RHUBARB GALETTE Chez Panisse

 

One lovely warm evening last summer we were invited out to dinner by some Irish friends.  For dessert they served "rhubarb galette Chez Panisse", a recipe from a famous restaurant in California that I had never previously heard of.  It was utterly divine, in a very rustic looking way, and I knew that one day I would have a go at making it myself.  

We have never been able to grow our own rhubarb in France but our friends who live only a few kilometres away have two thriving plants so I cadged some of theirs to make the galette.  The rhubarb plant we have in the UK does really well in the much cooler and damper climate so whenever we make the trip there we bring some back for the freezer.  A bundle of rhubarb has caused our cabin bag to fail the scanner test at the airport more than once and produced a few raised eyebrows amongst security staff and fellow passengers!

The recipe comes from a book by Rick Stein called "the road to Mexico".  I found a copy in a local charity shop but you can also see the recipe online here.

I don't often make my own pastry these days.  

I used my measuring mat to roll it out to a reasonably shaped circle.

The next step was to arrange pieces of rhubarb in the right pattern on the pastry.

The edges are then folded over and crimped.

Mine didn't look quite as neat and tidy as the picture in the book.

However, it tasted delicious and I would definitely make it again.

A word of warning though.  Rhubarb produces quite a lot of liquid when cooked.  My largest baking sheet, just big enough to accommodate the tart, was very flat and it warped slightly in the oven.  Rhubarb juice was running off the tart onto the oven floor for a while before I realised what was happening, producing one heck of a sticky mess.  I put a roasting tin on the shelf below to catch any further drips but not soon enough to prevent a serious oven cleaning session the next day.  Oh well, the tart was worth it and the oven was ready for a clean!

Next time I will be aware of this and maybe make a smaller tart that fits onto a baking sheet with more of a lip, such as a pizza baking tray.  Or, thinking about this later, I could have baked it on the large Denby platter that I served it on as it is ovenproof, would not have warped and has a lip that would retain any juices.

*I had a mishap when making the glaze, took my eye off the ball and ended up with unusable solid caramel.  So, I drizzled some golden syrup over the tart instead!  Next time I might miss this step out completely as I suspect the tart would be plenty sweet enough without it.  I shall report back!

Ingredients

For the pastry

225g plain flour

pinch of salt

170g cold unsalted butter, cubed

80ml ice cold water

For the filling

500g rhubarb, washed and cut into 6cm (4") batons (keep the trimmings)

zest of 1 orange

200g granulated sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbslp dessert wine (I used sherry)

juice of 1/2 an orange

30g unsalted butter, melted

30g caster sugar

For the glaze*

75ml water

2 tblsp granulated sugar

the rhubarb trimmings, chopped

Method

In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt for a few seconds.  Add the butter and process briefly.  Add the water and process until the pastry just comes together.

Transfer the pastry to a floured work surface and knead briefly.  Pat into a disc then place it on a sheet of lightly floured baking parchment.  Roll it out into circle measuring 35cm and 4-5mm thick.  Lift the paper onto a suitable baking sheet (see my note above) and chill in the fridge while you prepare the rhubarb.

Put the orange juice, zest, granulated sugar and wine into a bowl and mix together.  Add the rhubarb pieces and toss around so that they are well coated.  

Preheat the oven to 220°C / 200° fan.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and arrange the rhubarb pieces on top as in the picture, leaving a border of 5-6 cm around the edge.  Trim the fruit as necessary to fit and save the trimmings.  Sprinkle any residual sugar mixture on top.  Fold the pastry border over the rhubarb and crimp the edge.

Brush the fruit with about 1/3 of the melted butter and sprinkle over about 1/3 of the caster sugar.  Repeat twice so all the butter and sugar are used up.  (I misread this step and used all of the butter and sugar in one go.  I'm not sure it made a significant difference.)

Bake the galette for 10 minutes then lower the oven temperature by 20° to 200°C / 180°fan.  Bake for a further 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.  Keep your eye on it and don't let it brown too much.

When the galette is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool while you make the glaze.

Put the rhubarb trimmings into a small pan and cook until soft with the water.  Lift out and discard the rhubarb and add the sugar.  Continue cooking until the liquid is reduced to a thick syrup and brush it over the rhubarb.  (See my notes above*.)

Serves 8.

EGGS BENEDICT

There is a salon de thé called the "Pink and Cosy" in La Roche-Posay where they serve excellent salads, cakes and light meals.  We usually go for the eggs Benedict as the eggs are always perfect and the Hollandaise sauce delicious.  

English muffins are readily available in French supermarkets so I bought a pack and decided to have a go at making eggs Benedict myself.  I used a Jamie Oliver recipe here for the Hollandaise sauce.  (This was my first time at making my own as previously I have used a packet mix.)

It took two of us to make the whole dish.  Getting the muffins toasted in the toaster, the bacon cooked in the air fryer and the eggs poached at the same time as making the sauce seemed to be a two person job.  The sauce requires the full attention of one person and the rest is a juggling act that requires a bit more practice.  Either that or two pairs of hands and eyes in the back of your head!!   However, they were utterly delicious and well worth the effort.

You can poach the eggs in advance, plunging them into cold water when just done, then reheating in simmering water for a couple of minutes.  You can even do them the day before and keep them in the fridge overnight.  

Jamie Oliver says that the way to keep your Hollandaise sauce warm is to pour it into a vacuum flask, warming it first by rinsing out with boiling water.  Or you can try keeping it warm in your bowl over simmering water by stirring every so often until you need to serve it.

Ingredients for the sauce

150g unsalted butter

2 large egg yolks

1 dessertspoon white wine vinegar

a splash of lemon juice (I used Jif lemon)

Method

Put the butter into a small saucepan and melt over gentle heat.  Set aside.

Put the egg yolks into a heatproof bowl over a saucepan containing just simmering water.  Choose a bowl that sits firmly on the rim of the pan without rocking about and make sure that it doesn’t touch the surface of the water.  Break the egg yolks with a whisk and begin whisking.  Whisk in the vinegar.

Dribble the melted butter into the eggs and continue whisking until you have a thick, glossy sauce.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately or keep warm.

For the eggs Benedict 

2 English muffins 

4 eggs

4 rashers of bacon.

 Method 

Split the muffins and lightly toast both sides.

Grill or fry the bacon until as cooked or crisp as you like it.  (I did mine in the air fryer.)

Poach the eggs to your liking (see method here).

Place a split, toasted muffin on each plate.  Top each half with a rasher of bacon then a poached egg and spoon over the Hollandaise sauce.

Serves 2.

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.

GAZPACHO SOUP and how to peel tomatoes

With Nick away for a week I was looking forward to catching up with spring cleaning and other jobs.  Unfortunately the weather had other ideas.   We are having a prolonged heatwave here in the middle of France.  It's debilitatingly hot so I got much less done but I did get several invitations to eat out. 😄 Some of the invites clashed but I accepted as many as were physically possible and on one day had lunch with a couple of friends and dinner with a large group of others celebrating a move of house.  (The term for this is apparently a "house cooling", which is ironic considering the extremely warm weather!)

At both of these the meal began with Gazpacho, something I have eaten often but never made and is perfect for the hot weather.  It’s delicious and refreshing.  With another invite on the cards and all the stars aligned I decided it was time to have a go at making it myself and offered to bring the starter.

There are dozens of recipes out there in the ether, and on my bookshelves, and I consulted several, including one by Mary Berry from "Mary Makes it Easy" and one by David Herbert from "The Really Useful Cookbook".  I also took on board my friend's adaptations for the soup she served at lunch.  

Of the two gazpachos I had in one day, one of them clearly had bread in it and the other not.  I thought my soup turned out a bit too thick so next time I would probably halve the amount of bread and see how it goes.  I might even leave it out altogether (but still add the water) and see which version I like the best.

Most of the recipes said that the tomatoes should be peeled.  I have never peeled a tomato in my life before and whilst it's not difficult, it's rather tedious and a bit fiddly.  Hence I've given the recipe two stars in how faffy it is!

This is how I made mine.

Ingredients

1kg tomatoes, the riper the better, or about 6 large tomatoes

½ a large cucumber (unpeeled)

1 red pepper, de-seeded

55g white bread, no crusts (see notes above and maybe try 30g or just a chunk)

250ml water

2 cloves of garlic, peeled (3 cloves if you like your soup very garlicky)

½ a red onion, peeled

2 tblsp good quality olive oil

2 tblsp balsamic vinegar

1 tblsp tomato purée

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

extra olive oil and chopped cucumber for serving

Method

Put the chunks of bread into a bowl with the water and set aside to soak while you deal with the veg.

To peel the tomatoes

Cut a cross in the bottom of each one (i.e. the opposite end to the stalk) and put into a large Pyrex or similar bowl.  Cover with boiling water and leave for 45 seconds.  Transfer to a similar bowl containing cold water (tap water temperature is fine).  Using a small pointed knife such as a paring knife pick up the point of one section of the peel where you cut the cross in a tomato and drag the peel downwards away from the tomato to remove it.  

Prepare all the veg by washing or wiping, peeling where appropriate and chop medium small.

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl, including the soaked bread, and stir well.  Transfer in batches to a food processor or blender and blend until it's as smooth as you would like it.  (You could of course use a stick blender in a suitable container.)  Mine had tiny chunks of veg in it.  Other recipes say to keep going until the soup is smooth.  To quote James Martin "it's entirely up to you"!

Transfer the blended soup to a large jug or container and chill in the fridge for several hours.  I added a few ice cubes before serving to chill further.

The soup looks very nice served in a large glass jug at the table, pouring out into small soup bowls or glass bowls.  Add a drizzle of olive oil to each one and a few bits of veg, chopped small for garnish.  I added chopped cucumber but you could use green pepper, avocado, tomato or, as some recipes suggest, chopped hard boiled egg (this sounded a bit odd to me!).

Serves 8-10 small portions, 6-8 slightly larger.

(I brought the leftovers home with me and the soup was still good two days later, which suggests that it could easily be made and left chilling in the fridge the day before you need it.)

SIMNEL CAKE

 

The weather on Easter Sunday this year was especially foul.  Cold, grey and with persistent rain that was occasionally horizontal.  Most other options for entertainment were cancelled so it was a perfect day for baking a cake!  A rummage in the kitchen cupboards revealed that I had all the necessary ingredients to make a Simnel cake, including a pack of marzipan.

This is the first Simnel cake I have ever made in my whole life.

Usually I would make a chocolate cake for Easter (see here).

A Simnel cake is a traditional cake for Easter, a rich fruit cake.  It's not quite as rich and dense as a Christmas cake but more so than an everyday fruit cake, containing a lot of dried fruit and some mixed spice.  The secret ingredient is the layer of marzipan, or almond paste, contained inside the cake itself.  This was only just visible once the cake was baked.  

I adapted a Mary Berry recipe using the fruit I had in stock.  Shops are not open in France on Sunday afternoons and in any case the weather was so foul that I would rather not venture out!  It's an all-in-one kind of recipe, no separate creaming of butter and sugar needed, but was quite a hefty amount of ingredients.  Consequently I used my Kenwood stand mixer to beat it as I didn't quite have the muscle power to do it with a wooden spoon and I thought my little hand held mixer would struggle.

It was a delicious cake, very moist and spicy and I would definitely make it again.  It seems a shame to only have one a year - rather like the Christmas cake!  Having never made one before I had nothing to compare it with except that my friend Gaynor makes one every Easter, using a Felicity Cloake recipe, which is lovely. 

Most recipes suggest that the top marzipan layer and the eleven balls (representing the eleven  loyal disciples) should be browned slightly, either under a grill or using a cook's blowtorch.  However, I had spotted an alternative method of decoration as above - simply pressing a mini egg into each ball then dusting with icing sugar.  You can of course decorate it any way you like, with eggs, flowers, chicks, chocolate or whatever takes your fancy.  There are plenty of ideas on the internet. 

Ingredients

225g baking spread (spreadable butter) straight from the fridge

225g light muscovado (or light soft brown) sugar

225g self raising flour

 

115g glacé cherries

175g sultanas

50g raisins

115g currants

115g ready to eat dried apricots

55g candied peel (mine was just orange peel) chopped

zest of 2 lemons

4 large eggs

2 level tsp mixed spice (or quatre épices)

Also

1 pack (roughly 500g) marzipan

1-2 tblsp apricot jam

11 mini eggs

icing sugar for dusting

Method

Begin by cutting the cherries into quarters, rinse well under running water to remove the syrup, tip onto kitchen paper and pat dry.  Snip or chop the apricots into small dice.

Preheat the oven to 150C / 130 fan / gas mk 2.  Grease a 20cm deep round cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Put all the fruit and other cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat together well by hand or use a stand food mixer.

Spoon roughly half of the mixture into the tin and level the top.

Divide the marzipan into three roughly equal portions.  Roll out one of them into a 20cm circle.  It doesn't matter if the edges are a bit untidy as they won't be seen.  Lay on top of the cake mixture in the tin.

 Spoon the other half of cake mixture on top of the marzipan and level the top again.  

Bake for 2½ hours until the cake is risen, brown and firm.  Check after an hour or so and cover with a circle of foil if it's already quite brown to avoid it becoming scorched.

When cooked, remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 10 minutes.  Then turn out carefully to finish cooling on a wire rack, removing all the baking paper.

Roll out another portion of the marzipan to a 20cm circle to fit the top of the cake, making the edges more tidy this time.  If you are using a tin with a loose bottom you can use it as a template.

Brush the top of the cooled cake with apricot jam.  (You can sieve it to remove lumps of fruit if you wish, or use apricot glaze which is smooth and lump free.)  Lay the second circle of marzipan on the top.

Crimp the edges of the marzipan to create a fluted effect and arrange the balls evenly around the edge.  Dab the bottom of each one with a little apricot jam to make them stick.  Using your finger or the handle of a wooden spoon, push a dent into each ball and insert a small mini egg.  Dust with icing sugar.

Cuts into 11 generous slices or at least 15 regular slices if you remove a ball or two as you go round!  (You can compensate the unlucky recipient of a slice without a ball with another mini egg!)

CHERRY AND COCONUT CAKE

Whilst doing my occasional purge of ancient condiments and out of date foods in the fridge I found a part used jar of bottled cherries.  These things are very sweet but delicious on ice cream or with chocolate cake.   This time my thoughts turned to "cherry cake" swiftly followed by "coconut"! 

I used one of my favourite coconut recipes from the Waitrose website which you can see here. I've previously adapted it to make a delicious coconut and lemon cake which you can see here.

I rinsed, dried and quartered the cherries, a process which I find a bit tedious which is why I've given the cake two stars for the faffing about.  It’s not hard to do, just always takes longer than you think!

The mixture turned out stiffer than I remember so I had to add a splash of milk if I was ever going to get it into the tin.  The good bit about that is that the cherries didn't all sink to the bottom of the cake!

Anyway, it turned out really well, was a lovely cake, with a good coconut flavour, a crisp crust, moist with a Madeira-like texture and little hits of the very sweet cherries.  Perfect for a "not quite Spring yet" cup of tea in the warm afternoon sunshine.  

It was very much appreciated in my watercolour class where we were painting snowdrops and everyone had a second slice!

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter, softened

175g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

1/4 tsp coconut flavouring (optional)

175g self raising flour

100g dessiccated coconut

100g bottled or glacé cherries

a splash of milk if needed

 

Method

 

Butter and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin or use a paper liner.  Preheat the oven to 180°C /160°Fan / gas mk 4.

Rinse the cherries well and pat dry with kitchen paper.  Cut into quarters.  Put about a tablespoon of the measured flour into a small bowl and tip the cherries in.  Roll them around in the flour with a spoon so that they are well coated in flour.  This should help to avoid them all sinking to the bottom of the cake (although sometimes they do even though I have done this step!).

 

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar using a hand mixer, until light and fluffy.  

In a jug, beat the eggs with the coconut flavouring and then add a dribble at a time to the creamed mixture along with a little flour, beating well with each addition.

 

Fold in the remaining flour, then the coconut and cherries.  If the mixture seems very stiff, mix in a splash of milk to loosen it.  Spoon into the tin and level the top.

 

Bake for 50-60 minutes, covering with foil after 30 minutes, until done.  

 

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Cuts into 8-10 generous slices.  

(Leftover slices are nice served warm as a pudding with custard!)

CHICKEN BALMORAL AND HOMEMADE HAGGIS with whisky sauce

Whilst back in the UK for three weeks over Christmas we talked about holding another Burns Night Supper and I wondered whether it might be possible to buy some actual haggis to bring back to France (illegally, as it’s a meat product).

I remember eating haggis in my twenties and liking it.  At the time I lived in Leeds and would buy a real haggis, tied up with string, from the excellent food department of Lewis's on the Headrow. That’s not John Lewis, by the way, but Lewis's.  It was a fabulous shop (to me it was almost the Harrod's of the North).  The food department was in the basement with a black and white tiled floor and you could buy all manner of everyday or exotic foods.  Between Lewis's, Schofield's, the old arcades and the fantastic markets Leeds was a wonderful place to shop in the 1970's.

I found several recipes online suggesting how to use haggis, including some for something called "chicken Balmoral" or "highland chicken" where it’s used as a stuffing for chicken breasts.  I thought that sounded more interesting and possibly more tempting that just serving a dollop of it on the plate for anyone unfamiliar with haggis.  I chose one on a blog called "Caroline's cooking" then noticed that there was also a recipe for homemade haggis, a version that has the offal elements reduced to a minimum.  Real haggis contains the kind of offal that few people would enjoy nowadays, plus suet, onion, oatmeal and spices.  This recipe has enough of a hint of offal without the scary bits.

I had a tin of pinhead oatmeal in the cupboard so brought that back to France after Christmas. For the meat element I used neck of lamb steaks which were reasonably priced and the chicken was ultimately wrapped in English smoked streaky bacon, now an illegal import from the UK!  We had long since worked out that most of our friends were bringing their favourite meats and cheeses to France without any trouble so we thought we'd risk it ourselves.  Nobody at the border took the slightest interest in the contents of our car or cool box.  I imagine that after the early post Brexit flush of enthusiasm the border staff have bigger fish to fry than to search for the odd pound of bacon or sausages!

You can see the recipe for Chicken Balmoral here and for the haggis stuffing here.  I modified both recipes and have to say, I wouldn’t make it again, but decided to write about it because our guests enjoyed it!  For myself I decided that my haggis eating days are well behind me but you never know, you might like it!  I also used some of the Oxo cube stock to make a whisky sauce or gravy to go with it.  Once we got going making the haggis we only used two of the four small lamb steaks I had bought so saved the other two to make a lamb tagine.  I enjoyed that much more!

The stuffed chicken filets can be prepared well in advance which makes it an ideal dinner party dish, as long as you like haggis!  Alternatively stuff them with something else!  The whisky sauce was nice.

Ingredients

For the Haggis

a large knob of butter plus 1 tblsp of vegetable oil (more if needed)

250g lamb steaks

½ tsp each of ground cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, allspice and dried thyme

1 onion

100g chicken livers (or other liver)

50g pinhead oatmeal

½ pint / 200ml chicken or beef stock made using a stock cube or stock pot (we made 400ml from one cube and used the remainder to create a whisky sauce)

salt and pepper

For the chicken Balmoral

4 medium sized chicken breasts

12-15 rashers smoked streaky bacon or unsmoked for a lighter flavour

For the whisky sauce

200ml chicken or beef stock (the remainder from making the haggis)

2 tblsp double cream

A good splash of whisky

Method

To make the haggis, cut the lamb steaks into cubes and mince in a food processor until medium/fine.  Add the liver pieces and process again until combined.  

Chop the peeled onion finely.

Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook until softened.

Add the meat and spices, fry until the meat is browned.  Add the stock, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the meat is cooked.  Season with salt and pepper, stir in the oatmeal and cook for another 20-30 minutes.  You can add more pepper and spices to taste as it cooks.  Go easy at first.  Set aside to cool.

Slash each chicken breast, open out and flatten slightly by bashing with a rolling pin.  Place 1 tbslp of haggis in the middle of each one or enough to fill it adequately.  Fold over to close the fillet.

Lay enough rashers of bacon to almost cover a chicken filet on a piece of cling film, place one on top and roll up, leaving the joins in the bacon underneath.  Repeat with the other chicken filets and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes in the cling film on a tray.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan.  Place the chicken filets on a baking tray and bake in the oven for around 40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

To make the whisky sauce, put the stock into a small pan and bring to the boil.  Stir in the cream and whisky and cook gently until heated through.  Serve immediately with the chicken.

Traditionally this would be served with mashed potatoes and swede, plus a green vegetable such as beans or cabbage.

Serves 4.

ECCLEFECHAN TART

After the success of last year's Burns Night Supper we decided to do it again this year but with a different menu.  The main course and dessert were things I had never made before.  I'll save the post about home made haggis for another day but as Nick said about the dessert "it's a keeper".  I'm not sure the same could be said for the haggis!

I stumbled across the recipe for Ecclefechan tart in a blog called "Them Apples".  You can see it here where it's credited to Jamie Oliver from his book "Jamie's Great Britain".  It's almost a cross between a mince pie and a treacle tart, looks suitably dark and dramatic, and is very rich and delicious.  It also reminded me a little of the Be-Ro butter tartlets that I made a while ago - see here.

My own copy of "Jamie's Great Britain", a charity shop purchase, is currently in our UK house so I couldn't verify the recipe and several other versions of it appear online.  Look it up and take your pick!

This recipe makes quite a large tart and being very rich you only need a small slice.  It would easily serve quite a crowd.  Next time I think I would scale it down a bit (which would be another good reason to go and get a smaller tin!).

I made my own pastry from scratch for the first time in ages.  (Whisky is used to bring the dough together but I'm not quite sure I would do that again.)  I certainly seemed to be out of practice with the pastry making, even with the help of a food processor!  There was much patching of splits and cracks and it was very crumbly, which I found rather disappointing considering that until I got lazy and started using shop bought pastry, I've been doing it since I was about ten years old!  Even so, the tart was lovely and I would definitely make it again, and not just for Burns Night.  It’s a great dessert for the winter months.

As an aside, over the years several people have asked me where I find black treacle in France.  The answer is, I don’t think I ever have!  You can probably get it from the online shopping services that provide British foods to ex-pats in France although I haven't used them myself.  I have occasionally seen tins of Lyle's golden syrup on the "English shelf" in several French supermarkets but in fact I bring mine from the UK.  

Squeezy plastic bottles make it easier to weigh or measure out so I now buy both black treacle and golden syrup that way. 

Lyle's golden syrup is available in squeezy bottles in UK supermarkets but most have their own brand equivalent.  The flavour is slightly different from Lyle's but fine for baking - you might only notice the difference if you like it on your porridge or a crumpet!  I first saw a squeezy bottle of Silver Spoon black treacle in (I think) Asda but the other shop that stocks it is M&S.  I usually get some when we visit the UK by car.  It’s perfectly legal to bring it to France but as it's a liquid you can’t carry it in a cabin bag if travelling by say Ryanair.  It’s fine in your checked in bag but I'd recommend sealing it in a plastic bag or two, just in case of mishaps!

A further update/aside:

I ordered a secondhand copy of Jamie Oliver's book from Amazon.  The books never cost very much and the postage to France was only a couple of pounds more than to the UK so I thought it was worth a punt.  I have had secondhand books posted successfully before but that was before Brexit and I thought this might be a good test case in terms of whether or not I would be stung for hefty import duties.  (The reason why thousands of small UK businesses have lost their European customers.)  A friend recently had to pay 38€ to receive a parcel containing her own clothes, mostly old and well worn, which she had posted due to lack of capacity in her flight luggage.

Anyway, four weeks later the book had not arrived.  I contacted the seller and they immediately sent another copy.  Three weeks later book number two turned up and was just left in my post box with no demand for import duties.  (I am still convinced that book number one might eventually turn up!)

I looked up the recipe for Ecclefechan tart and found the only difference to mine was the addition of some chopped stem ginger, so the next time I make it I will add that and also some chopped walnuts as Karen suggested in the comments.

As a further, further aside……French post boxes are excellent.  They are a large metal box which is usually positioned on the street, so in your gate, wall, door if that's on the street, or a pole at the end of the drive.  They are quite capacious and will take a large parcel.  The outer door has a lock to which all postman have a universal master key so quite large parcels can be delivered whether you are at home or not.  The inner door has a key unique to the box so that only you can retrieve it.  Great idea!  Of course, you can still have a bit of a palaver if the parcel is sent by courier other than La Poste, as they don’t have the master key.

Ingredients

For the pastry

250g plain flour

125g cubed salted butter

50ml whisky

For the filling

1 generous tblsp black treacle

300g mixed dried fruit - I used roughly equal quantities of currants, sultanas, raisins and cranberries

150g unsalted butter, softened

150g soft light brown sugar

3 large eggs

150ml double cream

zest of 1 small orange and 1 small lemon, mixed together

Method

Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour either by hand or using a food processor.  Add the whisky to bring the dough together into a ball (I also had to add a splash of water).  Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.*

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Butter a 25cm loose bottomed tart tin.  Placing the tin on a baking sheet makes it easier to get in and out of the oven.

Roll out the pastry to line the tin and prick the base all over with a fork.  Line with scrunched up baking parchment, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and lift out the paper and beans.  Bake for another 5 minutes until beginning to turn golden brown and remove from the oven.

To make the filling, cream together the butter and sugar and beat in the eggs one at a time.  Stir in the double cream.

Drizzle the black treacle over the pastry base and scatter the dried fruit evenly over it.  Scatter the orange and lemon zest over the top.  Pour or spoon the filling on top of the fruit and spread it out evenly.  

Return to the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (mine took about 40 minutes) until almost set.  There should be a slight wobble.

Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin.  (Mine had leaked here and there and stuck to the base so I served it on the base, on a cake stand.)

Serve at room temperature.

Cuts into 10-12 generous slices.

*the next time I made the tart I made a standard sweet pastry recipe using 225g plain flour, 120g cold butter, 2 tblsp icing sugar and an egg beaten with a splash of water.

For the filling I used 260g combined weight of dried fruit plus 40g chopped walnuts.  I also added 2 balls of stem ginger, chopped.

The pastry was easier to handle and roll out, didn’t need any patching, I didn’t chill it because it was a perishing cold day, and it turned out of the tin beautifully!

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON (beef in red wine)

This is one of those dishes that I always fall back on when I need something tasty that I know will go down well with everyone.  

Some years ago I gave Nick a book for Christmas called "Classic French Cooking for Today".  In it the recipe for boeuf bourguignon is very complicated and begins with the words "three days before serving".  I think he did follow the recipe to the letter just once!

There are a couple of tips that are worth the effort though; to marinade the beef in wine overnight before the day of cooking and to stud the onions in the marinade with cloves.  Long, slow cooking in the oven, up to four hours, makes the beef meltingly tender and flavourful.  

With so many recipes out there in cook books and on the internet nobody needs another one but I'm writing this mainly for myself so that I remember how I made one that turned out really well.  It's a combination of tips from various recipes.

I used a cut of beef which in France is called "paleron" and in the UK would be called chuck steak, but any stewing beef would be fine.

Ingredients

1 kg chuck steak (or similar)

2-3 tblsp sunflower oil

1 pack (200g) smoked lardons (or similar)

500g (approx) large shallots or small white onions

a small handful of whole cloves

2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tblsp tomato purée

1 bottle red wine (Merlot or similar)

150ml beef stock (made using a stock pot or cube)

1 tblsp brown sugar

50g plain flour

4 bay leaves

500g white or chestnut mushrooms

Method

The day before cooking, remove any excess fat or gristle from the meat, cut into large bite-sized chunks and put into a glass or porcelain bowl.

Peel the shallots or onions and press whole cloves into each one, roughly 3 or 4 per onion.  Add to the bowl and pour over enough red wine to cover the whole lot.   (You may not need the whole bottle.)

Cover with clingfilm and put into a cool place or the fridge to marinade overnight.

On the day of serving, preheat the oven to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk 3.

If you have a flameproof casserole dish (such as Le Creuset) you can use it for frying.  Otherwise, use a frying pan and transfer to an ovenproof casserole dish for the oven stage of the cooking.

Put the oil into your frying pan and turn the heat to high.  Using a slotted spoon, lift the chunks of meat out of the marinade and dry on sheets of kitchen roll.  Brown the meat in the hot oil in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan and transfer the browned meat to a plate.  Add the lardons to the pan and fry until browned, adding a little more oil if needed.  Set aside with the beef.

Lift the marinaded shallots or onion out of the bowl and remove all the cloves.  Put them into the hot pan, adding a little more oil if necessary and fry until just golden.  Add the garlic and tomato purée and cook for a few seconds.

Put the flour into a small bowl or jug and use some of the marinading liquid to mix it to a paste.  Whisk in the rest of the marinading liquid and add this to the pan along with the carrots. 

Return the meat to the pan with the sugar, bay leaves and stock.  Bring to the boil then cover and put into the preheated oven for about 2 hours until the meat is tender.  (This is the stage at which you should transfer from the pan to an ovenproof casserole dish if using.)

Add the mushrooms to the dish and cook for another 20 minutes until they too are tender.

After removing from the oven adjust for seasoning by adding salt and pepper to taste.  

(To thicken if necessary use a little more flour (or cornflour) mixed to a thin paste with a little water.  Stir this into the dish and return to the oven for a few minutes or cook on the hob if you are using a flameproof casserole dish.)

Makes 6 generous portions. 

COFFEE AND WALNUT CAKE (version two)

A few months ago I made a coffee and walnut cake for an event in the village, to a recipe I had not used before.  Usually I go for the Hairy Bikers recipe from their book "Mums know best" which I wrote about here.  I have also made a lovely coffee cake without walnuts to a recipe from the W.I. book "Cakes" which I wrote about here.

This time I fancied using one from the latest (41st) edition of the BeRo book, which in the end I adapted quite a bit.  Anyway, the cake I made on that day was surplus to requirements and never made it out of the event kitchen, a fellow volunteer buying the whole cake instead.  Which is fine except that I didn't get to find out whether it was any good or not!

As was bound to happen, another event came along recently and I made the cake again.  It's more or less a combination of my two regular recipes; includes walnuts in the cake, has a buttercream filling and a glacé icing top.  It was not the only coffee and walnut cake there and both sold out early in the day, confirming my theory that the old fashioned, traditional cakes, especially if they are well covered in icing, are always the most popular at cake sales.  There was just one small sliver of mine left, looking lonely by itself, so I was able to taste it.

It was light and moist with a strong coffee flavour and just the right amount of walnuts.  This will be my favourite recipe to use..........for now anyway!  I've actually given it two stars in the fiddle factor as chopping walnuts is not my favourite pastime and making two different icings (one for the filling and one for the top) is a bit more time consuming, but it was worth it! 

Ingredients

For the cake

175g self raising flour

1½ level tsp baking powder

100g white caster sugar

75g golden caster sugar (or use all white)

175g baking spread or spreadable butter

3 eggs, beaten

65g walnuts, finely chopped

1 tblsp Camp coffee essence

For the buttercream filling

40g softened butter

80g icing sugar

1 tsp Camp coffee essence

For the glacé icing

110g icing sugar

1½ tsp Camp coffee essence

To decorate

5-6 walnut halves roughly chopped plus 4 whole halves

Method

Preheat the oven to 180° C / 160° fan / gas mk4.  Grease a pair of 7½" or 8" (20cm) sandwich tins and line the bottoms with baking paper circles.

In a large bowl mix together using an electric whisk (or use a stand mixer) the flour, baking powder, sugars, butter, eggs and coffee essence until creamy and well blended.  Mix in the nuts.

Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and level the tops.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until done (see side bar for tips).

Remove from the oven, leave in the tins for 5 minutes then turn out carefully, removing the baking paper, and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the buttercream, beat the butter in a medium bowl until soft.  Sift in the icing sugar, add the coffee essence and beat until smooth and well combined.

To make the glacé icing, sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and beat in just enough of the coffee essence to get a spreadable icing.  If you want to get the drip effect as in the second picture, add a little more essence or water a drop at a time until it is slightly more runny.

When the cakes are completely cold, sandwich the two together with the buttercream then spread the glacé icing evenly over the top.  

Decorate with whole and chopped walnuts to your taste.

Cuts into 10-12 slices.

PARSNIP, MAPLE SYRUP AND WALNUT BUNDT CAKE

Baking a cake is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things to do on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon.  With my birthday looming I  chose a recipe I've had my eye on for a while.  For years, in fact.  It's a BBC Good Food recipe that you can see here.  

The original recipe is for a two layer cake, sandwiched together with a cream cheese filling but I decided to go wild and make it as a Bundt cake.  

Even with my recipe for foolproof cake release paste, it's always a nervous moment turning out a Bundt cake.  Especially when it's a recipe that is not specifically for a Bundt.

I needn't have worried.  I cooled the cake in the tin for ten minutes and it plopped out instantly with a very reassuring thud.  You can see the recipe (if you can call it that) for the cake release here.

I've given it two stars in the fiddle factor as I find grating parsnips (or carrots) rather tedious.  Not to mention dangerous as proved by the sticking plaster now adorning my thumb!  However, I used an old tip by Mary Berry for grating the apple.  Don't bother peeling it, cut in half vertically, remove the core with a teaspoon or melon baller and then grate the cut side.  You will be left holding the peel with the apple nicely grated and fingers intact!

I used walnuts rather than the pecans in the recipe, as that’s what I had in stock, and of course there was no filling or icing to be done, just a light dusting with icing sugar.

It was a delicious cake.  It didn’t taste overly sweet which is remarkable considering how much sugar there was in it plus the maple syrup.  And you would never have known it had been anywhere near a parsnip!.  The texture was close and amply firm enough to cope with a Bundt tin.  I will try it in a more elaborate design next time.

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As an aside……

I often read the comments on internet recipes.  They frequently provide excellent suggestions and tips and can be very amusing.  Like this one:

"My cake looked exquisite as I took it out of the oven after baking for 50 minutes: beautifully domed and cracked on top and such a lovely colour. However, once I turned it out 7 or so minutes later, the middle fell right through the cooling rack leaving a rather good imitation of a cowpat on the kitchen surface. Can't for the life of me figure out where I went wrong. :("

Oh dear!  I'm sure many of us have had our cowpat moments!  

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Ingredients

175g butter, diced

250g demerara sugar

100ml maple syrup

3 large eggs

250g self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp mixed spice

250g parsnips, peeled and grated

1 eating apple, peeled and grated

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

1 small orange, zest and juice

Method

Put the butter, sugar and syrup into a large saucepan and heat gently until all melted together.  Set aside to cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 fan / gas mk 4.  Brush the inside of a large Bundt tin with cake release paste, making sure you get into all the nooks and crannies.

Whisk the eggs into the sugar mixture until well blended.  Add the flour, baking powder and spice and stir until well combined.

Add the parsnip, apple, nuts, orange zest and juice and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, tap on the worktop a few times to settle the mixture and dispel any air bubbles, and bake for 40-45 minutes until done.  

Leave in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Cuts into 10-12 slices.

QUEEN OF PUDDINGS

This is a Delia Smith recipe for six individual puddings which requires six small glass ovenproof dishes or large ramekins.  I had some white ceramic ramekins of the right size but spotted some glass dishes that would do the job in a local supermarket.  The nice thing about glass dishes is that you can see the layers!

They are actually mini mixing bowls but they had the word "tempered" engraved on the bottom which to me suggested they were ovenproof, like Pyrex.  The lady on the checkout didn’t know and was clearly puzzled why I needed to know.  I bought one and took it home to try it in the oven.  It was fine so I went back for another five, leaving the same checkout lady convinced that the English are completely bonkers!

I made them for friends who came to lunch the other day and they were an enormous hit, evoking fond memories of home baking and school dinners.  Most of us hadn’t had anything like it for decades and it sparked a lively conversation!

They were easy enough to make although the timing was tricky.  I made the base of egg mixture and jam the day before, the kitchen being cool enough overnight without having to find space for them in the fridge.  I got the egg whites ready in a bowl and sugar measured out before the gang arrived,  whisked up the meringue and baked them when the main course came out of the oven.  

They were still nice and warm when we ate them.  Delicious!  (Because there are several steps and you have to think about the timing I have given the recipe two stars in terms of how fiddly it is!)

It has occurred to me that these puddings would make a nice alternative to Christmas pudding!  You could make the breadcrumb base on Christmas Eve and finish off on the big day.

(I have posted about Queen of puddings before, a completely different recipe, that you can see here.)

Ingredients

1 pint of milk

10g butter

110g fresh white breadcrumbs

100g caster sugar (plus a little extra for sprinkling)

1 lemon (zest only)

3 large eggs, separated

6 dessertspoons, or about half a jar, of cherry jam (or any other red jam of your choice)

Method

Butter six suitable ovenproof dishes, whether ceramic or glass.

Put the milk into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.  Remove from the heat.

To make the breadcrumbs, weigh slices of bread to make 110g and blitz in a food processor.  

Stir the butter, breadcrumbs, 60g of the sugar and the lemon zest into the hot milk.  Set aside for about 20 minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to swell.

Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 fan / gas mk4.

Put the whites on one side in a grease free bowl or container.  Beat the yolks and whisk them into the breadcrumb mixture.

Divide the mixture between the six dishes and bake on a baking tray for about 25 minutes until set.

At this stage you can either proceed and finish the puddings or set aside until nearer the time when you want to serve them, or overnight.

Spread a layer of jam over the breadcrumb mixture, heating the jam to make it more spreadable if necessary.

Preheat the oven as before.  

Add the remaining 40g sugar to the egg whites and use an electric hand whisk to beat them to stiff peaks.  Pile this evenly on the puddings, making sure you spread out to the edges of each dish and creating little peaks.  Sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar.

Return the tray of puddings to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the meringues are golden brown.

Serve hot or just warm.  Leftovers kept in the fridge are also nice cold.

Makes 6 individual puddings.