The new cookbook by UK chef and restaurateur Ben Tish, Mediterra, explores the cuisine of the Mediterranean, with a breadth of recipes from around the region — everywhere from Spain and Croatia to Lebanon and Tunisia — including this marvellous tart.
My friend Maresh is a brilliant UK-based chef originally from the Palestinian city of Rafah, and he is responsible for the conception of this recipe. It is by no means traditional, but at its heart are the flavours and spirit of Palestine.
I love the striking, contrasting colours — the sticky red blackberries leaching into the vibrant yellow custard. (You can swap the blackberries for hulled strawberries in the high summer months.)
The ma’amoul pastry used for this tart is incredible and very easy to work with. It’s a kind of Middle Eastern-style sweet biscuit, rather like a shortcrust, but nuttier thanks to the semolina flour.
The pastry is traditionally flavoured with orange blossom water and ground cherry kernels (mahlab), both of which are available in Middle Eastern food shops and online. The custard I use here, however, is more traditional, similar to the classic Palestinian bread and custard pudding, aish el saraya.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas mark 6. Grease a 20cm fluted tart tin with a removable base and set aside.
- First make the pastry. Mix the flour, icing sugar and semolina flour together in a bowl. Melt the butter over a low heat, then pour over the flour mixture. Add the orange blossom water and ground cherry kernels and, using your fingers, mix well until you end up with a malleable pastry.
- Transfer the pastry to the tart tin and use your fingers to press it across the base and up the side, leaving a good edge to account for shrinkage. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to set.
- To make the sticky blackberries, place the pomegranate juice, sugar, peppercorns, cinnamon stick and orange zest in a saucepan over a high heat and bring to a boil, then continue boiling until the liquid reduces by half. Reduce the heat to low, add the blackberries and simmer for 4 minutes, or until they are tender and the syrup is rich and sticky. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
- Once it is cool, remove the blackberries from the syrup and set aside with the syrup separately.
- Line the pastry with baking parchment and cover with baking beans or uncooked rice. Bake the pastry for 10 minutes, or until set and just baked — it should still be quite pale in colour.
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Mediterra by Ben Tish, $59.99, published by Bloomsbury Publishing.
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