Baked tart should have a nice caramel color.
fan the fig quarters into a pleasing pattern, sprinkle with sugar and dot with butter and bake.
The ingredients are simple but taste complex.
Using local product while in Italy is always fun for me.
I go to the market everyday and pick the most beautiful and freshest ingredients to play in the kitchen with.
One day I spotted the biggest figs I have ever seen and decided that they would be perfect in a tart.
I have to say that the tart was wonderful, it actually tasted like a gourmet fig newton in the end.
My friend Forrest came to visit and I offered him a slice with his espresso, needless to say he finished off half the tart.
Italian Fig Tart
preheat the oven to 400 degrees
serves 8
crust~
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar + 2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons cold butter cut into 1 inch cubes + 1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup olive oil ( I got mine from a local press, 2 blocks away, gotta love Italy)
pinch salt
1/2 cup ice water.
In a cuisnart or kitchenaid put in flour, sugar, salt and 4 tablespoons butter + oil. mix on medium speed until it becomes a crumby mixture.
Slowly add ice water until the dough pulls together.
Place in the fridge and start on the figs.
fig filling~
slice the figs into quarters, roll out the dough and place into the tart pan, arrange fig quarters on the dough in a fan pattern.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar + 1 tablespoon cubed butter on top of the fig arrangement.
Put into a 400 degree oven for 1 hour, or until the figs and dough are nicely browned, they should be a nice shade of caramel.
cool and serve.
Baked tart should have a nice caramel color.
fan the fig quarters into a pleasing pattern, sprinkle with sugar and dot with butter and bake.
The ingredients are simple but taste complex.