Apricot upside-down tart
I was watching What to Eat Now a few weeks ago and Valentine Warner made what looked like the most glorious Apricot upside-down tart.
Today one of my friends mentioned that they had a glut of apricots, so I thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to try out the recipe. It worked very well, and I am sure that it would work nearly as well with shop bought pastry and apricots. Photos to follow, when I can get around to uploading them from my phone…
Ingredients
for the pastry
- 235g plain flour
- pinch salt
- 170g chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
for the butterscotch filling
- 100g caster sugar
- 50ml water
- 55g butter
- 8 fresh apricots, cut in half, stones removed
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC
- Make the pastry as you would usually do and roll to a 25cm diameter circle
- For the butterscotch, heat the sugar and water in a small, ovenproof frying pan over a low heat for 2-3 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture resembles syrup
- Increase the heat until the syrup mixture is simmering. Simmer for 4-5 minutes or until the mixture caramelises. Do not stir the mixture at this stage.
- When the mixture has caramelised, remove the pan from the heat and stir in 40g of the butter, until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth and thick. Put aside for 5 minutes.
- Place the apricots, cut sides down, into the warm butterscotch in the pan.
- Cover the pan with the pastry circle, tucking the edges of the pastry loosely inside the pan using a palette knife. Sprinkle a teaspoon of caster sugar on the top.
- Put the pan in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
- When cooled slightly, loosen the edges of the pastry using a knife and turn out on to a large plate.
Delicious served with vanilla ice cream!
