A simple gooseberry and custard tart made in minutes

My granny grew gooseberries in her back garden. The sentence itself seems to hail from another time, another age when we were perhaps a little more self-sufficient. Does anyone in Dublin still grow their own gooseberries? My father said my grandma stopped growing her own fruit and vegetables once the supermarkets arrived. It was no longer necessary to grow your own.

Stillorgan shopping centre in Co Dublin was built in 1966. It claimed to be the first shopping centre in Ireland. However, if you count George’s Street Arcade as a shopping centre, which opened in 1881, then that is the oldest. Shopping arcades were popular all around Europe in the 19th century. French architect Bertrand Lemoine described the period 1786-1935 as the Arcade Era. The Palais Royal in Paris (opened in 1784) and the Covered Market in Oxford, England (opened in 1774 and still in use today), are two of the oldest examples of shopping arcades. But what has all this to do with gooseberries? Well, if the arcades and supermarkets never came to Ireland, would we still be growing our own fruit, herbs and lettuces?

How to make gooseberry custard tart

Though gooseberry growing was popular in 19th-century Britain and Ireland, it seems to have waned as many dislike the fruit’s tart nature. It shouldn’t surprise readers that they were used for many centuries for medicinal purposes, as were rhubarb and celery. As gooseberries need plenty of sweetness, they’re great in jams and compotes and have been popular as a filling for tarts, crumbles, fools and pies for hundreds of years.

This recipe is adopted from one by my chef friend Nathan Outlaw. Heat 100g of chopped gooseberries with 30g of sugar in a pot until the sugar dissolves and the fruit bursts. Bring 150ml of double cream to the boil and pour it over 75g of caster sugar and three eggs, whisking all the time. Roll out some ready-made shortcrust pastry and place in a tart tin. Blind-bake if desired. Add the gooseberries and pour the custard over them. Bake at 170 degrees until golden brown.