During my early days in New York working for Restaurant Daniel, dinnertime at home landed around two in the morning. The sad truth for pastry chefs working in restaurants is that they are always the last ones dismissed, since dessert is the last course. By the time I got home, the options were slim for 24-hour restaurants that delivered. And so, my go-to meal of choice was simple: a bowl of cereal. Cereal was convenient. There was no prep time, there were minimal dishes to be washed, and it strangely hit the spot.
Enjoy this dish as is or use it as a star element of the Best Friend Salad. Better yet, make a double recipe; eat some now and use the rest in a salad later in the week. Any leftover dressing is amazing tossed with sliced cucumber and sesame seeds.
This dish tastes like health and summer.
For the pastry shy, this tart is salvation. It looks like jewels set in amber, with its candy bar mosaic of five kinds of nuts embedded in buttery caramel slicked over a tender crust, which is where salvation comes in. There is no rolling pin in sight. You pat the crust into the tart tin with your fingers.