The alpine town of Chamonix sits in a valley surrounded by towering mountains and glaciers. People come here in winter to ski, but in summer people come to hike the alpine trails.
You don’t have to take on a full on multi-day high altitude circuit to enjoy this majestic environment, there are numerous day treks which take you up through the valley and into the bucolic high alpine meadows. The appeal isn’t just in the scenery, along the route there are little chalets where you can enjoy a light lunch or snack.
Without knowing this added bonus, we headed off for a day trek with our picnic packed for the day. Only about an hour out of Chamonix, hiking through summer wildflowers and lush pastures up the side of the valley, we turned a corner and there the middle of nowhere was a beautiful stone chalet. The chalet was brimming with pots of brightly coloured flowers, and there was a small dog peering out through the germaniums from the top floor window. It was like a mirage.
Our picnic was abandoned in favour of a glass of chablis and a delicious fresh herb omelette (the return trail was after all downhill). “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to try the tart,” the waitress enquired. The Tart? We must have looked puzzled as the waitress disappeared back to the kitchen and returned with an enormous berry tart. “People come here just for our tart aux myrtilles; they call up from the bottom to find out if we have made it and then if we have they make the hike up here.”
We ordered a slice to share, and then another. There are fruit tarts and there are fruit tarts. This fruit tart was in a league of its own. It was stupendous. The pastry was so fine and crisp and buttery and yet melted into our mouth as you bit through the crunch, the blueberry filling rich layered and packed with tangy berry flavour. We had never heard of the Chalet de la Floria but after tasting that tart none of us would ever forget it.
This is hardly surprising really when one considers the history of pastry making in France. For centuries, pastry has been an art form to the French, renowned for its delicate textures and exquisite flavours. In the 17th century, the creation of puff pastry revolutionised French pastry-making, leading to the development of iconic pastries like croissants and éclairs. By the 18th century, fruit tarts had become a staple of haute cuisine. Pastry chefs perfected the art of pastry-making, creating delicate and flaky crusts that served as the perfect canvas for showcasing the vibrant colours and flavours of seasonal fruits.
Here then, three delicious French–inspired fruit tarts to celebrate the bounty of late summer fruit.
Plum tarts with flaky sour cream pastry
This traditional pastry is the flakiest pastry I have come across, terrific for both sweet and savoury tarts (leave out the sugar for a savoury version). It’s a cinch to prepare, especially with a food processor, but if you prefer you can use 600g of your favourite sweet shortcrust pastry. These tarts travel well and are perfect for a picnic or pot-luck dessert.
Ready in 40 mins + chilling
Cook time 20 mins
Serves 8
Sour cream pastry
200g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1 ¾ cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
½ cup sour cream or creme fraiche
Topping
8 plums, halved, destined and very thinly sliced
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp cornflour
Chilled whipped cream or icecream to serve
To make the Sour Cream Pastry, pulse butter, flour and sugar in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add sour cream or creme fraîche and continue to pulse until dough starts to form into a ball. If still crumbly, add a little cold water until it comes together. Press into a disk, wrap in waxed paper and chill for at least 20 minutes or freeze until needed.
To make the tarts, preheat oven to 180C fan bake and line an oven tray with baking paper. Divide the pastry into 8 equal pieces, form into balls and roll each out to a 14cm-diameter disk on a lightly floured board. Place on prepared oven tray and fold the edges in by 1cm to form a rim around the edge. Mix the sugar and cornflour together. Arrange overlapping plum slices inside the pastry bases and sprinkle each tart with ½ Tbsp of the sugar and cornflour mixture. Bake until crisp and golden (20 minutes). Plum Tarts can be cooked in advance and reheated for 5 minutes at 180C. Serve warm, accompanied by a bowl of whipped cream or vanilla icecream.
Nectarine pie with melt-in-the-mouth sweet pastry
This is the perfect pastry for any sweet tart, this has a fine, buttery texture that is simply sublime. The recipe makes 2 x more than you will need but is so useful to be able to just pull a packet out of the freezer anytime you want to make a sweet tart.
Ready in 1 hour plus resting
Serves 6
Melt-in-the-mouth sweet pastry
360g butter, softened, but not melted
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
3 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt
Nectarine filling
6-8 nectarines, destoned and sliced into quarters
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
¾ cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp cornflour
1 Tbsp runny honey, to glaze
To serve Optional 1-2 Tbsp Fig Vincotto, to drizzle
To make the pastry, beat butter and sugar together until creamy and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the flour and salt and mix until just combined. Mixture will be quite soft. Using lightly floured hands, pat dough into 3 portions (pat between plastic wrap if desired). Chill one portion for at least 20 minutes or until it is firm enough to roll out. Tightly wrap and freeze the other two portions for later use.
Preheat oven to 180C fan bake. Grease the sides of a 25cm loose-bottom fluted tart tin (round or rectangular) and line the base with baking paper.
Roll the chilled portion of the dough on a piece of baking paper to a size 6cm larger than the diameter of your baking tin.
Flip into prepared tin and press to thinly cover the base and 3cm up the sides, taking care to press evenly into the corners. Repair any small holes or rips with raw pastry.
Top pastry with baking paper then dried beans or rice and bake until the pastry is no longer sticky (12-15 minutes). Lift out baking paper and beans or rice (reserving for future use), and return to oven for a further 8-10 minutes or until pastry is cooked and lightly golden. (This process of pre-baking a pastry crust is called baking blind.)
While base is cooking, make the nectarine filling by whisking together the egg, sour cream, vanilla, sugar and cornflour.
Place nectarines skin-side down to form two rows on the cooked pastry shell (if making in a round tin, arrange in concentric circles).
Beat together all remaining filling ingredients except for honey and pour over the nectarines to fill pie case. Brush tops of nectarines with runny honey. Bake until the filling is set and pastry is a deep golden brown (about 40 minutes). Serve warm or cold, drizzled with Fig Vincotto if desried.
Speedy pear & almond tarts
A sheet of store-bought flaky pastry makes fast work of these toothsome pear tarts. The simple almond paste provides a luscious base for any type of fruit topping.
Ready in 45 minutes
Serves 4
1 sheet ready-rolled flaky pastry or 160g rolled thinly (5mm)
½ cup ground almonds
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp natural vanilla essence
½ tsp almond essence
1 egg white
2 just-ripe pears, cored and quartered
Glaze: 2 Tbsp apricot jam
Preheat oven to 200C. Cut 4 x 10cm rounds from pastry and place on a baking tray allowing a little space between each.
Combine ground almonds, sugar, vanilla, almond essence and egg white. Divide evenly between pastry rounds, about 2 tablespoons per tart, leaving a 1cm pastry border around the edge.
Thinly slice the pear quarters lengthways, leaving the stem end attached so they can be fanned out. Place a fan of pear on top of each tart.
Bake until pastry starts to puff, about 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 180C and cook until tarts are golden, fruit is tender and pastry cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Heat jam with 1 Tbsp water to loosen, then press through a strainer to make a glaze. Brush tarts with apricot glaze while hot.
Match these with ...
by Yvonne Lorkin
(Plum tarts with flaky sour cream pastry)
Sunshine Brewery Eton Mess Imperial Pastry Sour (440ml 8% $13)
You don’t get thighs like mine without the help of pastry. Piles of it. Flakey, filo, shortcrust, choux
or butter puff, I bloody love the stuff. I also love plums and pastry and I definitely love beer and
pastry. So there’s absolutely no way I’m not going to lose all control when confronted with a can
of the new berry, vanilla and milk sugar-stacked sour from the kids at Sunshine Brewery. Intensely
aromatic, plummy, lip-smackingly sour, yet generously creamy and heaving with flavour, it’s
outrageously tasty with these tarts. sunshinebrewing.co.nz
(Nectarine tart with melt-in-the-mouth sweet pastry)
Cantine di Ora Amicale IGT Verona Pinot Grigio Rosé 2022 ($24)
Not gonna lie, nectarines are my favourite fruit. Fresh off the tree, dried, baked, grilled, poached
or tizzied into a tart, I’m all over them. Especially when said tart is served with a large goblet of
good rosé like this one. Scented with sea breeze, persimmon and fresh-cut apricot, this Italian
example is also deliciously dry. White peach and hints of soft nectarine and cherry punch through
and leave a stylishly spicy finish — so it’s the perfect partner with these terrifically tangy tarts.
Amicale also means “kind and friendly”. Awww. sapori.co.nz
(Speedy pear and almond tarts)
Church Road Grand Reserve Noble Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris 2021 (375ml $30)
While these tasty tarts might be speedy to prepare, you’ll want to taihoa for a tick and slow down
to sip this carefully crafted sweetie. Pinot gris grapes grown in Matapiro, inland west of Hastings
were blessed with botrytis in perfect conditions to produce a pale topaz wine in the glass that’s
crammed with candied pear, toffee apple and almond awesomeness. They unfurl on your
olfactory’s and slip down your oesophagus in supremely sweet, softly spiced, praline-packed
fashion — yet stunningly balanced fashion. church-road.com