When Mother Nature decides to throw a not-so-nice spring season in Europe, we can expect the red delicacies that are cherries to reach us a bit later than usual and in limited supply. Hopefully, summer won't be that bad and will still allow us to get our share of the fruit. California was luckier than the Old Continent re weather and its cherries are already flooding fresh fruit markets around town.

One interesting fact about growing cherries is when they are almost ripe and it rains a lot, cherries absorb the rain water and crack or fall from the tree. I remember running around and getting up the ladder with my rattan basket at the sight of black thunderstorm clouds lurking over the Alps. 

Tart and Sweet

Cherries are one of the all-time favourite fruits for many and they are extremely versatile lending themselves to being prepared in countless popular ways such as pie, clafoutis, jam, ice-cream or brandied.

Personally, I enjoy them best as they are: fresh. The season being upon us, I'd like to share with you a great classic that I revisited using tart cherries to make, um... a cherry tart!

For the tart, I am using two types of cherries, sour cherries and sweet dark cherries, but of course, you could just use one if both are not available. I just love the balance of tartness and sweetness coming from the same kind of fruit. Also, while the sour cherry are poached in their juice with a little brown sugar - far tastier than its brother the white sugar - the dark cherries remain in their purest form, that is fresh. We'll stew the fruits by cooking them for not more than three minutes as we do not want to have our cherries mashed and emptied of all their precious flavours. As with any other fruits, I always prefer to poach or cook them in their own juice and not just in a plain sugar and water syrup that would literally drain them of flavour. It makes sense, really.

Also, since we will have two sorts of cherries and the delicate essence of the vanilla bean as flavours, I'd rather not prepare my sour cherries with any other spices such as cinnamon or cardamom.

Flan Parisien

Flan Parisien is a classic in French patisserie. It has a reputation of being heavy and plain, yet, in this tart we use it as a binding element that is equal or less in proportion of the fruit quantity. Also, I am adding vanilla bean (yes, the real thing please) to enhance the plain flavour of the flan. Making a flan is not rocket science, but a few points must be observed to obtain a perfect one.

First, the cooking; it is important to cook the base enough to coagulate all the starch particles from the cornstarch, or else you will have an unpleasant starchy feeling in your flan, and may end up with something resembling scrambled eggs. The second point to watch for is the addition of the double cream. Add when your mixture has cooled to just warm - that way, you will preserve the goodness of the double cream, that is its fabulous taste and texture.

The final important point, allow your flan mixture to cool completely before baking or else you flan will pop up into large bubbles, making the top of the flan uneven. And if the tart is made for adults, you might like to add a dash of dark rum. 

This tart gives us different textures and aromas, between the crisp tart shell, the bold yet delicate vanilla flan filling and the fruitiness of both kinds of cherries. To finish, simply place some dark cherry halves on the top of the tart.

If you plan on keeping the tart for a while or if you're torn between staring at your beautiful creation and actually eating it, you can brush the cut side of the black cherries with some of the juice from the sour cherry compote to keep a fresher shiny look. Final touch, decorate with fresh Japanese basil blossoms.

Talking about basil, there is another great flavour pairing I really enjoy preparing as a fresh fruit recipe...fresh black cherries, a pinch of sugar, fresh lime juice and freshly chopped basil chiffonade. Just that with a fromage blanc ice cream churned a-la-minute. It's refreshing, light and flavourful - perfect to end your summer meals!

The Recipe

250 gm Black cherries

A few sprigs of Japanese basil with blossom

Sweet Dough:

190 gm White sugar

300 gm Butter

60 gm Almond powder

2 large eggs

500 gm Cake flour

A pinch of salt

Mix the butter and the sugar until it has reached a creamy texture. Add the eggs and finally, the flour, salt and almond powder. Mix the dough until you have a homogenous dough. Allow to cool in the fridge for about 2 hours before using.

Sour Cherries Stew:

200gm Sour Cherries

200ml Cherry juice

25 gm Brown Sugar

Bring the cherry juice and the brown sugar to a boil, and then reduce to a slow simmer and poach your pitted sour cherries for just 3 minutes.

Flan Parisien:

250 ml Fresh milk

75 gm White sugar

25 gm Cornstarch

2 small eggs

90gm Double cream

1pc Vanilla bean

Boil the milk, sugar and vanilla bean cut lengthwise. On the side, mix the cornstarch with the eggs. Pour some hot milk into the egg mixture and mix it back into the hot milk. Cook it over low heat until it thickens and keep aside. Once the mixture is just warm, add the double cream and remove the vanilla bean. Allow to cool completely before using.

Finishing: First, we prepare a par baked sweet dough tart shell. Just roll out your sweet dough at a thickness of 3 millimetres and lay it out in your tart shell. Fill the tart with dried beans in order to keep the shape of the tart and bake it for about 15 to 20 minutes at 190°C. Once done, allow to cool and remove all the beans from the tart. Add some stewed sour cherries (drained from their juice) on the bottom of your tart shell and fill the tart with the flan base. Bake the tart until golden brown for about 20 to 30 minutes at 190°C. Once baked and cooled, simply garnish the tart with the fresh black cherries and some fresh Japanese basil blossoms.