Food and drink

🍍 Pineapple tart | 🌹 Rosé season

19 April 2024

Recipe

Photography: Laura Edwards

Spiced pineapple tart with bay cream

If you need to whip up something sweet (and easily transportable) for a last-minute get-together, Benjamina Ebuehi’s new book is full of delicious and simple dessert ideas. This easy and adaptable spiced pineapple tart relies on store cupboard ingredients, with bay cream to cut through some of the sweetness.

Ingredients (serves 9)
For the tart
1 x 320g sheet of ready-rolled, all-butter puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
1 x 435g can of sliced pineapple
50g light brown sugar
¼ tsp fresh grated nutmeg
½ tsp ground cinnamon
50g salted butter, melted

For the bay cream
250ml double cream
1 tsp light brown sugar
5 fresh bay leaves

Method
1. Unroll the puff pastry on to a baking tray. Starting from one of the shorter ends, trim off four strips of pastry about 1cm wide. You’ll be left with one large square, and then the strips will make your frame.
2. Brush the edges of the square with a little beaten egg, and lay the strips of pastry on top. You may need to trim some of the ends off to get a neat square. Prick the inside of the pastry frame all over with a fork and then put in the fridge to chill while you prepare the filling. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6.
3. Drain the pineapples and keep the juice for another use. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon together.
4. Brush the pastry base with some of the melted butter and top with half of the sugar mixture. Arrange the slices of pineapple on top – you’ll have to cut some slices in half or quarters to fill in gaps. Brush the tops of the pineapple with more melted butter and sprinkle the remaining sugar on top.
5. Brush the pastry frame with egg wash and bake for 30–35 minutes, until the pastry is well browned. Set aside to cool.
6. For the bay cream, add the cream, sugar and bay leaves to a small pan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat, cover and let the bay infuse for at least 15 minutes. You can serve the cream chilled or gently reheat to serve warm.

I’ll Bring Dessert by Benjamina Ebuehi (Quadrille, £24) is available here.

Wine

With temperatures slowly rising and long, sunny days spent al fresco just around the corner, rosé season is finally upon us, says Lela London in GQ. Here are three of the best to stock up on this spring.

Alaina Rosé Laurent Miquel, 12.5%, Waitrose £12.99
This easy-drinking number, with notes of fresh strawberries, is “the kind of thing you want to reach for on those almost-too-sunny summer days”.

Amie Rosé, 12%, Ocado £16
Made from 100% Cinsault grapes, Amie Rosé has all the “delectable strawberry notes” you hope for from a dry, south of France rosé, as well as unexpected hints of cherry blossom. Plus, the beautiful bottle makes it a hit at dinner parties.

Miraval Provence Rosé Wine, 13%, Tesco £20
Miraval vineyard may be best known for its celebrity owners, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but its rosé is excellent – “delightfully crisp”, with a “lush medley” of redcurrants, lemon, rose and a long, saline finish.

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