Caramel mango and banana tart (tarte caramélisée aux mangues et bananes)

The West African republic of Guinea’s food culture has been heavily influenced by its colonial past, and this dark, caramelised fruit tart – flavoured with rum and vanilla, and cousin to that French classic, tarte Tatin – is its embodiment.

Credit: Brett Stevens

• serves

  6

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 110 g (½ cup) caster sugar
• 30 g unsalted butter
• 2 mangoes, peeled, flesh sliced into thin wedges
• 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
• 1 tbsp dark rum
• pinch grated nutmeg
• 2 bananas, halved, sliced lengthwise
• vanilla ice-cream, to serve

Pastry

• 160 g plain flour, sifted
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 80 g cold unsalted butter, chopped
• 1 egg yolk

Chilling time 1 hour

Instructions

To make pastry, combine flour, sugar and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add butter and, using your fingertips, rub in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Make a well in centre, add egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of iced water, and stir with a fork to combine.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead to bring together. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Combine sugar and butter in a large, non-stick, ovenproof frying pan (around 22 cm) over high heat, shaking and swirling pan, without stirring, for 4 minutes or until a light caramel forms.

Add mango, vanilla bean and seeds, rum and nutmeg, then reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring gently to coat, for 10 minutes or until caramelised and slightly reduced. Add banana, turning gently to coat, and cook for a further 5 minutes or until banana is caramelised and sauce has reduced. Remove pan from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, roll out pastry on a lightly floured work surface to 5 mm thick, then cut out a round 1 cm wider than the diameter of your frying pan.

Lay pastry over fruit mixture in pan, tucking edges under; be careful not to touch hot caramel. Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden and crisp. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly, then carefully invert tart onto a serving plate. Serve immediately with ice-cream.

Photography by Brett Stevens. Food preparation by Phoebe Wood. Styling by Justine Poole.

As seen in Feast magazine, February 2015, Issue 39. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.