Regency-style lemon almond tart + #ReadCookEat May linky

Reconstructing dishes mentioned in fiction is one of my passions.
I've recently finished reading The ghost of Glendale by Natalie Kleinman (read my review). It is a Romance with a ghost story twist, set in Regency times. There are not many mentions of food, except when the main protagonists Phoebe, her cousin Lydia, their beaus Duncan and Rupert as well as the other neighbours go on a picnic.

"It was all in good fun and, with an appetite that only the young seem to have, the various meets, cheeses, pies and other delicacies were consumed with eagerness which, had the kitchen staff of the various establishments been able to see, would have given them much pleasure."

I was curious to discover what dishes might have been served at picnics during the Regency and consulted a couple of food history books. Picnics were often quite a grand affair, with baskets upon baskets of food and chilled champagne in buckets with ice, carried by numerous servants.

I also consulted a cook book "Dinner with Mr Darcy" by Pen Vogler. In a chapter dedicated to picnic food she offers a recipe for Lemon cheesecakes (Georgian cheesecakes actually did not contain cheese). She cooks individual lemon cheesecakes.
I decided to bake one easy lemon almond tart, and it happened to be a delightful bake, easy and quick, and oh so good. I hope Phoebe and company would approve of it.

Regency-style lemon almond tart
Ingredients:
1 pack of shortcrust pastry
zest of 2 lemons
2tbsp lemon juice
100g caster sugar
1tbsp limoncello (optional)
2 medium eggs
2tbsp single cream
100g ground almonds
60g butter, melted
a big handful of flaked almonds

For the ease of cooking, use a ready-made shortcrust pastry. If you have time and inclination, prepare your own pastry by all means.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Unroll the pastry and cut out a big circle to fit in your tart dish or tin. Bake for 10 minutes.
In a medium mixing bowl zest 2 lemons. Add the lemon juice, caster sugar, limoncello, beat in two eggs. Add single cream, ground almonds and melted and cooled butter, and mix well.
Pour the almond lemon mix into the pre-baked pastry case, scatter flaked almonds on top.
Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 20+ minutes until golden brown.
Take out and let it cool a bit before slicing and serving.

This tasty tart is quite similar to Bakewell tart, minus jam, and with lemon flavours.

This is not an authentic Regency recipe, as obviously they would not have a pre-made shortcrust pastry, and I'm not sure whether limoncello or any other lemon liqueur was popular in England in those days. But lemons and ground almonds appear happily in many 19C recipes.

Have you read a book recently which inspired you to run to the kitchen and cook to your heart's content?

I hope you are inspired by books to join in the #ReadCookEat challenge.

The idea is to choose a book, either a world classic or modern fiction, or even memoirs and pick up a dish mentioned or described in that book and then recreate it in a recipe. Please say a few lines about your chosen book, and maybe even do a quote from the book.

If you decide to take part, please add the badge to your post and link up back to me, and either use a link-up tool or add the url of your post as a comment. Alternatively, email me with the link to your post (my email is sasha1703 at yahoo dot com).

I will Pin all blog posts taking part in this challenge, as well as RT and Google+

Torta della Nonna

Torta della Nonna or Granny's Tart is one of classic Italian recipes which has as many versions as there are Nonnas in Italy. I've been looking at my Italian recipe books as well as browsing recipes online, and the amount of egg yolks for the custard varies from four to eight. Some cooks add vanilla seeds, some add lemon zest, and the amount of pine nuts is also different from recipe to recipe.
I've been planning to bake this simple custard tart with pine nuts ever since I finished reading The Thousand Lights Hotel by Emylia Hall.
This delectable dessert has been mentioned more than once among the numerous food descriptions and menus (one of the protagonists and a love interest is a chef in the eponymous hotel, so food features heavily in the book which I found very enjoyable).
"A wide slice of torta della nonna - she recognised it straight away - sugar-dusted, scattered with pine nuts... She took a forkful of tart, and felt her chest heave. She'd forgotten the flavour of the sweet custard, the toasted pine nuts. Torta della nonna, she said out loud, Granny's tart, it meant, but as a child she'd always called it torta della mamma, because it was her mum who'd made it for her, just as she had done everything else".

Torta della Nonna
Ingredients
For the pastry
150g cold butter, from the fridge
300g 00 flour
100g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
2-3tbsp icy cold water
for custard:
1 pt of milk
125g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
3tsp cornflour
2tbsp milk, cold
vanilla, grated or paste
100g pine nuts

Sift the flour and salt into a big mixing bowl and add cold cubed butter. Cut the butter into flour into smaller pieces, so that they are coated with flour. Using hands, rub the flour and butter together until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.
Beat in 4 egg yolks. Add a bit of water to make the dough more pliable. Knead it until smooth and elastic, form into a ball and put the bowl in the fridge for half an hour.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface into a big circle about 5-6mm thin. Cut out a circle bigger than a round pie/baking dish, so that you have enough to have the sides. Drape the dough disc over the rolling pin and place it inside the pie dish. Gently press down.
Bake for 10 minutes at 180C.
While the pastry case is baking, scatter the pine nuts on a baking tray and place inside the oven on the lower shelf to toast for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In the meantime make the custard filling. Heat up the milk with caster sugar, then remove from the heat and let it cool a bit. Beat in the egg yolks in a pan or bowl, add a bit of hot milk and whisk, keep adding all milk and whisking. Add vanilla (I used a vanilla grater) and cornflour which has been mixed with a dash of cold milk separately.
Cook custard over the low heat, stirring constantly, or put a pan with custard over another pan with boiling water, and keep stirring. Once custard starts to thicken, set it aside and let it cool slightly.

Scatter half of the pine nuts over a pastry case and pour custard over them, scatter more pine nuts over custard. Place the pie into the oven preheated to 180C for about 20-25 minutes.

If you don't fancy making your own pastry (and I very rarely do that, it's usually Jus-Rol) or custard, I think any bought good quality dessert pastry and custard would be just fine.

This Italian custard tart is lovely warm or cold. My guys loved it. For a more authentic touch dust it with icing sugar before serving. I didn't add more sugar, as the tart is quite sweet as it is.

Have you tried Torta della Nonna on your travels to Italy, or perhaps in an Italian restaurant?

Royal Jam Tarts (recipe by Ruth Clemens for Patron's Lunch)

To honour the Queen's official birthday, this weekend is jam-packed with festivities and celebrations. Tomorrow is the day of the much-anticipated Patron's Lunch, which is being held to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's 90th birthday and her patronage of over 600 charities and organisations. One of the biggest street parties ever will be taking place on The Mall, just outside Buckingham Palace in London.

If you cannot attend the big street party but would like to mark the occasion and perhaps bake something festive, how about the Royal Jam Tarts as created by Ruth Clemens of The Pink Whisk for Stork? Have a look at the selection of festive recipes on Baking with Stork recipe pages.

Royal Jam Tarts (recipe reproduced courtesy of Stork)
Ingredients:
170g plain flour
85g Stork with butter
30g caster sugar
2-3tbsp cold water
225g seedless raspberry jam (or seeded, like I did)
Oven temp 180C (fan)/200c/Gas mark 6
Makes 12
Freezing: suitable for freezing
Prep time: 20 minutes plus 30 minutes chilling
Bake time: 12-15 minutes

Method:
1. To make the pastry place the plain flour in a bowl with the Stork with Butter.
2. Rub the Stork with Butter into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Stir through the sugar.

4. Add the water a tablespoon at a time and work the pastry until it just comes together.
5. Knead lightly  until even, wrap in clingfilm and allow to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
6. Roll out the chilled pastry on a lightly floured work surface to approx 4mm in thickness and cut out 12 circles.
7. Line the recess of a shallow bun tray with the pastry circles.
8. Gather together the pastry trimmings and re-roll. Cut out 12 small crowns with a sharp knife.
9. Fill each pastry case with 1-2tsp of jam.
10. Top each tart with a pastry crown and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden.
11. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool. Serve.

Shortcrust pastry with Stork was very easy to make, and tasted lovely. Stork has even released a limited edition pack for Patron's Lunch.

I used a delicious raspberry and vanilla jam from a Culinary Couture range by Hawkshead Relish, making the Royal Jam Tarts, but any good quality raspberry jam will work in this recipe.

My men have loved the jam tarts. Eddie was eating them with such enthusiasm that some jam ended on the tip of his nose.

Yum!

John Whaite's Spiced Lamb Pasties

Pasties are traditionally associated with Cornwall. A freshly baked pasty is a delicious pastry, typically made with meat and vegetables, like beef, swede or turnip and onion. I'm not the biggest fan of turnips.
Turnips always bring back memories of my student days. In the Soviet times most 1-year-students spent up to a month on collective farms, just before the studies started in early October, helping with the harvest. We were digging turnips intended as an animal feed, but as we spent many hours outdoors, we were all quite hungry and often munched on the raw turnips, peeling the skin off with a knife.
Recently celebrity chef John Whaite has come up with a lamb pasty recipe for Stork's Sunday Bakes service. This service is a social media service designed to help people bake on the nation's favourite baking day - Sunday.
Stork and John Whaite have created a series of videos for Bake with Stork Youtube channel, check it out for useful baking tips and inspiration.
I loved the sound of lamb pasties - scroll down my post to watch the video on how to make them.

These delicious pasties are filled with minced lamb, grated sweet potato (hurrah! no turnips in sight!), peas and cheese as well as spices. The shortcrust pastry is made with Stork rather than traditional butter.
I have slightly adapted the recipe. I added twice the amount of grated sweet potato (and have a little bit of filling left because of that, but I put it in the freezer and will have it one day for lunch as a topping for a baked potato).
I also used a Cheddar cheese rather than feta, because I bought a lovely local Cheddar on the farmers' market and wanted to use it.
And I cooked pasties with fresh peas.
My crimping technique is pants second-rate. I'm much better at crimping pirozhki (Russian mini pies), but then they are usually smaller in size, so much easier to work with.

However, the filling was absolutely delicious. I baked four biggish pasties. They might not look like celebrity chef's creations but they were tasty.
If you plan to bake them, the full list of ingredients and instructions on how to cook the pasties can be found under the video on Youtube (click on Youtube symbol to move from this post to the video).
These pasties would be a lovely addition to a picnic or even the upcoming Patron's Lunch.




Do you love pasties? What is your favourite filling?

Disclosure: I received a £20 Sainsbury's voucher to buy the products to test the recipe. All opinions are mine.

Baked camembert

With just days left till Valentine's Day, some of you have already sorted the menu if you're the organised type, or are still unsure what you might be cooking if you're more spontaneous.
As my husband is going abroad on Sunday, we'll have our "Valentine's" dinner on Saturday. We don't do big gestures, no surprise meals out or weekends in Paris. What, with two kids, and one being special needs, anything extra has to be organised and planned in advance. We have agreed long time ago not to buy any themed gifts, as neither of us is particularly excited about the heart-shaped merchandise.
But to mark the occasion, I will cook a meal for my husband. I also got him a gift, won't say what it is, just in case he might read my blog. On a different topic, yesterday Eddie and I were browsing a party costumes' online shop and came across the so called bum shorts (literally shorts with a see-through plastic bum on them). Eddie thought they were hilarious and insisted that I should buy them for Papa. Needless to say, this is not my idea of a Valentine's gift (but I did have a chuckle, more at Eddie's uproarious laughter).

Years ago, when we lived in the States, I discovered a recipe for a camembert baked in pastry. If I'm not mistaken it was printed on a croissant pastry tube. I have tried baking cheese in a variety of pastries - short crust, puff and croissant, and they all work.
The recipe, or recipe suggestion, couldn't be simpler.

Get a round camembert, a good apricot jam, a handful of flaked apricots and ready-made pastry, like JusRol. Unroll the pastry, place the cheese on top and cut out a bigger circle.
Top up the cheese with 2tbsp of apricot jam and sprinkle the almonds. I have also added a bit of Parisian spice, but this is optional. Spice Parisienne from Seasoned Pioneers is also known as Epices-Fines - a mix of peppercorns, nutmeg, paprika, cloves, thyme, cinnamon, basil, savoury and bay leaves.

Cut out a smaller circle from the pastry and place over the cheese. Wrap it round the cheese, smooth the edges and smear a bit of butter over the pastry or brush with a beaten egg yolk, or even milk.
Place the wrapped cheese in a tray and then in an oven preheated to 180C.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
Once cooked, don't cut it immediately, or the melted cheese will flow out, leaving the pastry shell (been there, done that). Let it sit under a clean towel for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
It will make a lovely starter for 4 people, or eat it as a main for 2, served with a salad.

In this recipe I used an apricot jam from Duerr's. It is a lush amber-coloured jam, sweet and aromatic. Made with ripe apricots, it is like an essence of summer. I do love a good apricot jam. It always reminds me of my aunt's orchard, and her pantry laden with jars upon jars of jam. She made a wonderful apricot jam.

So, if you're still looking for ideas of what to cook for Valentine's day, this recipe might just fit the bill.
Every time I serve it when we have guests, everybody loves it. And as I said, it couldn't be easier to make it.

Pirozhki with potatoes and wild mushrooms

Pirozhki - individual pies - are a staple of the Russian cuisine, there are so many variations and methods of preparing them, that one would need to write a mini-encyclopedia just on the topic. They can be fried or baked, sweet or savoury, made with meat or vegetarian. My Mum's pirozhki are of course the tastiest in the world.
Just the other day I was singing praises to the wild mushrooms from Tesco (see my post Girolle and garlic pasta). I saved the 2nd pack for Pirozhki with potatoes and wild mushrooms. Mushrooms and potatoes are a classic combination, and they complement each other beautifully.
For a budget recipe, skip the mushrooms altogether and just do the filling with the mashed potatoes and fried onions. When I was a student, that was often the option for a cheap tasty meal.

Pirozhki with potatoes and wild mushrooms (makes 20)
Ingredients:
100g wild mushrooms (girolle or ceps)
150g potato
2tsp butter
1 small onion
salt, pepper
1 pack of Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry
1 egg yolk

I know the likes of Paul Hollywood and the GBO contestants would pooh-pooh me for using the ready-made pastry, but I am not ashamed to admit that I use it. Jus-Rol makes pretty good pastry, and it is very convenient for busy Mums like me.

Start by peeling the potato and cooking it in the salted water until just soft. Mash it with a fork and add 1tsp of butter and a bit of the liquid in which potatoes were cooking or a dash of milk. Don't make it too runny.
Brush the specks of dirt from the wild mushrooms - I used the beautiful girolles from Tesco - and chop them with a knife. In a small frying pan melt 1tsp of butter, add the finely chopped onion and fry for about 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Mix the mashed potatoes and mushrooms. This is your filling for the mini pies.

Now roll out your pastry, and using a cookie cutter, cut the little circles. You will have some leftovers, knead them together in a ball, and reroll the flattened dough. Cut more circles. Slightly stretching each circle of pastry, add a teaspoon of the filling, fold the edges, so that they meet like a little purse, and pinch them together. Place all your pirozhki on a big baking tray, which has been oiled. Beat the yolk with a fork, and using your fingers or a pastry brush, brush the yolk over pirozhki. You could also use a bit of milk for the same purpose or melted butter.
Put the tray in the oven preheated to 180C and bake the pirozhki for about 20 minutes until golden.
Serve with the pickles and a generous dollop of the soured cream. They are also often accompanied by a hot steaming mug of clear broth or bouillon.
They are tasty both hot and cold.
Na zdorovie! Enjoy your meal!

I'm participating in the 1st Edition Tiendeo cooking competion "Seasonal Recipes".

Getting creative with Geeta's Premium Mango Chutney

Did you know that Geeta's, the iconic Indian brand, is celebrating its twentieth anniversary? This month bloggers have been invited to join the Chutney Challenge.

Geeta's is probably best known for their first ever product - the Premium Mango Chutney. The chutney itself is delicious and full of flavours and textures. I love the big fat chunks of juicy mango. It is also very colourful and aromatic, a versatile product that is so moreish, you cannot have enough.

As my regular readers know, I love cooking challenges, and when I heard of the Chutney Challenge, I just had to take part.

This is what I found out about the challenge:
"Still going strong today, we are celebrating by inviting some of our favourite bloggers to join in this fun competition.

Geeta's Premium Mango Chutney is such a versatile ingredient and we want to challenge you to share your most inventive and original recipe using the chutney, be that sweet, savoury, mild or spicy. The rules are simple, if you want to take part I will send you a jar of the chutney and then it is over to you to get creative in the kitchen! Each blogger is invited to upload up to three recipes using the chutney each.

The winning recipe will be selected by namesake and founder, Geeta Samtani along with two runners up. The winner will receive a luxury Geeta's hamper and the runners up will also receive a smaller selection of Geeta's products."

I am offering you 3 recipes for your delectation, all very easy and quick, perfect for a lunch or midweek dinner.

Recipe no.1

Camembert baked in shortcrust pastry with Geeta's mango chutney

Ingredients

1 camembert

1 roll of short-crust pastry (like Jus-Rol)

2 tbsp Geeta's Mango Chutney

a bit of milk

This must be one of the easiest and nicest ways of enjoying a baked cheese. I have used this recipe with different toppings and variations of ingredients for many years, and it is always a big hit with the family and guests. It makes a lovely starter too. 

Cut out two circles from the shortcrust pastry. Place a camembert on top of the big circle. Spread two tbsp of the mango chutney on the top of the cheese. Carefully lift the pastry up and using fingers flatten it and smooth the edges. Place a smaller circle on top and press the edges down, again smoothing all edges and closing the gaps. Make sure all the pastry is tightly packed around the cheese, you don't want any cheese to escape through the gaps during the baking.

That's what the cheese in pastry looks like before it is baked. Brush the pastry with a bit of milk.

Place it in the oven preheated to 180C on a foil-covered tray. To prevent the possible leaking disasters, you might want to scrunch the foil around the cheese like a barrier.

Bake for about 20 mins, until the pastry is golden. Take the baked cheese out of the oven and let it cool a bit.
You want it warm, but not piping hot. If you start cutting the cheese immediately, the molten lava of hot camembert will simply escape the pastry casing and you will have a lake of cheese around the pastry island (been there, done that, so talking from experience).
Geeta's mango chutney works beautifully with the creamy cheese and crumbly pastry.


Recipe no.2
Mango chutney cream cheese spread

The original recipe comes from my lovely American friend Trudy. I first tried this spread many years ago and loved it. I have adapted Trudy's recipe, as I am not very keen on pecans, plus she used the American brands for the chutney and cream, but in essence it is very close to her idea. Trudy is 85, and she learnt how to make this lovely spread when she was much younger. Its original name is Curry Chutney Mold.

Ingredients (for about 20 servings to go with crackers)
1 package of cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia light)
2 tbsp thick cream (I used Weight Watchers West Country thick cream)
1/2 tbsp curry powder
150g Geeta's Mango Chutney
8 walnuts, finely chopped

Chop the walnuts (or pecans if you prefer). Mix all the ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. And that's it. Very tasty with crackers or the Italian style flatbreads. I served this spread on Crosta & Mollica rosemary linguette. A truly delicious combination. Try it, I think you are going to love it too.

Recipe no.3
Spatchcocked poussin
Ingredients 
1 poussin (2 servings)
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp Geeta's mango chutney
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
a pinch of paprika (optional)
2 tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180C. using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut the poussin to open it and flatten it. Season well with the salt, pepper, paprika and crushed garlic. Drizzle with the olive oil and place on a roasting tray. Add the mango chutney 20 minutes before the end of cooking (spread with a spoon all over the poussin).
Roast for 40 minutes until cooked through and golden.
Serve with the roast potatoes, olives and a lemon wedge (optional).
Mango chutney adds a fab zingy exotic boost of flavours.

I could have been playing more with the recipe ideas, but my jar is empty now, and I could only submit 3 recipes to the Chutney Challenge.
Looking forward to seeing everyone's entries and suggestions.


For more information on Geeta's range and the latest news please visit Geeta's Facebook page.

Goat's cheese, baked in shortcrust pastry

We almost never have big Sunday roast lunches, and prefer to have lighter meals. My guys usually go swimming on Sundays, and when they arrive, tired and happy, they want some kind of a platter, so that they can relax watching TV and eat at the same time. Out comes an assortment of prosciutto, cheese, grapes, sliced apples or pears, figs, crackers and chunks of stonebaked bread. Sasha wants his tuna sandwiches and a Fab lolly.
Yesterday I accompanied my men to the swimming pool, had a quick shopping at Waitrose, got caught in the rain and once at home, decided I want something hot for lunch. I also fancied something inbetween sweet and savoury.
Goat's cheese, baked in shortcrust pastry seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
You might remember my post about taking part in the Capricorn challenge. I have already posted some recipes that include Capricorn goat's cheese (see here).
So here is another recipe for my friend Ethel the goat from Capricorn Somerset Goats Cheese.

You will need
Capricorn cheese (1 per person)
Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry
2tbsp apricot conserve
2 tsp flaked almonds

For this recipe I used Bonne Maman apricot conserve but any good quality apricot conserve/preserve will do.
And Yes, I used a ready-made shortcrust pastry from Jus-Rol again, and No, they don't pay me to promote them, in fact I think they are pretty much oblivious to my existence.

If you use 2 cheeses, you will have some pastry left, just put it back in the fridge, it will keep for another day or two. Or bake cinnamon twists with it.

Cut each cheese in half and spread the apricot conserve on one half. Top with the flaked almonds (see the photo above). Put the second half on top. Cut a piece of pastry and gently wrap it around the cheese, smooth the edges and slightly butter the pastry.

Place the wrapped pastry in a deep dish or on a tray and put in the oven, preheated to 180C.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is golden.

Wait a few minutes before you cut your pastry, so that the cheese doesn't escape the shell, but don't wait for too long, you want the cheese to be gooey and hot. Serve with the green salad, some olives and a sliced persimmon (figs would be nice as well).

Hope, my friend Ethel would like my idea and be tempted enough to try it for herself.

Crostata with figs soaked in marsala

Whenever we visited Ferrara, my husband's hometown, my mother-in-law would buy a crostata with jam from a local pasticceria.
There are many of them in town, and each has their own favourite crostata on offer. Some of these places are very small and are run by a family, so everything looks and tastes just like "Nonna used to make".
And there are grand places to visit for a sweet treat as well, for example, pasticceria Leon d'Oro, which is placed right in the middle of Ferrara, you can sit there, have a leisurely coffee, stuff yourself with wonderful pastries and watch the crowds visiting the town centre.

The beautiful watercolour of Leon D'Oro above is reproduced with the kind permission of Roberto Cariani. That's Ferrara, romantic and poetic, a true gem of the Northern Italy.

We haven't visited Italy since Eddie was born, but Sasha loved the pasticceria, and we used to go there daily for our elevenses. The choice of pastries is amazing, and you can have a slice of crostata if you fancy a jammy treat.

I have been looking for good recipes of crostata, and found one that I liked the sound of.
My recipe is based on Meg Rivers' recipe Fig & Marsala crostata published in Meg Rivers Home Baking, with a few changes. She adds fennel seeds to the pastry, which I'm sure takes this dish to the next level of sophistication.

First of all, I should confess that I used a roll of ready-made chilled Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry. I know I would have been crucified and vilified on Come and Dine with me, but I don't care. I had guests coming for lunch, and not much time.

Ingredients:
1 pack of JusRol short crust pastry (or make your own pastry by all means)
500g dried figs
1 decent glass of marsala (about 300ml+)
2 tbsp vanilla sugar (MR opts for 3 tbsps of dark sugar, but figs are sweet enough, I think next time I bake this crostata, I'll try to skip sugar altogether)
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tbsp nutmeg

You have to prepare the filling ahead of the baking session. Soak the chopped figs in the marsala wine in a small pan. If you don't have marsala, I think sweet port or sherry could be another option. Or any strong sweet wine indeed. Add the vanilla sugar and spices. Bring the pan to the boil and cook over low heat, stirring regulalry, until the filling has reduced by about a half. This might take about 30-40 minutes. Once relatively cool, blitz the mixture with a hand blender. It has to be a thick paste, not a smoothie, so don't overdo it.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Roll out the pastry in the pie dish, slightly buttered in advance. Trim the edges and save some pastry for the lattice on top. Bake the empty shell for 10 minutes, take the dish out of the oven and spoon the fig filling in, smooth it  with a spoon. Cut the remaning shortcrust pastry into ribbons and make a lattice. Bake for another half an hour at 180C until the pastry is golden.
Serve hot with custard or cream. I think the Greek yogurt could be a lovely alternative, or even a good serving of vanilla ice cream.
It is tasty the next day too, you can either eat it cold, or reheat it in the oven.