EASY FRENCH APPLE TART (tarte fine aux pommes)

We were invited to join some friends for lunch on the campsite in the village.  They bring their caravan every year and we meet up with them if we can.  It was all a bit last minute as we had only just arrived back in France ourselves from a stay in England.  I offered to bring dessert then I scratched my head and wondered what I could make, having only done a very basic shop on our return.  I settled on a recipe by James Martin that I had had my eye on for a while and you can see here.  There are a lot of apple tart recipes by James Martin to choose from!

Many recipes for this simple apple tart have a layer of cooked apple under the apple slices but his recipe uses a layer of marzipan.  This very much appealed to me as apple and almond are a great combination.  I also had a pack of ready made marzipan in the cupboard and a roll of puff pastry in the freezer.

I trimmed the pastry to a slightly smaller size (by about 2cm all round) so that it would definitely fit on my baking sheet and also the plate I had earmarked for serving it.

I followed the recipe pretty closely except that when it came to glazing the finished tart I used apricot jam for that "patisserie" look rather than melted butter.  

It was a delicious tart, looked great and tasted wonderful.  Next time I would probably pack in more sliced apples but otherwise it's a lovely dessert which looks way more difficult than it actually is to make.

Ingredients

1 pack ready made, ready rolled puff pastry

3-4 eating apples

1/3 (approx) of a 450g block of ready made marzipan

1 egg, beaten

50g butter, melted

2 tblsp caster sugar

2 tblsp apricot jam*

Method

Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.  Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.

Unroll the pastry and trim to fit your serving plate.  Mine was circular as most French pasty comes in circles but an oblong or square tart is also good as long as you have a suitable serving plate.

Prick the pastry all over with a fork.

Slice the marzipan very thinly and lay the slices over the pastry leaving a small margin at the outside.  It needn't look too pretty as it melts into a homogeneous layer under the apples.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples*.  Arrange them in a neat pattern over the marzipan leaving as few gaps as possible.  Concentric circles work on a round tart and opposing rows or diagonals look good on square or oblong pastry.  There are lots of ideas for inspiration on the internet if you Google "French apple tart images".

Brush the apples carefully with the melted butter and sprinkle over the sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the apples are tender, the pastry is golden brown and the marzipan bubbling at the edges.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool until just warm.

Put the jam into a small saucepan and heat gently until melted.  Brush carefully over the apples so as not to disturb the pattern.

Serve warm or cold, with cream or ice cream.

Serves 8-10 portions.

*Cheap apricot jam works best as it has less real fruit in it and therefore fewer lumps of apricot! You can of course pick out or sieve out the lumps or Sainsbury's sell small jars of apricot glaze which is perfect for the job.  Personally I don't mind a tasty lump or two of fruit in my glaze for that home made look!

*Peeling the apples is optional, as seen in some of the Google images.

APPLE CARAMEL CAKE

For some time I have wanted to use a relatively new Bonne Maman product, Caramelised Apple Spread.  Curiously, although Bonne Maman is a French company I have not found this spread for sale anywhere in France.  The only place I have found it is Sainsbury's in the UK.  It tastes divinely like tarte tatin, the wonderful flavour of caramelised cooked apples, and having bought a jar I wondered what you would do with it.  Simply spreading it on toast or a crumpet seemed too ordinary but I imagined it would be fabulous as a filling for a sponge cake.

I had in mind Mary's recipe for her apple and lemon sponge cake (see here) but using the spread as a filling instead of lemon curd and cream.  I also decided to go rogue and add a layer of caramel buttercream in the middle and on top.

I my usual method for grating the apple, which was to cut the apple it half vertically, remove the core with a melon baller or teaspoon and grate using the peel to hold it.  You end up with grated apple and holding a piece of apple skin that can be discarded - with your own skin intact!

It was a very elegant looking cake with a nice moist crumb and lovely flavour of both apple and caramel.  I made this one for a very sophisticated young lady’s thirteenth birthday.  Her mum decorated it simply with two candles which said “13”.  

Ingredients

For the cake

225g each of baking spread

    caster sugar

    self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

two eating apples, peeled, cored and grated

For the filling and topping

100g unsalted butter, softened

200g icing sugar

2 tblsp Bon Maman confiture de lait or other caramel spread such as Carnation

a splash of milk if needed

3-4 tblsp Bon Maman caramelised apple spread

suitable decorations for example mini fudge chunks 

Method

Grease and line the bases of two 20cm sponge tins.  Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk4.

Put all the cake ingredients except for the apple into a large bowl and beat until smooth.  (An electric hand whisk makes this easier.)

Fold in the grated apple evenly and divide between the two prepared tins.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and done.  Cool in the tins.

To make the buttercream, beat together the butter, icing sugar and caramel spread.  Add the milk if needed to make it spreadable (the weather was quite hot when I made this cake so very little milk was needed).

Remove the sponges from the tins.  Making sure the sponges are completely cold, place one on a cake plate or cake stand and spread the top with enough apple spread to make a generous layer (about half a jar).  Then top this with half of the buttercream.  

Place the second sponge on top and spread the remaining half of the buttercream on the top.  Decorate with mini fudge chunks if liked or serve plain.

Cuts into 8-10 slices.

COURGETTE SOUP

Since my previous courgette soup post I have discovered numerous versions of the recipe for courgette and cheese triangle soup.  In fact I am amazed that I had never come across it before.  Keen to have another go at it I popped down to Tesco for some ingredients.  

However I was shocked to find most of the chiller and freezer cabinets empty!  The current heatwave seems to have caused a problem and they had been cleared.  Fortunately the cheese section was still functioning so I was able to get my “Laughing Cow” triangles. 

Like so many recipes, there are lots of different versions of it.  My friend who first told me about the soup gave me her recipe and she adds crème fraîche at the end for even more creaminess.  She cooks the courgettes in stock, not butter.  Some recipes add the cheese triangles at the start, some melt them in at the end of cooking.  Others include garlic, onion or spring onion.  In the end I took elements from a number of recipes and it was delicious; a delicate flavour and gorgeous creamy texture.

I ate it warm on day one and cold from the fridge with some chopped chives as garnish on day two.

Ingredients

5 courgettes, wiped (mine were huge so I used 3)

5 Laughing Cow or other cheese triangles

3 tsp Marigold stock powder, or a stock cube or pot

2 large knobs of butter

chopped chives or spring onions to garnish (optional)

Method

Melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Chop the unpeeled courgettes and cook gently in the butter on low heat until beginning to soften.  This is the stage at which many recipes add a chopped onion, chopped spring onions or crushed garlic.  I omitted them.

Add the stock powder and cover with water.  Stir well and simmer gently, covered, for about ten minutes until the courgettes are tender.  Add the cheese triangles and stir until they are melted in.

Blend in the pan using a stick blender (or transfer to a food processor/blender) and blend until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve warm or cold.  Garnish with chopped chives or spring onions (optional)

Serves 4

BANANA UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

A very delicious banana cake!

Back in the UK for a spell I did my customary sweep of the five local charity shops.

I found three cookbooks at £1.50 each.  They all appeared to be brand new.

The one entitled "the baker" is very much a "how to bake" book not just a collection of recipes.

The recipe for banana upside down cake caught my eye.

On the way home from the charity shop I called for some milk at the corner shop and spotted two bunches of bananas reduced in price so that clinched it!

The recipe said to line bottom and sides of the cake tin but I opted for using a circle of paper that was bigger than the tin and therefore came up the sides a bit.  It seemed to work.

The recipe said to use a 20cm tin which to me seemed a bit small.  I couldn't fit the right number of bananas in the bottom and also the quantity of mixture filled the tin more than I would normally do.  I came to the conclusion that 20cm was a mistake and would use a 23cm tin next time.  

It produced a very deep cake which dipped alarmingly in the middle!  The picture in the book shows a shallower cake with more sliced bananas on top, lending weight to my theory that the tin size stated was incorrect.

The recipe also included a lot of sugar and less flour than I would have expected.

However, the cake looked stunning and tasted divine!

It was very sweet and very bananery.

In the book it says it should be eaten on the day of baking.  Certainly the next day it was a bit more moist but equally delicious and the day after that made an excellent pudding warmed and served with ice cream!

I would definitely make it again - it would be good for a cake sale - but I would use a larger tin and possibly slightly less sugar.

Ingredients

For the banana topping

50g unsalted butter, melted

60g light soft brown sugar

6 large ripe bananas, peeled and cut into half lengthways

    (Using the size of tin stated I only fitted in 3 medium bananas)

For the cake

125g unsalted butter, softened

230g light soft brown sugar

2 eggs (I used medium)

185g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 large very ripe bananas, mashed (mine were medium)

Method

Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin.  I used a springform tin and see my notes about the size of tin and lining above.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan.

Pour the melted butter over the base of the tin and spread out with the back of a spoon if necessary to make sure the whole of the base is coated.  Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top.

Arrange the cut bananas in a pattern over the top of the sugar, cut side down.

To make the cake, using electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar until lighter and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Sift the flour and baking powder over and fold in, followed by the mashed bananas.

Spoon the mixture carefully over the sliced bananas and level the top.  Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake passes the skewer test.

Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out upside down onto a wire rack to cool.  Sit the rack over a dinner plate to catch any drips of the topping.  

Cuts into 8-10 generous slices.  Best eaten on the day it is made (see my notes above).

SMOKED SALMON PATÉ

 

Every so often I make smoked mackerel paté which you can see here.  This time I had some smoked salmon in the freezer so I decided to use that instead.  I also looked for a different recipe and adapted this one by Paul Hollywood from the BBC Food website.

It was easy to make, perfectly delicious and kept for a few days in the fridge.  We had ours with some toasted walnut bread and a glass of something chilled.

I recently spotted a very similar recipe where Boursin cream cheese with garlic and herbs is used instead of plain cream cheese, which sounds delicious.  See here.

Ingredients

200g (or one pack) sliced smoked salmon

100g full fat cream cheese

100g full fat crème fraîche

1 lemon (zest of the whole lemon, juice of half)

2 tsp creamed horseradish or horseradish sauce

1 tsp mustard

Chopped fresh dill (optional)

Method

Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until almost smooth.  Stop the machine when the texture still has some flakes and lumps. 

Season with salt and pepper and add more lemon juice, horseradish and mustard to taste.  

Chill in the fridge until needed and serve with toast, crusty bread or croutons.

Serves 6-8 as a starter, 2-3 as a filling for jacket potatoes.

CREAMY COURGETTE AND LEEK SOUP (soupmaker recipe)

 

A friend was waxing lyrical recently about a soup that she used to order in a local restaurant, now long since closed.  The chef divulged the recipe to her and she makes it for herself in a saucepan fairly often.  It seemed to consist of principally courgettes and cheese triangles!

With some courgettes and cheese triangles in stock I decided to have a go and see if I could make it in the soupmaker.  I added a leek and some potatoes because I thought it could be quite bland and a bit thin without them.

It turned out to be a delicious soup with a delicate flavour.  It wasn't especially cheesy but very creamy.  Definitely one to make again and a neat trick in using the cheese triangles to add creaminess.

Ingredients

2 large courgettes, washed

1 leek, washed

2 medium potatoes

4 cheese triangles (such as Laughing Cow)

1 vegetable stock pot

Method

Prepare and chop enough veg to fill the machine to the bottom line.

Add the cheese triangles, the stockpot and enough water to fill to the top line.

Cook on smooth.  Season to taste when done.

Makes 4 generous portions or 6 as a starter.

LEMON SYLLABUB

 

A little while ago I made lemon posset for a dinner party dessert.  You can read about that here.  I served it in a variety of small, dainty cups and glasses.  

Then a couple of months ago I acquired some more small Pyrex glass cups at a village brocante which would also be perfect for the dessert.  You can read about that here.  My thinking was white china cups for the ladies, plainer glass ones for the gentlemen, corny and old fashioned I know but I didn't have a full set of either so a mix and match would be fun.  They are both roughly the same capacity.

The next time I had it in mind to make lemon posset I was looking for the recipe and came across one for lemon syllabub instead.  I wondered what the difference was.

Essentially, for lemon posset you cook the cream and mix in lemon juice.  For lemon syllabub the cream is not cooked but you make a lemon syrup and also include some sweet white wine which appealed to me!  (Other recipes I have seen online suggest just using ordinary white wine.)

Mary Berry's recipe for it is in her book "Classic Mary Berry" and also on the BBC website as a video which you can see here.  Interestingly in the book the recipe suggests leaving the syrup to infuse for at least an hour or even overnight whereas in the video you combine it with the whipped cream as soon as the syrup has cooled.  

To whisk it up I used what I call my "spider whisk" because it reminds me of the ginormous spiders we get here in France.  You push the handle up and down and the spider bit twizzles round at huge speed, making it very effective as a hand whisk.  I was pleased to find that even French double cream whipped up quickly using it.

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The other day I found a set of ten of these little glass sundae dishes in a UK charity shop. 

They cost next to nothing and are perfect for the next syllabub!

(Or ice cream, or chocolate mousse.)

Ingredients

1 lemon (well scrubbed if not unwaxed) rind and juice

100ml sweet white wine

75g caster sugar

300ml double cream

Method

First, make the syrup by peeling strips of rind from the lemon as thinly as possible using a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife.  Put the rind into a small saucepan with the lemon juice, sugar and wine.  Bring to the boil gently and once the sugar has dissolved simmer for a few moments.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Strain the cooled syrup into a bowl but reserve the peel.

Add the cream to the bowl and whisk until it just holds its shape, ie until thicker but still floppy, not stiff.

Divide the syllabub evenly between six cups, glasses or ramekins,  dropping a dessertspoonful at a time into each one.  

Cut the lemon peel into thin strips and use to decorate the syllabub.  Chill in the fridge for a minimum of two hours.  The dessert is ideal for making the morning or day before you need it.

You could also decorate it with a sprig of mint, a few raspberries, sliced strawberries or edible flowers such as violas.

Serves 6.