Desserts

Tarte au citron: Lemon tart recipe

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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.

photograph: Mad Dog TV Dinners

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 /

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 /

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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Prodigious Strawberry Pavlova

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Prodigous Strawberry Pavlova

In between a hectic round of street parties over the Jubilee weekend, I wanted to make a dessert for a gathering on Monday evening.  As I had several boxes of really good strawberries, eggs, home made caramel and a time limit …. strawberry pavlova was an obvious choice.  I pre-made the meringue base on Sunday night, pre-prepared the strawberries and chantilly cream on Monday morning and went to a lunch time street party knowing all would be well.

The recipe is adapted from one by Nigella Lawson, substituting strawberries for her raspberries and using chantilly cream for extra ooomph.  If you want to you could use strawberries and raspberries, adding passion fruit and lychees as Nigella does in hers. I find it all those different fruits too much for a pavlova! I much prefer the classic simplicity of strawberries, chantilly cream and meringue.

For the base

8 free-range egg whites
500g caster sugar
4 tsp cornflour
2 tsp white wine vinegar
½ tsp vanilla extract

For the topping

600ml double cream
45g icing sugar
2 boxes of strawberries (hulled, quarter larger ones & soak in bowl with caster sugar to taste).
Caramel to drizzle over.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4
Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and draw a 25cm/10inch diameter circle onto it with a pencil.
In a bowl or stand mixer whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed.  Slowly whisk in the sugar one tablespoon at a time, until you get stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted out of the mixture.

Sprinkle in the sifted cornflour, adding the vinegar and vanilla extract to the egg whites and fold in gently with a metal spoon.  I use a stand mixer so just give it a few revolutions of the whisk attachment to make sure everything is mixed in.  It is the addition of the cornflour and vinegar which keeps inside of the pavlova soft and marshmallow like.

Spoon the meringue mixture on the baking parchment within your marked circle and using a spatula, flatten the top and smooth the sides.

Place in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 120ºC/250ºF/Gas ½.  Cook for an hour, then turn off the oven and leave to cool completely.

Once cool, remove the meringue based from the oven (you can keep it in an airtight container for a couple of days or store in a freezer for up to one month).

As the base can be quite fragile, I tend to trim the excess baking parchment off with scissors and find a large flat dish on which to assemble the pavlova.

For the topping I make chantilly cream by whipping double cream in a stainless steel bowl (glass will do) which has been chilled beforehand in the freezer.  Wipe the bowl and pour in your cream and beat until cream forms soft peaks.  Then mix in your sieved icing sugar being careful not to over beat.  The cream should be firm but still light in texture.

Spoon the cream onto the meringue base, spreading it outwards to the edge of the base.  Then load on your strawberries and dribble on the juices (the addition of a little sugar to the cut strawberries encourages the juices out of the strawberries (masceration).

Finally take your caramel and if you need to soften it place the jar in a bowl of boiled water) and drizzle all over the top of the pavolva.  Indulge and enjoy.

I will post a recipe for making caramel very soon.  It really isnt difficult to make and can be stored in the fridge in a jars for several weeks.  If you don’t have any caramel to hand, you could make a fruit couli using fresh raspberries and icing sugar.  Whizz them in a food processor and blend into a smooth sauce and
ideally pass through a sieve to remove the pips. Drizzle liberally all over the strawberry & cream covered pavlova.

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