Jack Monroe’s pear and almond tart recipe

This simple fruit tart is based on one that I learned 13 years ago in my high-school home economics classes – it’s the first recipe I can remember being proud of. It didn’t make it home, one of the pitfalls of having food class just before lunch break. The original recipe called for “two tablespoons of dark rum”, which my parents wouldn’t let me take to school on the bus (I reckon they were worried I’d get tipsy and skip maths), so I did without it. I’ve made variations ever since, using whatever fruit is seasonal, cheap and available. The basic shortcrust pastry recipe has served me well over the years.

(Serves 4)

500g plain flour

125g butter, diced

125g lard, diced

4 large ripe pears, peeled and diced

2 tbsp almonds, chopped

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and lard, rubbing through with your fingers to a breadcrumb texture. Add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, and bring the mixture together until you have a firm dough. Divide this into four pieces, cover and chill for 15 mins.

Put the pears in a bowl with the almonds, butter and sugar, and mix well – you don’t want a slushy mixture that will leak through your pastry, but you do want a pleasantly moist one.

Lightly grease a baking tray and flour your work surface. Roll a piece of pastry to just shy of 1cm thick, then lay a large side plate on top and cut around it. Place a couple of tablespoons of the pear mixture in the centre of the each circle. Bring the pastry edges up and over the fruit, pleating it around, leaving a gap in the centre to show the filling. Repeat with the other pieces of pastry.

Brush some egg over the pastry to glaze (use your fingers if you don’t have a pastry brush). Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes until golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.