We all have one of those recipes. A dish with a list of ingredients so extravagant that the only time you would ever actually contemplate making it is when the queen comes to visit. Actually not even the queen. Simon Baker maybe, but nothing less. Jamie Oliver‘s Jethro tart is one of those recipes. 255 grams of pine nuts. With the price we pay for pine nuts it’s utter madness! Madness I tell you! And so this recipe was destined to just lie there, untasted, glaring at me condescendingly every time I page past it in search of a dessert idea for a dinner party. Until I happened upon a ginormous bag of pine nuts for really cheap in the land where there are more pines than people. (I proceeded to stuff myself so full of the delicious little kernels over the weeks following my purchase that I actually developed Pine Nut Syndrome – an annoying but utterly fascinating side effect from pigging out on them). But don’t let that put you off. These tarts are lovely and completely harmless if consumed in moderation. If you don’t have a Costco around the corner (or Simon isn’t coming for a visit), substitute with any nuts you please. I made individual ones instead of one big one.
- Prep time: 20 minutes plus about 2 and a half hours for refrigerating and baking
- Ingredients
- 255g pine nuts
- 255g butter
- 255g castor sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 115g plain flour
- a pinch of salt
- For the Pastry
- 115g butter
- 100g icing sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 225g plain flour
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- Cream together the butter, sugar and salt then rub or pulse in the flour and egg yolks. When the mixture has come together, looking like coarse breadcrumbs, add the water. Gently pat together to form a small ball of dough. Wrap and leave to rest for an hour.
- Carefully cut thin slices of your pastry (or you can roll out if you prefer) and place in and around the bottom and sides of a 30cm tin. Push the pastry together and level out and tidy up the sides. Cover and leave to rest in the freezer for about 1 hour.
- Preheat your oven to 180˚C, and bake the pastry for around 15 minutes until lightly golden. Keep an eye on the pastry if you are making smaller tartlets instead as it might require a shorter cooking time.There is no need to blind bake. Reduce the oven temperature to 170˚C.
- While the pastry is in the oven, toast the pine nuts under the grill. (OK, now you need to listen. REALLY listen. You're going to read this warning and think it won't happen to you. You'll think you're invincible and you've got it covered. But you don't. They will burn. It has happened to all of us. The nuts will go from a gorgeous Gisele Bündchen caramel to black in a matter of seconds. Don't turn your back on them! Seriously. if you're blasé about this it is going to happen to you too. You have been warned.) Using a spatula or a food processor whip the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the pine nuts, add the eggs one at a time, then fold in the honey, flour and salt. Spoon into the tart shell and bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Serve with crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.