SMART TART: Observations from My Cooking Life

A limited edition printed exclusively for Fortnum & Mason in 2013, this beautifully designed rather special book of reminiscences of a life in food is printed on glossy white pages with achingly beautiful close up colour photography of delicious food. Crab and Caramelised Fennel Tart, a good old Quiche Lorraine, Tarte au Citron, an Apricot Tatin, a Treacle Tart, Smoked Salmon, Artichoke, Sour Cream and Chive Tart, Lemon Curd or Jam Tarts, this truly is a celebration of 'The Art of The Tart' which was published in 2000 and became an international bestseller. Smart Tart is less of a sequel and more of a companion defining in 14 autobiographical sketches Tamasin as she takes us back to early memories of baking at home, the matchless taste of the Bakewell tart made by her grandparents' cook Rhoda, her father's elaborate Christmas rituals, and the pleasures of tea at Fortnum & Mason with her grandmother and her brother the famous actor Daniel Day-Lewis. She writes at length of the beauty and restorative power of County Mayo in the west of Ireland where she has spent every summer since childhood, and the important role food plays in the social revolution of the 1960s. The chapter headings alone set your lips drooling - Bakewell Tart, Tea at Fortnum's Fountain, Christmas, The Things I Love and the Things I Hate About Food, Treacle Tart, Slowly Cooked, Childhood Tarts, Figs, Famine, The Best Restaurant and more. There are tips on pastries for Walnut Tart, Baked Ricotta, Lemon and Vanilla Tart, Antipasti Tarts to serve with drinks, as a starter, a lunch or supper dish with a buttery-crisp puff pastry decked with the best fresh ricotta, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, olives, herbs, tomatoes, they are breathtakingly easy and quick to assemble as a hot tart and make in batches of 15 depending on numbers. Beautifully observed anecdotes about friendship, family, love, politics and science as warm and delicious as the food that inspires them. 'Elizabeth David, Delia and Nigella all rolled into one' - The Scotsman. 206pp, colour photos.