Banana Tart, Brown Sugar Sour Cream

I do love a tart or a pie. I think that this may have something to do with my Father, who randomly made pies when we went on holidays.

As a child , my parents felt compelled to pack my sisters and I into the back of a car with our Grandmother and a Pekingese dog, and drive. We drove , with increasing lengths of caravans, through every school holiday, hot , cold, or raining , and through every town in NSW. I believe that they had our education in mind or perhaps they just needed to escape life in the suburbs. Four children under 5 and a dependant Grandmother could possibly be a test of  a saints patients at home , let alone in a confined space. On top of this the Pekingese Dog had to be monitored closely as inexplicably, it was not de-sexed and had tendencies to wander

Fruit was a staple, and often we had excess, as in reality we preferred ice cream and biscuits. Dad would sit at the caravan table with the ingredients to make pastry. Flour, icing sugar and softened butter, and with a knife, on the formica caravan table, he would combine the ingredients into a soft dough that he pushed into a tart case, this dough intrigued me, soft and pliable it cooked into a short buttery biscuit that I loved.  This was baked in a tiny caravan style oven.  I have never forgotten the taste of his most memorable tart, made with blackberries. These were collected from a bush in the Kosciusko national park after a memorable day trying to drive our 25 foot caravan up to the top lookout.

This little tart is quite versatile.  Bananas are a fruit that most of us can get our hands on , no matter where you are in the world , so I have thought of a few extra ways it can be dressed up in order to ensure a spectacular entrance when you bring it out.

It is inspired by a recipe  by the Gourmet Farmer, Mathew Evans. You can add any nuts that you like, exchange the sour cream for creme fraiche. Use bananas or use any other cooked or soft fruit you like…. maybe even jam or guava or quince paste, underneath the soothing blanket of sour cream and brown sugar and brulee the hell out of it.