Mango Tart, Impromptu

 

April 12, 2016

 

  As if it weren't bad enough that we had a small mountain of leftovers from the launching of Fast & Fearless Cooking for the Genius*, we then talked ourselves into buying a box of 20 Ataulfo (Adolfo) mangoes, just because it's the season. Twenty mangoes is a lot, for two people.

 

Not only was this tart quick (about twenty minutes start to finish), but it used up some of the (homemade) oatcakes left from the launch, as well as a whack of similarly leftover goat cheese. Not to mention four mangoes. Sometimes I like to have a not-very-sweet dessert, a family-type treat after a meal. This tart isn't fancy enough for company, maybe, but it's a good.

 

In chronological order, here's what I did:

 

1. Turned the oven on to 375 degrees.

 

2. Put 4 tablespoons of butter into a pie plate and stuck it in the oven to melt.

 

3. Put about a cup and a half of crumbled oatcakes** into the food processor and pulsed them to crumbs.

 

4. Poured the (half)-melted butter into the processor along with a small spoonful of honey***, and processed until well mixed.

 

5. Dumped the buttered oatcake crumbs into the pie plate, tamped them down with my knuckles until the bottom and sides of the pie plate were evenly covered, and set the crust into the oven to bake while I dealt with the mangoes.

 

6. Peeled**** the four mangoes, then carefully sliced off the two cheeks from each seed and set them aside. I then cut the remaining flesh from the seeds and put those pieces into the bowl of the food processor.

 

7. Added a quarter cup of yogurt to the little mango pieces along with almost a cup of goat cheese. Processed this until smooth then set it aside.

 

8. Cut the mango cheeks into thin, even, beautiful, irresistible slices.

 

9. By now the oatcake crust had set, so I removed it from the oven and poured in the mango/goat cheese mixture, then laid the thin slices on top of the creamy filling.*****

 

10. Took a picture of the tart.

 

11. Ate it with gusto and relish.

 

 

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*The book was successfully launched at the beautiful Ben McNally's Books. Be sure to visit this wonderful bookstore, at 366 Bay Street in Toronto.

 

**I used oatcakes because that's what I had on hand. You can use any neutral cracker or bread.

 

***You could use more sweetening than this, depending on your sweet tooth. I liked letting the mangoes deliver the sweetness this time.

 

****I have always dealt with mangoes by removing the unpeeled cheeks from the seed first, then scoring the flesh and turning the skin inside out and cutting away the flesh. This time, I don't know why, I just used a vegetable peeler and peeled the mangoes as I would a potato. I think maybe this is easier with the Ataulfo mangoes than with other varieties, which are sometimes stringy. At any rate, use whatever method you like to peel your mangoes.

 

*****If you were to melt some apple jelly or apricot jam (sieved) with a tablespoon of water, then brush it over the top of the mango slices, you would 1) give an enticing sheen to the top of the tart and 2) sweeten up the taste. Personally, I like it as is, with just that touch of honey in the crust.