queenly tart

 

Oh, the joy of being able to bake again. Despite the fact that we still have horrible a temporary work surface that precludes kneading bread and makes rolling out pastry tricky, I just could not resist making a greengage tart at the weekend.

I can't decide whether I prefer the French or English name for this fruit. 'Reine Claude' has such style and sounds lovely, but then again 'greengage' sounds lovely, too (which is why I think 'The Greengage Summer is such a wonderful title for a novel). Sadly, though, we don't see enough of either in England to be bothered about what we should be calling them; we should just be glad to see them at all.

As I'm still in a Julia Child-inspired cooking and baking mode, I decided a good, old-fashioned, large, queen-sized greengage and almond tart would be the best way to use up my precious greengages. I looked at Julia's recipes for tarts and took her advice and applied it to the recipe in Jane Grigson's Fruit Book. I am a sucker for this sort of patisserie and enjoy the various processes involved (even though in France it's perfectly acceptable to serve beautiful tarts from the local patisserie instead of making them at home). Maybe if we lived near a fabulous patisserie I'd buy my tarts, but as Messieurs Sainsbury and Waitrose don't fall into that class, I don't.

We are still experimenting with our new oven and having to keep a sense of humour about the results, but the tart came out fine and dandy and was eaten in one sitting by my poor, patisserie-starved family.

Comments

[Jane]

For the first time in years our local greengrocers and farm shops have had masses of lovely greengages - perhaps our horrid wet summer has brought them on, I know there's a glut of apples according to our local specialist farm. We love our greengages straight from the tree if very ripe, but they look lovely in your tart - like green gems.

[lucy]

That looks delicious.
Although in a slightly different league to your tart, I do love a Waitrose Tart Au Citron x

[Julie]

That's my sort of tarte. I haven't seen proper Grengages for years!

[catofcuriosity]

That looks so wonderful and delicious...could someone explain to me who this Julia person is? It would seem everyone knows about her apart from me! xxx

[Pomona x]

We have planted a tree to ensure our own supply - but it's a bit early yet, and I'm not sure if it will have survived our dry summer here in Kent. Your tart looks so scrumptious that my mouth is watering at the thought of harvesting my own - but I think the French name might be better for getting it past the children - as soon as you say 'green' they become suspicious!

Pomona x

[Ponytail]

Will we be getting a picture of the new kitchen once it's all finished off ? Please ?!

[Polly]

It looks absolutely delicious! I like both names too. Reine Claude sounds very dandy, and Greengage is so other-worldly and homely. We have a visiting French Market in Norwich twice a year and I get very excited for some proper patisserie, like you. There is a little pear tart that is divine, though, thanks to you, my own meringues now surpass those of the French Market. P x x x

[Ali]

I love greengages - there's a tree in the village and we sometimes go scrumping (is it still called scrumping if it isn't for apples?).

Sadly I have no self control and ate enough to give myself tummy ache the last time.

[Joanna Doran]

Such a fabulous book - I love Rumer Godden books having grown up with them.

And a fabulous looking tart. I never seem to find any greengages in the supermarkets near me (West London). I have to make do with plums that are too hard and then go mouldy within half a day.

Hope your new kitchen is ready soon. I can't wait to see it! x

[ali]

Wow- I've never even heard of a greengage!! Your tart looks beautifully delicious!

[Amy]

What a wonderful picture and a tasty looking dessert. You are now making me reconsider my chocolate pudding idea for tonight's dessert and perhaps switch over to apple dumplings instead!

[Gemma]

DELISH beyond words! I was in danger of drooling upon my laptop!

[Carla (from Alabama)]

What a great dessert! I have never heard of a greengage before. I looked them up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greengage
I would like to try them some time. The blossoms are very pretty too.

[Carla (from Alabama)]

What a great looking dessert! I have never heard of greengages. I looked them up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greengage .
I would like to try one. The blossoms are pretty too.

[Helena]

I have never heard of a greengage before! Are they sweet or sour or bitter or what? I'm intrigued.

[Steel]

Greengages are wonderful. People can't believe the sweetness of them. We have a mature tree at the bottom of the garden and this year had our heaviest crop.

I've bottled, jammed and frozen most of them, but left a few for the wasps to get drunk and crazy on when the over ripe fruit ferments on the ground.

[Melanie]

I read The Greengage Summer just because I liked the title. Do you ever eat gooseberries? Another green old-fashioned fruit, although not one that I ever enjoyed. Don't knock Sainsbury's and Waitrose (especially the latter) - Australia's supermarkets are awful by comparison. After ten years here I still miss Waitrose, regularly!

[janna]

I'm glad someone else mentioned gooseberries -- when I saw the greengage tart, that's what I thought it was. I've never heard of greengages (Wikipedia says they're very uncommon in the US) and I've had gooseberries just a few times, but my dad used to talk about gooseberry pie. Apparently they had a gooseberry bush(?) in the yard when he was a kid, so they had a lot of Depression-era pies made from them!