As regular readers will know, from time to time I make rustic tarts, or galette – see for example here and here. Hitherto I’ve used commercial puff pastry because (a) I’m lazy and (b) I’ve never considered myself a good pastry cook. My typical pastry method has been my mother’s wartime approach of throwing flour, butter and water (or milk) together and rolling it out. While this is not good, I’ve always felt using commercial pastry is a bit of a cheat, and I should be better at making my own (although I draw the line at the faff of puff pastry).

So a few weeks ago I came upon a Nigel Slater recipe for a rustic tomato & shallot tart, and discovered he has been experimenting with pastry. It’s worth reading his recipe before we proceed. I’ll wait …

So now you know what we’re trying to do. I had never considered polenta in a pastry recipe before, let alone baking powder! So of course I had to try it. I had no polenta, so tried without. It was OK, but a bit bland; the pastry needed a flavour lift, like more salt. Polenta isn’t going to do that, but I needed to get some anyway. So I had a think. Ah-ha! That old stand-by Parmesan will give a flavour lift as well as some additional saltiness. So in true fashion I set out to “augment” the recipe.

And at the same time I thought there must be a way to do a sweet version for a fruit tart. And there is, as you will see. But first this is how I did a Tomato & Onion Tart.

Rustic Tomato & Onion Tart For the pastry 250g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 65g fine polenta 50g finely grated parmesan 90-100ml good olive oil 6-7 tbsp iced water For the filling 700g large shallots or red onions 3 tbsp good olive oil 250g tomatoes, preferably small-medium and varied colours good bunch of fresh herbs (your choice but thyme is good) torn not chopped parmesan flakes (optional) 3 cloves garlic, finely sliced (optional) What you do Make the pastry: sieve together the flour and baking powder into a bowl to make sure they are evenly mixed. Stir in the polenta, parmesan and a generous pinch of salt, then the olive oil. Mix to a firm and rollable dough with the iced water. You may find you need a little more water or oil, but go carefully; you don’t want it too wet. Wrap the dough in kitchen parchment and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Peel the onions, and cut lengthways into 5-10mm segments. Heat the olive oil in a wide, shallow-sided pan and sweat the onions over a low to moderate heat, for a good 25 minutes, until soft and pale gold. As they soften add a good grind of black pepper. Remove from the heat. Set the oven at 180°C fan. Give the pastry a good kneading for a minute or so to soften it. Roll the pastry (dust with a little polenta) to a rough 30cm circle (or larger if you can roll pastry that thin) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Leaving a 3-5cm rim of pastry around the edge, spread the softened onions loosely over the pastry. Scatter over the garlic, torn herbs and enough parmesan flakes for a light scattering. Cut the tomatoes into thick slices and put top; add sprigs of herbs if you wish. Trickle a little olive oil over, season with salt and ground black pepper. Fold over the pastry edges to make a rustic galette. Brush the pastry edges with milk or beaten egg (and use a brush of glaze to help stick the pastry folds together if needed). Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Allow the tart to settle and cool for a few minutes; serve warm or cold.

That was good; it worked well and the parmesan provide the necessary lift. I’m not sure the parmesan flakes are quite right; something like cheddar might work better; or possibly even better dot the top with bite-size pieces of brie. Of course you can easily make this vegan by leaving out the cheese.

So now, here is how I did the fruit version. It’s essentially the same, just fruity.

Rustic Fruit Tart For the pastry 250g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 65g fine polenta 50g caster or icing sugar 65g ground almonds 90-100g butter 6-7 tbsp iced water For the filling a selection of fruit of your choice, for instance a couple of punnets of raspberries maybe with a handful of blackberries; or peaches; nectarines; apricots; plums; strawberries; blackcurrants; gooseberries; rhubarb; apples – enough to make a layer about 2cm thick What you do Make the pastry: sieve together the flour, icing sugar (if using) and baking powder into a bowl to make sure they are evenly mixed and any lumps broken down. Stir in the polenta, caster sugar (if using), ground almonds, and a good pinch of salt. Add the butter and rub together to a breadcrumb texture. Don’t stint on the butter; you want a good buttery breadcrumb result, but not a claggy greasy one. Mix to a firm and rollable dough with the iced water. Go carefully with the water, add a little at a time. Wrap the dough in kitchen parchment and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Set the oven at 180°C fan. Prepare the fruit; larger (stone) fruit should be sliced or halved; berries just need checking over, rinsing and stalks removed. Give the pastry a good kneading for a minute or so to soften it. Roll the pastry (dust with a little polenta) to a rough 30cm circle (or larger if you can roll it that fine) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Leaving a 3-5cm rim of pastry around the edge, dust the pastry with a small amount of sugar. Pile the fruit on the dusted pastry, arranging it prettily if you wish. Fold over the pastry edges to make a galette. Brush the pastry edge with milk or beaten egg (and use a brush of glaze to help stick the pastry folds together if needed). Dust with a little further sugar if wished. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Allow the tart to settle and cool for a few minutes before serving it warm with cream or ice-cream.

I actually used some raspberries and a few home-grown blackberries. And I used icing sugar (‘cos I happened to have some open). It worked well, although it was quite juicy when just out of the oven, but firmed up in an hour or so.

I also found this sweet pastry was much easier to roll. I guess that’s the difference between olive oil and butter; so I think I might try the savoury version with butter next time. But both pastries were much nicer to work with than what I’d done in the past.

So yes, I will be doing this again.

(Sorry no pictures as they got eaten too eagerly!)