Serves 12 (slices)/prep time 2 hours/cook time 1hour/ difficulty medium
Sweet Pastry
300 g plain flour
30 g icing sugar
pinch of sea salt
1 tsp fennel seeds, toasted
2 tsp orange zest
150 g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into pieces
2 egg yolks
30 g cold water
Fennel Jam
1 head of fennel (about 300g) sliced
300 g caster sugar
Juice of one orange
30 g of berries, such as raspberries, strawberries or brambleberries
Frangipane
150 g unsalted butter, softened
150 g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways, seeds scraped
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
220 g almond meal
50 g plain flour
250 g fresh berries
To serve…
500 g creme fraîche
Zest of 1 lemon
2 sprigs lemon thyme
A little drizzle of honey
For sweet pastry, combine flour, sugar, salt, fennel seeds and orange zest in a bowl, add butter and rub together until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix together egg yolks and water, add to flour mixture and gently knead together. Flatten to a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced (200C conventional). Roll out pastry on a floured surface until about 3–4-mm thick. Cut out circles to line 10 individual 9-cm tart tins, or one 25-cm loose-based flan tin. When lining the tins, make sure the pastry is pressed right into the corners. Trim the pastry, allowing 4–5-mm overhang to allow for shrinkage, and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
For Fennel jam, combine all ingredients in a large shallow pot and cook until a jammy consistency, about 10-15 minutes. Refrigerate to chill.
Once pastry has rested, line the tarts with baking paper and fill with rice or baking weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and rice and cook for another 10 minutes. Set aside to cool before filling. Reduce oven to 160C fan-forced (180C conventional).
For the frangipane, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds until pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl a couple of times as you go. Slowly add the eggs to the mix while beating. Once incorporated, switch off the mixer and fold in the almond meal by hand, season with miso.
Spoon the chilled fennel jam into the base of the tart then spoon the frangipane mix into the tart shells, top with the berries, thyme and a good pinch of slightly crushed fennel seeds. Bake for 30–35 minutes for a large tart. Once cooked, the frangipane will spring back slightly to the touch.
To serve, trim any excess pastry and serve with cream or crème fraîche, citrus and a little honey drizzled over the top.