Date and Frangipane Tart

Hello, people of the internet.  Greetings from lockdown 5 thanks to a few people in Sydney having a “Let them eat cake” attitude to the health of the people of Victoria.  In return, we are going to stay at home and eat a delicious Date and Frangipane tart so, in the long run, we win.  In the short term?  F*** you Gladys.  Your lax excuse for a lockdown in Sydney has put so many Victorian lives in danger.

Well.  That was truly not how I intended to start this post.  But sometimes you just need to give in to what your subconscious mind needs to say.  Now my little rant is over, this is how I meant to start.  What do an almond cream filling for pastries, a tropical flower, stinky gloves and a 16th century Italian Maquis all have in common?

The answer is that all are called Frangipane.

Back in the day, the leather gloves worn by the nobles would often get very stinky so Frangipani the man invented a bitter almond perfume to remove the reek from said gloves.  This perfume was either made from, or inspired by, the scent of the frangipani flower.

French chefs of the time were inspired by the scent of the perfume to make an almond pastry filling which they called frangipane

I could not find any pictures of the eponymous Frangipane.  So here is a random 16th century Italian nobleman with some tart, flowers and, of course, some stinky gloves.

Seriously though, this tart is delicious.  And the apple juice and brandy caramel sauce?  That Italian nobleman will be chef kissing and announcing “Bella, bella”.

Here’s the recipe from Neil Perry via Good Food

Have a great week!  I’ll be at home, planning something very special for this coming weekend!