Photo by Patricia Niven
I don’t know if I’ve told you this before, but although it’s true that CookbookCorner is the name of this particular section of nigella.com, it so happens that it is an actual real live space, too. That’s to say, I have a corner bookshelf (painted bright pink, I might add) abutting a staircase where I put all the new cookbooks that come in. Fruitful: Sweet and Savoury Fruit Recipes Inspired by Farms, Orchards and Gardens by Sarah Johnson has been patiently waiting there since Spring. It wouldn’t be quite right to say it’s been languishing there, for I knew I wanted to bring this beautiful book to your attention, but I thought it might be more helpful in the summer — and now, I’m very happy to say, the time has come for its moment in the sun!
Sarah Johnson is Head of Pastry Development for Skye Gyngell at Spring in London and Heckfield Place in Hampshire, which makes perfect sense for, like Gyngell, her recipes celebrate the very essence of ingredients, showing respect, ardour and flair in an approach I think of as noble simplicity. The recipes themselves range from the straightforward to the more involved, certainly, but none of them is overwrought, cluttered or fussy, and all are refreshingly unpretentious and gorgeously inspiring.
There’s not a recipe in the book I don’t want to tell you about, but nevertheless I will confine myself to an enthusiastic shortlist, beginning with my savoury selection. Fervently flagged with post-it notes are the Lemony Chicken Piccata; a chilli-spiked Peach and Tomato Salsa; Salad of Nectarines, Green Beans, Almonds and Feta; North African Lamb with Plums; Fig Anchoïade (I cannot wait for fig season to try this); Quail with Charred Radicchio and Grapes; Braised Pork Shoulder with Cider and Caramelized Apples; Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Quince Aïoli (the brilliant Nieves Barragon serves strips of deep-fried pig’s ear with quince aioli, and I adore it!); Slow-cooked Salmon with Pickled Rhubarb Relish; Mackerel with Gooseberry Compote and Yogurt; and Savoury Roasted Cherries with Thyme. On the sweet side of things, I need most urgently to inform you of the Lemon Ice Cream; Almond and Marmalade Cake; Rhubarb and Brown Butter Tart; Blackberry Jelly; Little Chocolate Pots with Roasted Cherries and Kirsch Cream; Fig Galette with Summer Berry Compote; Steamed Persimmon Pudding; Fruit Cake Ice Cream; and a Clementine Sorbet which I am most definitely going to be making at Christmastime!
And it is from this section that I’ve chosen a recipe to share with you today. Inspired by Skye Gyngell’s Prune and Armagnac Tart, Sarah Johnson has created a summer version in the form of this heavenly Apricot and Muscat Tart.
Fruitful: Sweet and Savoury Fruit Recipes Inspired by Farms, Orchards and Gardens by Sarah Johnson is published by Kyle Books.
Photography by Patricia Niven.
