Why tarts?
Tarts are universal, there are versions made all over the world (filo in Greece, spice in India) - lidded, larded, crusted, meringue-topped. Tarts never went out of fashion and never will. They are infinite in their variety. They are self-contained and portable for picnics or packed lunches. Rustic and alluring for anything al fresco, sophisticated and glamorous for dinner, earthy, warming, comforting for supper; as good served hot as warm, cold, leftover, re-heated; versatile, beautiful, a statement.
Place a tart on the table and it never fails to elicit a gasp; a tart impresses, makes an occasion, however simple and unshowy the ingredients. You can make a tart out of nothing, out of anything; its very form and delectableness elevates it to a level that its simple ingredients belie before you start.

Why now?
It’s a dozen years since The Art of the Tart became a best seller in England and America, and I have been conjuring up scores of great new tarts since then. It is the book I am still asked more about than any of the dozen I have written; the one that has stuck in people’s minds and kitchens and cooking lives. Even those who were too frightened to make pastry bought the book. We now have a willing new generation of tart-makers who are once more desperate for the best, most basic tart skills.

What’s in it?
Chapter headings will cover the seasonal (a January tart, a Christmas tart); the celebratory; the portable (picnic tarts); other people’s tarts; classic tarts; simple no-cook tarts; exotic foreign tarts; chocolate tarts. There will be individual tarts and pissaladieres, yeasted tarts (galettes) and covered tarts, techniques, alternatives, cheap tarts and deluxe tarts. There will be big, bold pictures of how-to with the different kinds of pastry that will give confidence to all those who fear the rolling pin (in all my time giving talks and master-classes, nothing frightens cooks at all levels more than pastry). Smart Tart will leave them fearless and accomplished at pastry-making.

Why should I pledge?
Because although baking books are ubiquitous, there is NO OTHER sweet and savoury tart book out there. Plus, I have tinkered with and perfected and up-dated even the old-fashioned classics and now I have a hundred new tarts up my sleeve to re-ignite the palates of all those who delighted in The Art of the Tart. That’s surely enough to re-crown me The Queen of Tarts.

Com on - it’s time for a second slice.

Read more...

After reading English as one of the first women to study at King's College, Cambridge I joined Anglia TV, and became a documentary film director and producer making over two dozen films for the BBC, C4 and ITV.
I’ve now written 12 cookery books, including Tamasin's Kitchen Bible, Tamasin's Kitchen Classics, Good Tempered Food, Supper for a Song, Food You Can't Say No To and a food and travel memoir, Where Shall We Go for Dinner?: A Food Romance.
I wrote the Saturday food column for the Daily Telegraph for 6 years, have made two TV cookery series for UKTV Food and still give master classes all over the world.

My passion for tarts remains undimmed.