Pudding of the Month – The Art of Puddings

Tarte au citron: Lemon tart recipe

4 Comments / Baking, Desserts, Flans, Fruit, Pudding of the Month, Tart / Sue

For my annual festive lunch this year, I made a large lemon tart. Tarte au citron definitely ranks up there as one of my all time favourite desserts. I adore lemons and use them prodigiously in my everyday cooking….thinly sliced in salads, lemon and oil as a salad dressed, squeezed liberally into smoked trout pate, hummous or baba ganoush. As part of a tingling morning drink mixed with orange juice. If you can get hold of Amalfi lemons they are wonderful – try Natoora or a specialist greengrocers. If not try and use unwaxed lemons from a supermarket – better flavour and the zest tastes amazing!

It’s fear of pastry that puts most people off making any kind of tart. Pastry is really not that difficult – it takes some practice and you have to follow some basic rules such as using cold butter, resting the dough in the fridge for at least an hour before using, handling the pastry as little as possible and a very particular method of putting the pastry into the tart case which I learned when I was an apprentice cook at Stevie Parle’s Dock Kitchen. This method of blind baking does not require the faff of baking beans or suchlike. Over the past year my pastry skills have improved so much so that I was really quite proud of the edge of the pastry.

Serves 12-14 people

FOR THE PASTRY

350g plain flour
a pinch of salt
175g unsalted butter (cold), cut into cubes
100g icing sugar
3 egg yolks

FOR THE FILLING

finely grated zest and juice of 7 lemons
350g caster sugar
6 whole eggs
9 egg yolks
300g unsalted butter, softened

Pre heat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Gas 4

For the sweet pastry, pulse the flour, salt and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar followed by the eggs yolks and pulse. The mixture will immediately leave the sides of the bowl and combine. Spread out a 30 cm piece of cling film on a surface, remove the pastry, bringing it together with the help of the cling film and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.

Coarsely grate (yes grate!) the pastry into a 30cm (12 inch) loose bottomed fluted tin, pressing it quickly, evenly and firmly onto the sides and base. Try not to work the pastry too much. Put the tart shell in the freezer for 15 minutes until hard, then bake in the oven for about 15 mins or until pale brown and firm to the touch. (NB try not to over cook the shell as it will require further baking when filled). Let the case cool off for 15 mins while you make the filling.

Put all the ingredients except the butter in a large saucepan over a very low heat, and whisk until the eggs have broken up and the sugar has dissolved. I recommend whisking the whole eggs in a little bowl with a fork before adding to the lemon juice, zest and sugar. It will then be easier to amalgamate the 9 eggs yolks.

Add half the butter and continue to whisk. At this point the eggs will start to cook and the mixture should coat the back of a metal spoon. Add the remaining butter and continue stirring until the mixture becomes very thick. It is important to continue whisking throughout the cooking process to prevent the mixture from curdling. Remove from the heat, place on a cold surface (this stops the cooking process) and continue to whisk until the mixture is lukewarm.

Raise the oven temperature to 230ºC/450ºF/Gas 8

Spoon the lemon filling into the pastry case and bake until the top is brown. This should take about 8-10 mins. If like me, you like little brown spots on your lemon tart – place the tart under an oven grill keeping a wary eye lest it should burn. My grill is quite fierce so turning the tin helps an even browning. If you do find that your pastry edges are burning – cut a thin long length of foil and apply to the edge of the tart to protect it while it is under the grill.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool before slicing.
Serve with crème fraiche or solo with an artfully placed splash of fruit couli next to each slice.

Note: 9 egg yolks means nine lots of egg whites. You can make coconut chocolate macaroons (David Lebovitz has a great recipe!) or financiers with the leftover egg whites. Egg whites can be also be frozen very successfully in small freezer bags though make sure to label with the number of whites before freezing.

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Autumn fruit crumble

2 Comments / Baking, Desserts, Fruit, Pudding of the Month, Puddings / Sue

There’s nothing more comforting, as the nights draw in, than a crumble made with the last of the blackberries combined with Turkish figs and this season’s bramley apples.

You can be inventive with your fruit combinations. I just happened to have some fresh figs. The week before I used redcurrants in place of the figs but alas, they are not to be found. I use ground almonds in the topping as they are readily available but if you can find ground hazelnuts (a rareity these days) or best of all, whole hazelnuts – grind them in a processor and mix in with the topping. I buy my hazelnuts from Natoora who supply restaurants but are happy to take retail orders online.

This recipe serves 4 and I trebled the ingredients as I was making it for a 12 people.

Ingredients
a good knob of butter
3 large Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped
75g caster sugar
150g blackberries or any other wild berries, blueberries or elder berries.
2 figs cut into pieces
zest of a lemon

Toppping:
40g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
30g ground almonds or hazelnuts
60g sugar
80 g plain flour
good handful of rolled oats

cream, creme fraiche, vanilla ice cream or plain yogourt, to serve

Preheat the oven to 190 C/375 F/gas 5. For the filling, melt the knob of butter in a wide pan, add the apples and sugar and cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring ocassionally, until the apples begin to break down, but are not too soft.

Take off the heat and stir in the blackberries and figs, then add the lemon zest. Put all the filling into a medium size ovenproof pie dish or individual dishes if you prefer.

For the topping, mix the unsalted butter, almonds, sugar, plain flour in a food processor, or rub between your fingers – the purist way – until it looks like breadcrumbs. Finally mix in the rolled or porridge oats which give the topping some texture.

Sprinkle the crumble topping over the filling and bake in the middle of the oven for 3o – 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve it with cream, creme fraiche, vanilla ice cream or plain yogourt. I served mine with Tim’s Dairy Greek style natural yogourt. It’s lovely and thick and goes a treat with crumble.

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Gooseberry and Elderflower Syllabub

Leave a Comment / Desserts, Fruit, Pudding of the Month, Puddings, Tart / Sue

I love tart English fruit. Rhubarb, Redcurrants, Damsons and through the summer when most of our summer berries are red – along come gooseberries. Lovely pale green, sometimes golden or red flecked, hairy goosegogs appear in our shops in from June to August. Evocative of 50s childhood puddings and making a comeback – gooseberry fool, crumble, pie, tart and not forgetting gooseberry jam and jelly. Gooseberry Sauce was traditionally eaten with mackerel and other oily fish. There is still an annual Gooseberry Show at Egton Bridge in North Yorkshire on the first Tuesday in August where the grower with the largest gooseberry wins.

I found this delightful recipe on James Ramsden’s Small Adventures in Cooking site. Guest posted by Evie of saffron-strands.blogspot.com. I’ve adapted it and reduced the amount of sugar as I prefer a slighter tarter tasting syllabub. Gooseberries are really easy to prepare and require very little cooking. The base for most gooseberry dishes call for the fruit to be stewed and sweetened according to the sharpness of the fruit.

Ingredients
100ml Sauternes or Muscat wine
finely grated zest of a lime
35g caster sugar
300ml double cream
600g gooseberries
80-100g caster sugar, adjust according to taste
2 tbsp elderflower cordial, homemade or shop bought is fine
50g blanched almonds, lightly toasted in the oven

Mix the first three ingredients together in a small bowl and allow to stand for a couple of hours or overnight so that the flavours are well blended.

Wash and top and tail the gooseberries. Slowly dissolve 80 -100g caster sugar together with the elderflower cordial in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the gooseberries and cook gently until the fruit is soft but not collapsed – approx 10/15 mins. Leave to cool completely then place in the fridge.

Whip the double cream until at very soft peak stage and then slowly mix in the sweet wine, lime zest and sugar mixture until it is all incorporated – take care not to over beat the cream mixture! If it seems too loose don’t fret as it will stiffen once it is chilled. Spoon the gooseberry mixture into individual serving glasses, half filling the glass and top with the syllabub. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours – it will keep in the fridge for at least 24 hrs and when ready to serve, finish off by sprinkling with the toasted almonds. Watch it disappear!

Serves 4-6 depending on the size of glass used.

More gooseberry recipes and further reading for gooseberry fans:

Jane Grigson’s classic Fruit Book – (Penguin Cookery Library) beautifully written section about the gooseberry with some traditional recipes.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Gooseberry Recipe’s from The Guardian’s Life&Style
RHS Grow your Own Gooseberries: Essential information for those wanting to grow their own gooseberries.

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Pudding of the Month: October 2011

2 Comments / Baking, Pudding of the Month, Tart / Sue

Fig and Frangipane Tart

As I had four ripe figs, some leftover pastry and some frangipane mixture. I decided to make these three small tarts for an autumn picnic in Kew Gardens last week. Sadly, I don’t have a fig tree in my garden but as figs are plentiful this time of use I was spoilt for choice. I used a Turkish variety called Black Bursa. You can pick figs up for as little as 37p each right now. I go for the plump black ones bursting with a sweet jammy texture and rich flavour. Once bought they must be consumed quickly as they don’t keep well.

This recipe is for two medium size tarts or one large one but you can easily adapt it to make smaller tarts like mine. I used three, 10cm loose-bottomed fluted flan tins.

for the pastry
350g plain flour
a pinch of salt
175g unsalted butter
100g icing sugar
3 egg yolks

for the filling
250g unsalted butter, room temperature
250g caster sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten
250 g ground almonds
50g plain flour
12-14 figs, stems trimmed, cut lengthways in 1/4s or 1/8s according to their size

Start with pastry as it needs to rest for at least one hour while you make the filling. In a food processor pulse the flour, salt, butter and sugar until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and pulse a little more until just combined. Bring together quickly on a cold work surface, wrap in cling film and chill for at least an hour. If you have any pastry left once you’ve made your tart, it will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days. It also freezes very well too.

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4. Coarsely grate the pastry into a 25cm loose-bottomed fluted flan tin, pressing it well into the sides and base. Try not to over work the pastry too much. Put the tart shell in the freezer for 15mins, then blind bake for about 15 mins until firm and slightly golden. Put tart shell aside to cool. Turn the oven down to 150ºC/300ºF/gas mark 3.

For the filling, cream the butter and sugar in a food processor until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time mixing well after each one. In a separate bowl combine the ground almonds with the flour. Add the ground almonds to the butter mixture and mix well.

Spread the almond paste over the base of the tart shell/s. Arrange your figs artfully, pressing them lightly, bottoms down, into the almond paste. If you are making one large tart then place them in concentric circles with their cut sides facing upwards. Bake for about 60 mins or until firm and golden. You can dust with a little icing sugar if you like and serve warm or cold. Serve with a spoonfull of Greek yogourt or better still Turkish yogourt!

Enjoy this very autumnal delight!

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Pudding of the Month: July 2011

Leave a Comment / Frozen Desserts, Fruit, Pudding of the Month / Sue

Easy Cherry Sorbet

My local farmers market has a stall selling nothing but Kent cherries for £5 a kilo so this month I’ve been trying out recipes featuring cherries.

I’ve adapted this one from a recipe by David Lebovitz whose blog and books I’m a great fan of. I’m always on the look out for ice cream and sorbet recipes which genuinely work without an ice cream churner as I don’t own one (as yet!) – and this one fits the bill. It’s simple to make and delicious.

675g/1 ½ lbs sweet cherries, pitted

100 g sugar

250 ml water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

a few drops almond essence

1 tablespoon of kirsch (optional)

In a large saucepan combine the cherries, sugar, water and lemon juice and cook for about 10 mins, stirring occasionally until the cherries have softened and released their juices. Remove from the heat and add the almond extract and kirsch, if using. Set aside to cool completely.

Decant the cherries and their syrup into a shallow container, cover and freeze until firm, at least 2hrs.

Once the cherry mixture has frozen completely, take it out of the freezer, break it up, and process it in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until completely smooth. Serve immediately.

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Pudding of the Month: June 2011

Leave a Comment / Flans, Pudding of the Month / Sue

Cherry Clafoutis

Clafoutis or cherry flan is traditional in the Limousin during the cherry season. It’s basically peasant cooking for family meals and a very easy dessert to make – a pancake batter poured over fruit in an fireproof dish, then baked in the oven. Don’t stone the cherries as they give the dish a wonderful flavour. You can substitute cherries for plums, prunes, pears, peaches or blackberries.

Serves 4-6

80g plain flour

a pinch of salt

200ml milk

2 large eggs, beaten

2 tbsp caster sugar

ripe cherries, (not too sweet if you can track them down)

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp granulated sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 200º C/350ºF. Put flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and slowly pour in the milk and eggs, whisking to make a smooth batter, adding caster sugar.

Put the cherries in 24 cm ovenproof frying pan or similar size ovenproof dish, with the granulated sugar and dot with butter. Roast in the oven for about 10 minutes, then pour over the batter and bake for another 20 mins or until the batter has set.

Allow to stand for 20 mins and serve lukewarm.

Pudding of the Month: June 2011 Read More »