Pleat and fold the edges over each other as you work around, to form a wavy effect. Chill for 2030 minutes, or until needed.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/ fan 180°C/gas 6. Brush the pleated pastry rim with the salted egg wash then sprinkle it with the reserved demerara sugar. Scatter the almonds over the whole crostata. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. It doesn’t matter if some of the filling spills out – it’s meant to be rustic, and how much it does so will depend on the ripeness and water content of the fruit.

Leave the crostata to cool for 15 minutes or so on the baking tray, before sliding onto a flat serving platter or board. Dust with icing sugar and scatter with a few mint leaves, if liked. Serve warm or at room temperature with crème fraîche or ice cream.