NOGGLE END TOMATO TARTS

Our tomatoes have started to ripen but although they taste delicious they would not win any beauty contest!  They are a bit "noggly" - lumpy and bumpy with the odd split.  With a pack of puff pastry in the freezer I decided to use some of them for little tarts.

There was also a selection of bits of cheese in the fridge - we call those "noggle ends" - bits you would put under the grill on toast or in a quiche.  I used Camembert and something called Tome aux Fleurs, a hard cheese with a crust of flower petals, which you can read about here.  Grated cheddar would have worked well.

Also lurking in the fridge was a small pack of cocktail frankfurters, purchased for some long forgotten event and never used but fortunately well within date. 

I used my free Yorkshire pudding tin (see here) to make four tarts but this time used a slightly bigger template to cut the pastry allowing me to crimp the edges more neatly.  (It's actually something I spotted in Ikea, is meant to be the base for one of those stainless steel kitchen tool holders and I had a hunch it would be just the right size.)

My pastry made four tarts and eight cocktail sausage rolls (recipe here) from the trimmings.  All fun to make and very tasty - a nice way to entertain children on a wet afternoon in the school holidays I think - they are very adaptable and bake in just the right amount of time to clear up then heat up a tin of baked beans!😋

Ingredients 

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled, oblong puff pastry

2 tsp French mustard (or brown sauce, onion chutney or ketchup if you prefer)

6 thick slices of tomato

Thin slices of any cheese you have (or grated cheddar if you prefer)

1 egg, beaten (optional but worth using if you are also making the sausage rolls)

Fresh or dried thyme

8 cocktail frankfurters (or one large frankfurter cut into bits or the filling from a sausage)

Method 

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk6.  Grease the four holes of a Yorkshire pudding tin or four small tart tins (or use four ovenproof saucers placed on a baking sheet).

Allow the pastry to thaw and come up to room temperature.  Unroll and cut four circles about 2cm bigger than the holes using anything you have that’s the right size as a template.  Lay the pastry into the holes and crimp the edges.

Using the back of a teaspoon spread 1/2 tsp mustard over the base of each tart.  Add the slices of tomato, cutting to fill the pastry.  Arrange thin slices of cheese on top but leaving gaps as the cheese will melt and spread.

Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg (optional).  Sprinkle with fresh or dried thyme and bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and the cheese has melted and bubbled.

Use the pastry trimmings to make little sausage rolls which can go into the oven at the same time.

Makes 4 tarts and 8 cocktail sausage rolls

APPLE CHUTNEY

Every year our apples fall from the tree too soon, heaps of them.  Most are unusable due to insect damage and end up in the compost but most years I manage to salvage some.  This year I decided to make some chutney.

I adapted a recipe on the Good Food website to what I had in stock, using Melfor vinegar instead of cider vinegar, demerara sugar instead of light muscovado and a mixture of raisins and sultanas.  You could also add other spices than just ginger: maybe cinnamon or even curry powder.

Peeling and chopping so many apples is not my favourite pastime so I've given it two stars for the amount of tedious work but it's a delicious chutney.  It goes well with our new favourite French cheese - Laguiole, which is not dissimilar to a strong cheddar and can usually be found amongst the Cantal cheeses as it’s from the same region of France.  

I'm sure it would go equally well with pork pie, sausage rolls and cold meats.

It’s ready for eating straight away but can be left to "mature" for a few weeks.

There was such a huge quantity of ingredients that I had to cook mine in two separate pans, dividing them equally between the two.  Interestingly, one lot cooked quicker than the other, the wider, flatter pan finishing first by several minutes!

I remembered a tip from, I think, a James Martin recipe on how to tell if your chutney is ready.  It should be nice and thick and when you drag your spoon through it there should be a clear trail which only fills with liquid very slowly.  If it refills immediately cook for longer, in five minutes intervals.

At the time of writing you can see the original recipe here.  The comments suggest it’s a very popular and successful recipe and there are interesting tips and ideas.

Ingredients 

1.5 kg cooking apples (prepared weight) I had about 1.7kg.

750g demerara sugar

500g mixed raisins and sultanas

2 medium white onions

2tsp mustard seeds

2tsp ground ginger

1tsp salt

700ml Melfor or cider vinegar 

Method

Put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan (or divide equally between two), bring to the boil gently then simmer uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until thick and ready (see picture above).  Stir frequently and adjust the heat so that that the chutney doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan.

While the chutney is cooking sterilise eight suitable jars by washing in hot soapy water.  Rinse well and put jars and lids on a baking sheet in the oven set at 140°C for 20 minutes.

Allow the chutney to cool then fill your jars and seal tightly.  Once opened they should be kept in the fridge.

Makes 6-8 jars of chutney.

COLESLAW

Red cabbage and carrot slaw.

Coleslaw is a great accompaniment for a bbq, or with cold meats or quiche, but I sometimes find shop bought coleslaw disappointing; too sweet and runny with not enough crunch.  Some years ago I started making my own and have an easy recipe that can be adapted to your own taste.  The essential ingredients are hard cabbage, white and red, carrot and red onion.  I add a few sultanas for a hint of sweetness and occasionally some celery or celery seeds and chopped walnuts.

The word "slaw" means shredded cabbage so that's the basis of all variations.  Often I use simply red cabbage and carrot as the base.  The idea is to add ingredients, mix and taste continuously until it tastes as you like it.

It’s easy to make but make enough for just two days as it begins to lose its crunch after that.  Sometimes I chop, grate and shred by hand but admit that it’s quicker and has a more even texture if I use the slicing and grating disc on my food processor.  Quantities of ingredients are flexible and can be added to as you go along.

Ingredients 

1/4 each of a small red and white cabbage

1/2 a large red onion

1 large carrot

1 tsp French mustard 

A handful of sultanas

Salt and pepper

A splash of white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)

Mayonnaise, low fat versions work well (see notes below)

Optional additions 

1 stick celery, wiped and sliced

Chopped spring onion

1 tblsp chopped walnuts

1 tsp celery seeds

Other seeds you might like such as pumpkin seeds

Lemon juice

Chopped apple

Anything else you fancy!

Method 

Remove the outer leaves and core of the cabbage and shred or chop finely (or use the fine slicing disc).  Make sure the strands are not too long as they can be awkward to serve and eat!

Peel and finely chop the onion (or use a grating disc).

Peel the carrot and grate or chop finely (or use the grating disc).

Tip everything into a large glass bowl, add the other ingredients and any extras and stir well.  

Now add mayonnaise one good squirt or tablespoon at a time, stirring every time, enough to coat the ingredients and bring it altogether but not so much as it pools or makes the slaw runny.  French mayonnaise often has mustard added already so you might not want to add extra.  Go steady with the vinegar or lemon juice as that can make it too sharp but if so, add a teaspoon of sugar to compensate.

Stir and taste, add more seasoning, mustard, vinegar and extras until it's as you like it.

Chill in the fridge until needed.

Makes roughly 8 small servings but there are people that would eat the whole lot if you don’t keep an eye on them!

SALMON KEBABS

We are having a more typical summer here in the middle of France so plenty of barbecues.  Much as I love a well cooked Toulouse sausage, the occasional steak and a good burger, I really fancied something lighter.  Looking at some twin packs of chunky salmon fillets I decided to go off piste.  Cooking fish on a bbq can be tricky.

The trick is to construct kebabs with chunkyish slices of courgette between the pieces of salmon so that the fish itself barely touches the grill because the courgette "wheels" raise it up.  Then the fish does not stick to the grill, you don’t have to scrape it off and it doesn't fall apart. Huzzah!!

The marinade is simple and the excess can be used for slices of aubergine or kebabs of courgette and tomato.  All very quick and easy to put together.

As an aside, we decided to go gas with our barbecue a few years ago, during lockdown in 2020 to be exact.  Cooped up in our little UK back garden during unusually good spring and summer weather (a saviour for our sanity that year) we lashed out on a reasonably priced one from Argos and it revolutionised our success rate with the food!  Predictable cooking times and no more burnt chicken!

We were so pleased with it that back in France the next summer (2021) we decided to get one there and ordered something that looked similar from Amazon.  It was more expensive but nowhere near as good, being flimsy, cheap looking and a self assembly nightmare.  We were very disappointed with it.  That’s the trouble with Amazon, you have no idea of the quality until you get it!  We repaired and repainted it each summer but when we wheeled it out of the barn in April this year we looked at the flaking paint and rust and decided it was time for a new one.  

Bricomarché had just set up their display of this year's barbecues so we swooped on a small Camping Gaz model, about the same price but infinitely more well made. Small but perfectly formed!  We're hoping it will last much longer! 

As a temporary measure we shoved the old one round the back of the house (where nobody sees it) until we feel up to heaving it into the trailer and taking it to the tip.  I hesitate to say it, but there seems something very "rural France" about that!

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets

2 tblsp olive oil

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1tsp dried dill 

1 tsp dried parsley

Salt and pepper

1 courgette

½ a red pepper, deseeded

Method

To make the marinade mix the lemon, oil and herbs together in a medium sized bowl.

Remove any skin and bones from the salmon fillets and cut into large chunks.  Add to the marinade with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir well, cover with cling film or a lid and chill in the fridge until needed.

Wipe and thickly slice the courgette and pepper.  Assemble the kebabs by alternating salmon and courgette/pepper slices.  Pour residual marinade over the kebabs and grill on gentle heat, turning frequently until cooked through.  Check after about 5-6 minutes.

Any excess marinade can be used for aubergine slices or veg kebabs.

Serves 2.  

PLUM (OR NECTARINE) TART (can be gluten free)

The nectarine version.

The recipe for this popped up in my FB feed and comes from one of Nancy Birtwhistle's books, the one about gardening.  

The plum version before baking.

There is no pastry involved so some would ask - how can it be a tart?   I spent a happy few minutes looking up the definitions of cake, tart, torte and gateau and came to the conclusion that although it was definitely not a cake, a flan or a pie I still had no idea!  In any case it went down well for dessert at a BBQ one very hot June evening.

The plum version when cooked.

The first time I made this it was definitely a bit overdone - the plums looked a bit crozzled and it was a devil to get out of the tin.  Only when I made it the second time did I realise that I had baked the first one at 160° fan instead of 160° C.  A casualty of the debilitating heat - it had reached 39°C during the day and my concentration withers exponentially over 30°C!

The nectarine version - much less crozzled.

For the second time I used nectarines, didn't cram quite as much fruit in, and kept the slices away from the sides of the tin, which definitely made it easier to turn out, baked it at the right temperature and kept my eye on it.  With its apricot glaze it had that patisserie glamour.  It tasted great too.

Stoning the fruit can be a bit fiddly.  An old fashioned grapefruit knife came in handy for getting the stone out of some of the firmer fruits.  Changing the ordinary flour for gluten free flour (e.g. Doves Farm) will make it a gluten free dessert and a handy recipe to have instead of pavlova.

Ingredients

For the cake base

zest of 1 lemon

2 tsp lemon juice

30ml whole milk

125g softened butter or baking spread (I used Le Fleurier)

125g caster sugar

1 egg

125g plain flour or gluten free flour

125g ground almonds (or half and half ground almonds and ground rice)

For the topping/fruit

10-12 ripe plums or 3 large nectarines

2 tblsp apricot jam

Method

Butter the base and sides of a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin.

Put the milk and lemon juice into a small bowl or jug, mix together and set aside

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, lemon zest and sugar.  Add the egg and beat well until well combined.

Fold in the ground almonds (or almonds and rice), then the flour followed by the thickened milk.

The mixture will be quite thick so transfer it to the prepared tin and level with the back of a spoon or small palette knife.  Smooth the surface as much as possible then put the tin in the freezer while you prepare the fruit.

Cut each plum or nectarine in half and remove the stone.  Cut into quarters and slice thinly.  Plums  should make 8 slices each, nectarines 12 slices.

Preheat the oven to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk3.  

Remove the tart case from the freezer and arrange the slices of fruit neatly in circles on top of the cake base.

Stand the tart tin on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 1 hour.  The fruit should be tender and the cake base lightly golden and cooked.

Remove from the oven to cool slightly.  Remove the tart from the tin and place on a serving plate.

To make the glaze, warm the apricot jam in a saucepan with 1 tblsp water.  Brush over the fruit.

Serves 8-10.

This is my gluten free version, made with apricots.  The cake base is as per the recipe above but using half and half ground almonds and ground rice, plus gluten free flour.

LEMON DRIZZLE BUNS

For a friend's birthday I gave her a pretty tin of eight home made lemon drizzle buns.  She and her husband are not regular consumers of cake so lemon drizzle seemed like a safe option.  They could have a bun each for birthday tea and freeze the rest to be enjoyed later.

The fashion for cupcakes seems to have passed but these could easily be called cupcakes, or fairy cakes, and decorated with buttercream or icing and sprinkles if you like.  When I was a little girl my mum often made things like this and they were always called "buns".  She rarely had a lemon in the house, except at Christmas, so would have added a few chopped glacé cherries or currants - in which case they would have been called cherry buns or currant buns (sometimes called Queen cakes).  Even more occasionally she would have swirled some simple icing on the top and maybe a few hundreds and thousands left over from the Christmas trifle, especially if aunts and uncles (and assorted cousins) were coming to tea which would have warranted something a bit more fancy than usual.

My mixture actually made nine buns so one served as "quality control" and consequently I can confirm that they were lovely.  My friend sent me a message the next day to say she and her husband really enjoyed them and none of them made it to the freezer!

Simple buns never go out of fashion.

Ingredients

For the buns

115g baking spread or softened butter

115g caster sugar

2 eggs

115g self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

zest of 1 lemon

For the drizzle 

juice of 1 lemon

2 tblsp granulated sugar

Method

Put 10 paper cake cases into a muffin tin.  Preheat the oven to 200° C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.

Put all of the cake ingredients into a medium sized bowl and beat well with a hand held electric whisk, or a wooden spoon, until well blended.

Divide the mixture evenly between the bun cases filling each one to about two thirds full.  Using an ice cream scoop with a lever action can help to make them all about the same.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and springy.  While they are in the oven make the drizzle by mixing the sugar and lemon juice together.

While the buns are still warm, prick holes in the top and spoon the drizzle over.  Remove from the tin to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 8-10 buns.