Henry Harris’ recipe for tarte Vaudoise à la creme | Dessert

Often, the greatest dishes are made from very few ingredients and with pretty standard techniques, and this tart is one of them. It’s based on an old Frédy Girardet recipe that, despite his reputation as one of the all-time greats, calls only for a simple application of process to deliver a knockout result (which is one reason I put it in my latest book). A pastry case is spread with sugar and cream, then dotted with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon. The pastry is not blind baked, but filled and baked in a very hot oven. That sounds wrong, but it is not: a fierce heat is needed to bake the pastry under its filling and to meld the cream, sugar and butter. A pinch of flour is mixed with the sugar and, as it all boils up, that smidgen of flour holds everything together as it bubbles and reduces until it takes on the appearance of condensed milk while the pastry cooks and toasts at the edges. I still use Girardet’s quantities because, unsurprisingly, they work perfectly. Merci, chef.

Tarte Vaudoise a la creme

Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr + cooling
Serves 4-6

For the pastry
140g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
5g baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 generous pinch caster sugar
60g unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces
50ml cold whole milk

For the filling
100g caster sugar
1 generous pinch plain flour
250ml double cream
50g cold unsalted butter, diced
A little ground cinnamon (freshly ground is worth the faff)

Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. To make the pastry, sift the flour into a large bowl, then mix in the baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the butter, then work it in with your fingertips until the mix resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Pour in the milk and mix with as light a hand as possible to bring the dough into a ball. Don’t rest the pastry, because that will activate the baking powder too soon and the pastry will puff up through the filling while it cooks. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface into a circle big enough to line a 25cm tart tin, then lay it in the tin and prick the pastry all over with a fork.

For the filling, mix the sugar and flour, then spread it in an even layer over the base of the pastry case. Pour in the cream, then scatter over the diced butter and a light sprinkling of ground cinnamon. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the edges of the pastry are a good biscuit colour and the cream has bubbled up and looks thick and almost about to split.

Remove from the oven and transfer the tin to a rack to cool completely. To serve, carefully remove the tart from its tin and cut into slices.

• Henry Harris is chef/co-owner of Bouchon Racine, London EC1. His book, The Racine Effect, is published by Quadrille at £40. To order a copy for £36, go to guardianbookshop.com