Look what happens when you clean out the fridge and freezer. This tarte is a mostly standard fruit tarte you might find in a French patisserie. If I were starting from scratch, some things would probably be different. For instance, the crust is a pâte brisé, best for a quiche and not the typical crust for a fruit tarte. It was left in the freezer from a previous recipe and needed to meet its maker.

You can see from the photographs that the layers of this fruit tarte are as follows: crust, crème pâtissière, a gelled fruit compote and finally fresh fruit. The crème patissière is absolutely standard but I made sure to use vanilla from a vanilla bean pod that had spent far too long in the cupboard. Any time you can afford to, use vanilla straight from the bean pod.

The layer of gelled compote was made from frozen blackberries and frozen blueberries from partially used bags of desserts of long ago. I never try to use frozen fruit as whole-fruit toppings on a tart. They tend to fall apart and bleed everywhere. So I help them along by cooking them with a little sugar and cinnamon, reduce the water content and add a gelatin. On top of all of this, I added “fresh” blueberries that managed to stay in great shape in the fridge during our two-week Christmas vacation.

RECIPE

Crust (Pâte brisée) and Crème pâtissière – for ingredients and method go to Bruno Albouze (I did!)

Fruit compote

Ingredients:

250 g frozen blackberries

250 g frozen blueberri

5 g cinnamon

150 g sugar

3 gelatin leaves

Method:

Place frozen fruit, sugar and cinnamon in a casserole, bring to a boil, turn down the heat to medium low and allow to gently bubble and loose 50% of the water content. Take off heat. Place gelatin leaves in cool water and allow to soften. Squeeze the leaves to remove excess water and place them in the fruit compote. Carefully use a submersible blender to blend and homogenize the fruit and gelatin.

COOLING TIME: For great results and ease of assembling the final product, allow the custard and compote to rest in the fridge over night. Allow the crust to sit overnight, covered, on the kitchen counter. When ready to assemble, vigorously whisk the custard and gelled compote, then layer them with care into the crust.

FRUIT TOPING: It would be great to cover the top of this tarte with a mix of blackberries and blueberries. I used what I had on hand, a handful of leftover blueberries. Fresh fruit could be coated with an apricot glaze or simply left natural if you plan to serve them “today.”

I hope that you have a sweet day with family and friends!

• Far Breton
• Tarte tatin / French upside-down Apple pie
• Noix pralinés – Candied walnuts
• Petits gâteaux basquaises