Farmers Market Lime, Rhubarb & Fig Tarte

Making the most of a sunny day Sunday we recently popped along to a Farmers Market near Murchison in country Victoria to meet up with some family. The market was held at Longleat winery, with hay bales for seats and a country/ jazz band playing away, the winery served up cheeseboards (cheese made at the vineyard) and wine tasting for all.  Local farmers and artisans set up a handful of stalls selling their delicacies. There were some beautiful olive oils, sourdough loaves, cake stalls, homemade jams and organic seedlings (we picked up some beetroot, fennel and chicory to plant). A local orchardist had fruit bins filled with apple and pear varieties, and another with limes. Its great to see that Farmers Markets are becoming less of a niche and more of the norm for people to source their goods from, giving profits directly back to the growers. With some research online I have discovered there is a market on almost every weekend. So I encourage you to get out there and support your local farmers, enjoy a day out and pick up some local, fresh and always tastier produce. With purchase of juicy limes complete, and some figs from a friend please see this fabulous Lime, Rhubarb & Fig Tarte recipe below. You’ll want to make this one again and again and again. Trust me on this, it’s a winner.

Prep time needed: about 30 min. Baking time: about 1 hr 30 min. Makes 8 servings.

Stuff needed from kitchen: medium pie dish, baking paper, cling wrap, large mixing bowl, beater/food processor, chopping board, medium saucepan, wooden spoon.

From my vegie patch:
250 gm. x rhubarb
6 x ripe figs (courtesy of Sonia’s tree)
1 x lime (courtesy of Farmers Market)

Other ingredients:
Pastry:
1.5 cups x plain flour
1 x egg
100gm x butter
0.5 cup x caster sugar
few tblespn cold water

Rhubarb filling:
25ml water
25g sugar

Almond filling:
150g butter
150g caster sugar
Pinch salt
1 egg, beaten
150g almond meal

Let’s do it...

1.       Preheat the oven to 180C.

2.       For the pastry, sift the flour, then dice the butter and rub it into the flour until the mixture looks breadcrumby. (Or pop all in the food processor and give a give whiz!)

3.       Make a well in the centre of the flour/butter mix. Beat the egg; mix it in, and add cold water as needed to make the pastry cohere into a lump (not more than a couple of tablespoons). Wrap the ball of pastry in cling fill, and chill in freezer for about 15 min.

4.       Chop the rhubarb coarsely, and put it in a saucepan with the water and sugar. Heat over a low to medium heat with lid on, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb has mostly broken down into threads and the whole is thick and spoonable. Cool.

My happy little helper

5.       Grease the tart tin. Roll out the larger ball of pastry into a circle to cover the base of a medium tart tin, and then press excess pieces into the side of the tart tin. Given the crumbliness of the pastry, you’ll probably need to do this in four or five sections, rather than all at once.

6.       Cover the pastry loosely with greaseproof paper and weigh it down with dry peas or pastry weights or the like, and cook for ten minutes; then take the weights and paper off and cook until the case starts to get slightly golden, probably another 15 minutes or so.

7.       Lower the oven temperature to 160C.

8.       For the almond filling, cream the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg, then the ground almonds and juice of the whole lime. (add a little lime zest if you want to up the lime ante)

9.       Spread a thick layer of the rhubarb mixture over the base of the tart case, filling it around a third. Spread the almond mixture over this, enough to take it not quite to the top of the tart.

10.   Slice the figs, and press the slices gently into the top of the tart

11.   Bake until the almond mixture is golden all over, probably an hour or so. Ideally, serve warm with some sort of delicious ice-cream or natural yogurt.

Soundtrack for an amazing Farmers Market Tarte: To the Horses by Lanie Lane

A few pics from our Day out:

Apples and Pears

organic seedlings (cant wait to see what these produce!)

My inlaws, Mr & Mrs K enjoying the delicious Rose!