Lemon banana tart
A crisp, Sweet shortcrust pastry case is filled with a layer of strawberry conserve and thickly sliced bananas, then topped with a light but luscious lemon and fromage frais mixture that sets as it bakes. No sugar is needed in the filling as the bananas, fruit conserve and lemon curd provide lots of sweetness.
Ingredients
Serves: 8
- 1 quantity Sweet shortcrust pastry with the finely grated zest of 1 lemon added, chilled for 30 minutes
- Filling
- 4 tbsp strawberry conserve
- 3 firm bananas
- 5 tbsp lemon curd
- 250 g (8½ oz) fromage frais
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- strawberries to decorate (optional)
Method
Prep:1hr20min ›
Cook:35min ›
Ready in:1hr55min
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6) and put a baking sheet in to heat.
- Roll out the pastry dough thinly and use to line a 23.5 cm (9½ in) shallow, fluted, loose-bottomed flan tin. Prick the bottom of the tart case. Bake blind for 10 minutes, then remove the paper and beans. Bake for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the oven. Reduce the temperature to 180°C (350°F, gas mark 4).
- Spread the conserve over the bottom of the warm tart case. Slice the bananas, then arrange evenly over the top. Blend the lemon curd with a little of the fromage frais, then stir in the remainder, together with the beaten eggs. Pour over the bananas and spread out evenly.
- Bake the tart for 30–35 minutes or until the filling is set and lightly browned. Leave in the tin on a wire rack to cool to room temperature before serving.
Each serving provides
B12 * A, B2, copper, zinc
Some more ideas
For a chocolate pastry case, make the pastry substituting 25 g (scant 1 oz) sifted cocoa powder for the same amount of flour, and leave out the lemon zest. * For a ginger and honey banana tart, flavour the pastry with orange rather than lemon zest. While the tart case is baking ‘blind’, gently heat 300 ml (10 fl oz) semi-skimmed milk with a 1 cm (½ in) piece of fresh root ginger, roughly chopped, to boiling point. Remove from the heat and infuse for 20 minutes. After baking the tart case, reduce the oven temperature to 160°C (325°F, gas mark 3). Spread 4 tbsp peach or apricot jam over the bottom of the tart case. Arrange 3 sliced bananas over the jam. Blend 1 tsp cornflour with 1 tsp milk in a bowl, then whisk in 2 eggs, 1 egg yolk and 2 tbsp clear honey. Bring the milk back to boiling point and pour onto the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Strain into the pastry case, discarding the pieces of ginger. Bake for 35 minutes or until lightly set. Serve at room temperature.
Plus points
Bananas have a high potassium content. This mineral is essential for the proper functioning of nerves and muscles in particular, but is also needed by all cells in the body. * Fromage frais has a wonderfully creamy flavour, but is relatively low in fat. It provides useful amounts of protein, calcium and vitamin B12.
