Summer fruit tart

Ingredients

280g (10oz) plain flour

140g (5oz) butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp caster sugar

iced water

900g (2lbs) summer fruit

150g (6oz) caster sugar, or to taste

3 tsp cornflour

Method

USE one or several different summer fruits in this open tart, as you wish.

First make the tart base. This quantity should be enough to cover a 9in or 10in diameter round shallow tart tin or flan dish.

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6, 200 deg C, 400 deg F. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl, cut the butter into small pieces and drop into the flour. Add about 4-6 tbsp iced water, and form into a ball. There's no need to roll out this pastry. Simply press it into the well-buttered tart dish and spread out with your fingers to cover the base evenly.

Prick well with a fork. Cut a piece of foil for inside the dish, add baking beans to keep the base flat. Bake in oven for about 15 min, then remove foil and beans and continue to cook for another 5 min or until the pastry is well set. Remove from the oven.

String, stone or otherwise prepare the fruit, keeping the different varieties separate.

For tougher fruits such as gooseberries and apricots, stew with a couple of ounces of caster sugar and a little water in a pan over medium heat until the fruit just starts to soften. Remove fruit from pan, reserving its juices, using a slotted spoon. Currants and raspberries do not need pre-cooking, just mix them with caster sugar to taste.

Fill the pastry case with fruit. Sprinkle on more caster sugar and return to the oven for about 10 min, or until the fruit is soft and the juice is running.

Mix cornflour to a cream with pan juices or some juice from the tart, and pour over the fruit. Return tart to the oven for a further 5 min. Serve hot or cold with cream.

JUDY BROADWAY