Provençal types: Bill Granger cooks simple food from the south-east of France You could say Provençal cooking was the original produce-driven cuisine. It is healthy, light, strong on fish and vegetables, and pile-on-the-plate simple. Most dishes need minimal preparation or fiddling about with, so I like to take a bit more effort over the pudding; here, a mouthwatering, melting apricot tart. Although, if I was truly French, I'd probably have saved myself the effort and bought it from the patisserie! Crostini and toppings For goat's curd with chilli and herbs topping Chop a handful of basil and flat-leaf parsley leaves and mix with 4 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tsp of dried chilli flakes. Spread the crostini with 150g/5oz of goat's curd, add some herbs and serve. Apricot, almond and orange blossom tart The ingredients for this sound almost like something you could add to your bath, but I assure you that wouldn't be a good idea. Delicately perfumed with a hint of Middle Eastern promise, it's as good as pudding gets. And the beauty of the dough is that no rolling is needed. 185g/6½oz butter, melted and cooled 130g/4¼oz caster sugar 260g/8¼oz plain flour 2 tbsp ground almonds 170ml/6fl oz double cream 2 eggs, lightly beaten 3 tbsp caster sugar Few drops orange-blossom water 2 tbsp plain flour 500g/1lb apricots, pitted and halved For the topping 50g/2oz Marcona almonds, sliced 15g/½oz icing sugar To serve Pouring cream or ice-cream Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. Grease a 20cm x 15cm baking tray. To make the pastry, stir the butter and sugar in a bowl then add the flour and stir to combine. Transfer the dough to the tin and press over the base and up the sides. Put the tin on a baking tray and cook for 15 minutes or until golden and slightly puffy. Remove from the oven and sprinkle over the almonds. Meanwhile, make the filling: whisk the cream, eggs and sugar together. Add the orange-blossom water (if you can find it - the recipe will still work without) and flour and stir to combine. Lay the apricots in the tin, pour over the cream mixture then return to the oven and cook for 40-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Leave the oven on. Mix the almonds and icing sugar together, spread on a lined baking sheet and cook for 8 to 12 minutes, until golden and candied. Remove, cool, then break up and scatter over before serving with ice-cream or pouring cream.