Chestnut-blackcurrant tart recipe from Frédéric Simonin

Frédéric Simonin, chef at his eponymous restaurant near Place des Ternes in Paris, builds his autumn tart on contrast: sweet chestnut mousse against a sharp blackcurrant confit, on a shortcrust base that needs an hour's rest before it meets the oven.

The original ran in Gault&Millau magazine, adapted from Simonin's book La Cuisine d'un chef engagé, as a four-part dessert with piped chestnut vermicelli and a separate baked layer. This chestnut blackcurrant tart recipe keeps the two ideas that matter, the mousse and the confit, for a home oven and a weekday afternoon. Chestnut purée needs acid to stop it tasting flat, which is the whole logic of the blackcurrant.

Ingredients

Chestnut purée needs acid or it tastes flat — that's the whole point of the blackcurrant.

• 125 g cold butter, cubed
• 60 g icing sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 egg
• 20 g ground almonds
• 190 g plain flour
• 250 g sweetened chestnut purée (crème de marrons)
• 1 sheet gelatine (2 g)
• 50 ml whole milk
• 150 ml double cream, for the mousse
• 150 g blackcurrants, fresh or frozen
• 30 g caster sugar, for the confit
• 1 tsp pectin, or 2 tsp cornflour
• juice of half a lemon
• 150 ml double cream, for the chantilly
• 1 tbsp caster sugar, for the chantilly
• seeds from half a vanilla pod
• 6 candied chestnuts (marrons glacés), halved

Method

1. Rub the butter into the icing sugar and salt until it looks like coarse crumbs, then work in the egg, almonds and flour just until the dough comes together. Chill for an hour: warmer dough rolls thin but bakes tough.
2. Roll to 3 mm, line a 22 cm tart ring, and blind-bake at 160°C for 18-20 minutes until pale gold. Cool it completely, or a warm base melts the mousse straight through it.
3. Soak the gelatine in cold water for five minutes. Warm the milk until steaming, squeeze out the gelatine and stir it in, then beat the mixture into the chestnut purée until smooth.
4. Whip the 150 ml cream for the mousse to soft peaks and fold it through the chestnut base in two additions, to keep the air in rather than knock it out. Chill for an hour.
5. Simmer the blackcurrants with the sugar and lemon juice for four minutes, stir in the pectin and cook one more minute until it coats the back of a spoon. Cool completely, or it slides straight into the mousse.
6. Spread the confit over the tart base, spoon the mousse on top and smooth it level, then chill for 30 minutes so it sets enough to slice cleanly.
7. Just before serving, whip the remaining cream with the sugar and vanilla seeds to soft peaks. Early whipping leaves it grainy by the time the tart reaches the table.
8. Finish with the chantilly cream and candied chestnuts, pressed in cut-side up so they catch the light.

What to pour alongside

Simonin's restaurant pairs the original with a late-harvest Chenin Blanc, whose acidity matches the blackcurrant rather than fighting the chestnut. A dry oloroso sherry does the same job for less, or pour strong black tea if the tart is landing on a weekday table rather than a Saturday one.

Leftover confit keeps a week in the fridge and works just as well over yoghurt or a plain sponge. For more, see our step-by-step Mont Blanc, Paris's other great chestnut dessert.

Questions before you start

Can I make this ahead? Yes. Bake the base and make the mousse and confit up to a day ahead, then assemble and add the chantilly within two hours of serving.

Can I skip the gelatine? Swap the leaf for 2 g of agar, dissolved the same way in the warm milk, if you want a set without animal gelatine.