Nigel Slater’s kitchen diary: It’s time for sumptuous summer berries

Photography by Jonathan Lovekin

I could have brought my haul to the boil in a saucepan with a cascade of sugar and plenty of water, to make enough juice to soak the bread of a summer pudding. A glorious object to bring to the table, but that would be to miss marvelling at the fruits themselves, their shiny beads and glossy skins, the way they twinkle in the candlelight on a summer evening.

It has been too hot to do much baking, no matter how tempted I am by the thought of a sweet pastry tart, an oozing custard of classic crème patisserie at its heart, the thought of which takes me back four decades to cookery school. Instead, I made a crust for a berry and cherry tart by crushing biscuits to sand (I particularly like the wheaty sweetness of Doves Farm digestives for this) and stirring them into melted butter. The sort of crust you would normally expect under the soft, pale curds of a cheesecake. The extra crisp quality of the crumb crust is almost better than pastry for this, offering the perfect contrast to a filling of whipped mascarpone and cream.

A few redcurrants were set aside to squish into the juices of some pan-fried lamb chops, a fresh version of the traditional accompaniment of redcurrant jelly. Those cherries I didn’t consume at my desk while writing this column went into the tart.

This has been the week of the bean salad. I will always use bottled butter beans and chickpeas over tinned or cooked from scratch, but I find bottled cannellini beans – the most useful for a summer salad – are invariably too soft for a salad. They make a good mash, but lack enough bite for a bean salad. I prefer to use the tinned or dried variety. Salads that have turned out well this week included one of small brown lentils, chopped parsley and redcurrants tossed with a tarragon dressing. A second was cannellini beans, drained and tossed with shredded fennel salami, spinach leaves and a mustard-rich vinaigrette.

The best bean salad of the week was only slightly more complicated. I used chickpeas from a jar, drained and left to sit for half an hour in a classic vinaigrette to which I added a spoonful of harissa paste. I then tossed them with sliced peaches, diced tomatoes and a handful of chopped coriander.

A little care is needed when making the crust. Press too firmly and the crumbs will compact and produce a hard crust. Too lightly, and your base will be too crumbly to slice. The berries can be all of one sort or mixed with red and white currants. I like a mixture of blackberries, redcurrants and cherries. If you have a sudden glut of fruit in the garden, using a single fruit such as redcurrants or raspberries makes for a particularly beautiful tart. The tart will keep in the fridge for a day, but the crumb base will soften over time. Serves 6-8. Ready in 1 hour.

For the crust:
digestive biscuits 200g
butter 100g
vegetable oil a little

For the filling:
double cream 250ml
icing sugar 2 tbsp, plus extra to finish
mascarpone 250g
vanilla extract or paste ½ tsp
apricot jam 200g
mixed berries and cherries 750g

You will need a 20cm tart case with a removable base. Crush the biscuits using a food processor or put them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin. The crumbs should be quite fine, otherwise the tart case will fall apart.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Tip the crumbs into the butter and mix thoroughly. Lightly but thoroughly oil the base and sides of a 20cm tart case. Press the buttered crumbs into the base and about 1cm up the sides, pressing firmly but without compacting the crumbs too firmly. (The higher up the sides you go with the crumbs, the more fragile your base will be.) Place the tart case in the fridge to set. It will need around 30 minutes.

Put the double cream in a chilled bowl and beat until it thickens. It should be firm enough to sit in soft mounds and it should just be able to keep its shape, but not stiff enough to stand in peaks. Gently stir in the icing sugar, mascarpone and vanilla, taking care not to overmix (which will cause it to go grainy).

Remove the tart case from the fridge. Gently run a palette knife around the edge and underneath to loosen it then remove the tin. Spread the apricot jam over the base. Spoon on and gently spread the mascarpone cream to cover the jam. Remove any stems from the berries and cherries. Slice the cherries in half and remove the stones. Pile the fruit on top of the mascarpone cream, then leave in the fridge until needed.

Remove the tart from the fridge about 20 minutes before serving. Dust with some extra icing sugar.

Tart tips

• A simple biscuit crust such as this can also be flavoured with ground cardamom. Break open four pods of green cardamom and remove the black-brown seeds. Crush them to a fine powder, then mix with the butter as it melts. A half tsp of ground ginger is another way to flavour your crumbs.

• I have used both ginger and lemon biscuits in place of digestives, both work well.

• Flavour the cream filling with a little rosewater if you wish. A drop or two is all you need. Alternatively, crush a few of the raspberries and stir those into the cream.