Tarte aux Pruneau et Armagnac (Prune and Armagnac Tart)
by Michel Lemoine
from Good Food Live
Round off your meal in style with Michel Lemoine's recipe for an elegant, classic French prune tart
Servings: 6-8
Level of difficulty: Intermediate
Preparation Time: 30 minutes, plus overnight marinating and at least 1 hour resti
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
300ml water
150g Sugar
150ml Armagnac
1kg dried stoned prunes
vanilla-flavoured double or whipping cream, whipped
For the pastry:
250g plain flour
125g Butter , cubed
pinch of Salt
1 egg yolk
50ml water
Method
1. First prepare the filling. In a bowl mix together the water, sugar and Armagnac . Add the prunes, cover with cling film and marinate overnight.
2. To make the pastry, place the flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor. Process until the mixture becomes fine and sandy.
3. Add the egg yolk and the water and process until the mixture forms a dough. Add a little more water, if needed.
4. Remove the dough from the food processor and shape it into ball, cover with cling film then set aside to rest for at least an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas 2.
6. Roll out the rested pastry and use it to line a loose-based 20cm tart tin. Prick the base, line with baking parchment, fill with baking beans and bake blind for 20 minutes.
7. Drain the marinated prunes, reserving the marinating liquid.
8. Place the drained prunes in the pastry case, then return to the oven. Increase the temperature to 180°C/gas 4 and bake for 20-25 minutes until the prunes become crystallised.
9. Meanwhile, place the reserved liquid in a pan and bring to the boil. Cook briskly until the liquid thickens into a syrup.
10. Serve the prune tart lukewarm, serving each slice with a quenelle of whipped vanilla-flavoured cream and drizzling a little of the syrup around the tart
