Banana Walnut Tart

      
          If you ask my mum what was my favourite fruit in the childhood, she would be quick to give you an answer: banana! Yes, I was a banana-obsessed child. Nowadays, however, I feel rather indifferent to it – probably, I’ve had too much of it (there is a theory that you can consume only a definite amount of a particular edible substance and once you reach your limit, you can’t see it for the rest of your life) or finally realized that it is a rather rich fruit to snack on constantly. In spite of that, you can always find a big bunch of bananas in our fridge – for my husband’s late evening fruit salad and for my early morning oatmeal (yes, I still have this fruit sometimes – haven’t reached my limit yet, only slowed down the pace). And the only problem with the bananas (they ripe fast) is easily soluble – you can make stuffed French toasts, pancakes, muffins, a coffee cake or even a banana bread. Last time I got overriped bananas, I decided to go for a tart with caramelized honey and walnut topping. Luckily, I had some home-made ice-cream at the time which served as a lovely accomplishment to the dessert.

Recipe adapted from “School of gastronome” magazine

Ingredients:

Pate brisee

250 gm plain flour

125 gm softened butter

1 ½ tbsp castor sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg

2 tbsp cold water

a pinch of salt

Filling

4 medium bananas, peeled

70 gm castor sugar

1 ½ tbsp butter, melted

2 tbsp heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

Topping:

100 gm brown sugar

5 tbsp honey

1 ½ tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

walnut halves

Method

1. For pate brisee, mix sifted flour with salt, sugar and cinnamon. Make a well in the centre, add butter, a beaten egg and cold water. Knead into a dough as quickly as possible (you can use food processor). Form the dough into a ball, wrap in foil and leave to rest for at least one hour in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line and grease a 20-cm round tart tin. Roll the dough into a circle and put it in the tin. Prick the base with a fork and blind bake (with cartouche and bakers weights on top) for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 160C.
3. For filling, blend all the ingredients together and pour into the tart case.
4. For topping, whisk an egg with sugar, honey, butter and cinnamon. Arrange the walnut halves on the top of the filling; pour the mixture over them and bake for 1 hour.