Apple balances the intense flavour of tamarillos with the citrus zest adding subtle fragrance. Served with a scoop of ice cream or dollops of whipped cream makes this tart simply irresistible.
I like to prepare the tamarillos ahead so they have plenty of time to sweeten up a bit. You can leave them in the fridge, well covered, overnight or during the day. It speeds up the preparation time too.
Serves 6
Pastry
180g plain flour
150g cold butter, diced
90g sour cream (not lite)
milk or melted butter, for brushing
1 tbsp caster sugar
Filling
6 red tamarillos
¼ cup caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp
2 large cooking apples (I used Granny Smith)
finely grated zest of 1 small lemon or 1 lime
To prepare the tamarillos, make a cross in the skin at the tip of each tamarillo and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove and plunge into a bowl of cold water. Peel away the skins and remove the stalks. Cut in half then into quarters lengthwise and put on a large plate. Scatter the ¼ cup caster sugar over the cut fruit and leave to macerate.
Peel, cut into quarters and core the apples then slice each quarter into 3–4 slices. Put into a bowl as you go, sprinkling with 1 tbsp caster sugar and the grated zest. Toss gently to ensure the apple slices are coated in sugar. Set aside while you make the pastry.
To make the pastry, put the flour with a pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse once or twice to sift the flour. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Dollop over the sour cream and again pulse until the pastry begins to very roughly come together. Tip out onto a lightly floured bench and bring together in a ball then flatten. Roll the pastry out into a round (about 30cm in diameter), to fit a lightly floured standard oven tray.
You can roll the pastry out on the oven tray if you find that easier than transferring it.
Arrange the apples on the pastry, leaving a 5cm border around the edges. Arrange the tamarillos on top (leave any collected juices behind as these will make the pastry soggy during cooking). Gather up the pastry, to form a border, pleating as you go, but being careful not to tear the pastry to minimise juices leaking during baking. Brush the pastry border with milk or melted butter and sprinkle over the 1 tbsp of caster sugar.
Put into the fridge to rest the pastry and firm up while you heat the oven to 190°C.
Remove from the fridge and put in the oven to bake for 40–45 minutes until the pastry is well browned and crisp.
Tip – During the cooler months you can work with this food processor pastry straight away – there is no need to chill before rolling. In fact you don’t want it too firm otherwise it can tear when pleating.
