Aside from learning that goats have toenails, one valuable pearl of wisdom I garnered from interviewing Julius Roberts was to never underestimate the greatness of a galette. It has all the impressiveness and romanticism of a tart, with its rosette arrangement of fruit and frilly pastry skirt, but without the sweat-inducing precision required for latticed raspberry number or lemon meringue pie. Its rustic asymmetry is what gives it charm, so it pays to be a little skewiff with your crimping and haphazard with the fruit arrangement. After all, the French make the rules.
Although they can be savoury, this galette is the sweet kind – tart, thin slices of nectarine are arranged on a layer of pistachio frangipane before finishing with a fragrant cardamom glaze. The whole tart is tucked into bed with a duvet of shortcrust pastry sprinkled with brown sugar for a caramelised, crunchy crust. It's the perfect finale to a summer supper and guarantees to silence your guests as they tuck into a warm slice topped with cold creme fraiche. A moment of respite from hostessing-with-the-mostessing.
Although you can use shop-bought shortcrust pastry in this recipe, making your own is deceptively straightforward – it comes together in a matter of minutes. The buttery flavour and crumbly texture of homemade pastry simply cannot be rivalled with Jus-Rol, so roll up your sleeves and give it your best Paul Hollywood.
