Erica De Mane

A bouquet of flowers in a conch shell, with nuts and figs, by Juan Espinosa, 1645.

Recipe: Fig Tart with Limoncello and Thyme

I’m a savory type. I’ve always known this. Even as a kid, I preferred a tin of anchovies to a Ring Ding. But come summer and early fall, I become a lover of fruit tarts. Maybe because they’re so beautiful. When you bake fruit, the colors often become burnished, taking on a half-withered, dripping Caravaggio allure. Also, tarts target their flavor, getting right to the point with concentrated fruit sugars and all the glossy goo that emerges while baking, extending pigment into the crust. You don’t need a precise recipe to create a fruit tart. What you need is a desire to create one, a desire to create beauty. A fruit tart just has to be alluring, and they almost always are, whether made prissy and fluted or free-form.

I picked up three pints of California black figs from my corner fruit guy for the really reasonable price of five bucks. Nobody grows figs in New York, aside from a few old, nurturing Italians in Bay Ridge, who every fall will wrap their tree (usually only one) in burlap, keeping it cozy through the long winter in hopes of having it produce a handful of figs in the spring and fall.

Green figs are what I really love. I usually find that the black ones have slightly musky-tasting skin, but these ones were perfectly plush and pink-fleshed, so I knew they’d make a good tart. Any ripe fig is delicious, but I find the dark-skinned ones especially rich, with little acidity. Because of that richness, I added limoncello and lemon zest into my tart, as well as a fresh herb for added drama. Mint goes wonderfully with figs, and so does basil, but I went with thyme, which is more serious, more savory. I added it to the crust and worked a little bit into the custard.

Fig Tart with Limoncello and Thyme

(Serves 6 to 8)

For the crust:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons sugar
A pinch of salt
2 tablespoons Limoncello
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
4 thyme sprigs, the leaves lightly chopped

For the custard:

¾ cup non-ultrapasteurized heavy cream
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Limoncello
The grated zest from 1 lemon
4 thyme sprigs, the leaves lightly chopped
1 teaspoon finely ground flour, such as Wondra

Plus:

15 or 16 fresh figs, either black or green, cut in half lengthwise
Extra sugar for the top

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the olive oil to the butter, give it a stir, and then let the butter mixture cool completely. With a pastry brush, use about a tablespoon of the melted butter mixture to coat a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.

To make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the remaining butter mixture with the sugar, salt, Limoncello, and about a tablespoon of water. Stir to blend. Add the flour and the thyme, and mix briefly until you have a mass of moist, crumbly dough (don’t blend so much that it forms a ball). Tip the dough into the tart pan, and pat it down and out to the edges and all the way up the side to form a thin crust. Bake for about 15 minutes, until lightly colored and slightly puffy.

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the custard, and whisk until they’re well blended.

Place the figs, cut side up, in the crust, in a slightly overlapping circular pattern. Pour the custard evenly over the figs, and sprinkle the top with sugar. Bake until the crust is golden and the custard is set, about 45 minutes. Let sit for about ½ hour before serving.