FIG AND FRANGIPANE TART

Almost a whole month has gone by since my last post and I'm due for a catch-up.  You may be tempted to think that no baking has been going on chez nous but that is definitely not so.  We have been so busy that finding time to post is the problem.  On top of that, it has been so debilitatingly hot that I just haven't felt like writing anything much.  

Some friends came round for an "eclipse party" on 12th August and one of them brought with her a small box of beautiful purple figs.  Her fig tree has produced tons of fruit this year, a year when we have had more heatwaves than ever before, the result of which is that we have hardly any produce at all.

I looked through all my French themed cookbooks for a recipe.  There were more for savoury dishes than sweet ones but I really wanted to make a dessert.  I found one in Rick Stein's wonderful book "Secret France" which is based on the equally wonderful TV series of the same name.  In the days when we were only part-time in France we would watch our recording of the series to help us get through grim Derbyshire winters until we could return to our house in France in the spring.  You can see his recipe here.

His recipe was for six small tartlets and I wanted to make just one large tart so I did a bit of internet research to reassure myself (not that I really needed to) that the ingredients would work for one large tart.  That's when I found a recipe on the brilliant blog "La Recette du Jour" written by Veronica.  She had a couple of very handy tips that I decided to adopt.  You can see her blog post here.

We were having a number of people round for an evening BBQ where I wanted to serve the tart.  The weather was hot, 30°C in the kitchen by the afternoon.  It would make sense to bake the tart early in the morning so I used Veronica's tip, made the pastry case and the frangipane mixture the day before and kept it in the fridge overnight.  It worked!

Veronica's recipe also includes instructions for ginger custard to serve with the tart.  I thought that sounded like a great idea but couldn't face standing at the stove to make custard from scratch.  Instead, I bought a pack of ready made "crème anglaise", the very thin version of custard that is ubiquitous in France.  I stirred a tablespoon of syrup from a jar of preserved ginger into it and served it cold with the tart.  It was a big hit with the guests.

The tart was delicious, something a bit different from my usual offerings, easy enough to do and looked gorgeous.

Ingredients

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust or sweet shortcrust pastry (mine was plain as that's what was available when I went shopping and in this heat I wasn't keen to make an extra journey to another supermarket)

For the filling

100g butter at room temperature

100g caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

½ tsp almond extract

100g ground almonds

9-10 figs, quartered vertically into wedges, depending on the size of your figs

a sprinkling of flaked almonds

To serve

1 pack of ready made crème anglaise

1-2 tblsp ginger syrup from a jar of preserved ginger, to taste.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk6.

Use the pastry to line a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin.  Line with baking paper and fill with baking beans and blind bake for 10 minutes.  Remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.

To make the frangipane filling, beat the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl, either with a wooden spoon or an electric hand whisk, until smooth.  Add the eggs and almond extract and whisk in.  Stir in the ground almonds and mix well.

Transfer the almond mixture to the pastry case, spreading it out evenly, and level the top.

At this stage you can keep the tart in the fridge until needed or overnight.

Set the oven to 190°C / 170° fan / gas mk5.

Arrange wedges of fig on top of the frangipane.  Don't worry if they look like they are just perched on top of the filling and don't sink in; the filling will rise up as it bakes.

Scatter flaked almonds over the top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until the frangipane is golden and cooked.  Turn out of the tin carefully when still warm.

Serve warm or at room temperature with cream, ice cream, crème fraîche or ginger crème anglaise.

Serves 8-10 slices.

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.

I have since made the tart several times using golden plums which looks equally stunning and tastes delicious..

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.

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.

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.

LEMON POSSET

We had dinner at a friend’s house one autumn evening last year and for dessert she served lemon posset, something I had never made or eaten before.  It was utterly divine and she served it in pretty stemmed champagne coupes.  

She and her husband are renovating one of those drop dead gorgeous French houses known as a "maison du maître" with large airy rooms, tall, draughty windows and high ceilings.  They still have plenty of work to do!  But the previous owner left behind a vast quantity of old furniture, linens, china and glassware, including the coupes.  Some of it was not to her taste but much of it was real treasure.

This is in sharp contrast to the unattractive furniture and other stuff that the owner of our first French house wanted to sell us.  We were mightily relieved to find it had all gone when we finally got the keys!  The difference is that our friend's house had been a well loved home whereas ours had been a holiday home for generations of a Parisian family who just descended on the place for six weeks every summer!  You can read a bit about that here.

Anyway, at the first opportunity, the next time we had guests for lunch, I decided to make lemon posset myself.  I served it in a hotchpotch of china cups and glasses and it went down a treat.  I adapted a Mary Berry recipe which was a doddle to make and I shall add it to my repertoire of favourite desserts.  It was luscious yet light and very lemony!  It's also ideal for a dinner party as it can be made the day before.

Ingredients

600ml double cream

15og caster sugar

3 lemons, zest and juice

a handful of fresh raspberries for decoration

strips of lemon zest for decoration (optional)

Method

Put the cream, sugar and lemon zest into a wide saucepan.  Bring to the boil over low heat and simmer gently for 3 minutes, stirring all the time.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool until lukewarm.

Stir the lemon juice into the cooled cream mixture and pour into 8 small ramekins, cups or glasses.

Chill in the fridge for at least two hours until set or overnight.

Just before serving, decorate with the fresh raspberries and strips of lemon zest.

Serves 8 portions.

BRIOCHE PLUM PUDDING and is the British pudding becoming extinct?

What do you do when you have over purchased on bakery products?  

You turn them into a pudding!

This "tear and share" style brioche was surplus to requirements but luckily we had friends coming round for dinner so I turned it into a version of bread and butter pudding.

It looks like a batch of cinnamon rolls but is actually fluffy and light brioche dough filled with a vanilla custard.  I was slightly stumped as to what to do with it so as a guide used Mary Berry's recipe which you can see here.  Using a filled kind of brioche bread I decided against buttering the rolls but added some fruit by tucking some of my cinnamon baked plums in between the pieces.  You can see that recipe here.

Another challenge was timing its cooking so as to have it ready to serve warm at the right stage in the meal.  Bread and butter pudding can become a bit stodgy when it's gone cold.  To achieve this I sliced and arranged the brioche in the dish, and whisked up the custard, well in advance, keeping the liquid in the fridge until it was needed.  I did the soaking stage just before serving the starter and had the kettle full and ready for the bain marie, and put it in the oven to bake just as the main course was served.

In France it is traditional to have the cheese course before dessert so it came out of the oven at that point and was still warm and fluffy when it was served.  Result!

It did look alarmingly like toad in the hole when it arrived at the table but in fact was delicious and everyone loved it.  Brioche certainly makes a light pudding and it was so good that I would definitely do it again!

I'm not sure I have seen the exact same brioche product in the UK but if you refer to Mary's recipe you will see that you can simply use buttered slices of a normal brioche loaf.

As it happens, there was a little of the custard mixture left over after filling the dish so I kept it in the fridge for a couple of days and then baked it by itself in a small buttered dish for about 30 minutes at 150° fan.  An added bonus of a baked egg custard!

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As an aside, in the news a while ago there was a report of research by English Heritage which showed that only 2% of British households regularly eat a home made pudding as a dessert. Blogger Karen at Lavender and Lovage also posted about this here.

This got me thinking.  Often we have a yoghurt at lunchtime and no dessert in the evening but at least once a week we will have some kind of baked pudding, often just a humble crumble.  We're most likely to have a pudding if we have friends round for lunch or dinner, in which case I nearly always make two different ones so that people have a choice and we have leftovers to enjoy later!  

The writer of the article baked and reviewed ten of the puddings allegedly under threat of becoming extinct and which were:

Jam roly poly, Sussex pond pudding, bread and butter pudding, queen of puddings, treacle sponge pudding, Malvern pudding, flummery, spotted dick, cabinet pudding and rice pudding.  

He reckoned the only one worth saving was the Malvern pudding.  Queen of puddings is something I make occasionally, bread and butter pudding regularly in some form or other and rice pudding is a very special treat.

I have never made or knowingly eaten a flummery, Sussex pond, cabinet or Malvern pudding and it’s a long time since I made a steamed or suet pudding of any kind.  These were served frequently when I was at school and when the school had a real kitchen.  Spotted dick always had the boys sniggering and had a bad press but I loved it and seconds were in high demand at school dinner.  My mum used to make steamed sponge puddings regularly, steaming it for hours on a Sunday morning.  I still remember the sense of anticipation and excitement as the kitchen filled up with steam!  A treacle sponge with Birds custard for "afters" was such a joy!  I think I would be more likely to make a microwave version these days.  

What the article doesn’t make clear is whether most households are skipping dessert altogether or serving shop bought ones.  "Ready meal" versions of numerous old fashioned puddings seem to be in plentiful supply in UK supermarkets; clearly still very much in demand even if people can’t find the time to make them for themselves.  They are also frequently on the menu in our favourite UK restaurants, so they’re not really becoming extinct, just not made at home as often.

Of course, in France the situation is very different. The average boulangerie will have a range of delicious tarts and pastries available every day.  Very tempting and if you turn up in the late afternoon the choice will be limited so that’s clearly the dessert solution in French households!

Personally I feel there is no risk of baked puddings becoming extinct in this house, nor in most where we are lucky enough to be invited elsewhere!  The English, or at least certainly the British ex-pat, love a nice pudding!  The French are fascinated by them too and are always keen to try one!

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Ingredients

1 brioche "tear and share" loaf 

150g cooked plums

3 tblsp demerara sugar

3 eggs

75g caster sugar

150ml double cream

600ml full fat milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1 small lemon

Method

Butter a large baking dish.  Cut each roll from the loaf in half horizontally and arrange them in a spiral in the dish.  Tuck the plums between the slices.

For the custard, put the eggs, cream, milk, vanilla and lemon zest into a bowl and whisk together.  Pour this mixture over the brioche and press down with the back of a spoon.  Sprinkle the demerara sugar over and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Stand the dish in a large roasting tin and pour in boiling water to about half full.  This is called a bain marie.  

Bake for 40 minutes until the brioche is golden brown and puffed up.  It will shrink back down a little.

Serve warm with cream.

Serves 6 generous portions.

GLUTEN FREE MADEIRA CAKE (for GF trifle)

I offered to make two trifles for a Christmas party, one gluten free.

I rarely make my own cake for a trifle.  When in the UK I would use a shop bought Swiss roll filled with jam.  The red swirls always look nice on the sides of the bowl.  In France I would use a shop bought "quatre quarts" which is very similar to a Madeira cake, sliced and spread thinly with jam.  

My trifles are unashamedly old fashioned, containing raspberries or mixed berries, red jelly and Birds custard, topped with whipped cream and decorated with sprinkles, all of which are luckily gluten free.  You can see the recipe here.  Sometimes I pour a splash of sherry over the sponge before adding the fruit, but usually not if children will be eating it…..and children do seem to love a trifle!

"One I made earlier."

The usual sprinkles.

For my gluten free trifle this time I used a recipe for Madeira cake from the website "Coeliac by Design".  It could not have been easier to make and was also perfectly delicious just as cake.  I sampled a slice just to be sure before putting it in the trifle and gave the unused portion to the party host to put in her freezer for a future dessert.  Her husband is the "gluten free" person and with it being the party season I thought it might come in handy!

Interestingly….a Madeira cake does not contain any Madeira wine!  Historically it was served as a plain cake with a glass of the wine (which is similar to a sweet sherry) to sip with it.

Ingredients 

200g Doves Farm GF self raising flour

175g softened butter or baking spread

175g caster sugar

50g ground almonds

3 large eggs, beaten

zest of 1 lemon

Method

Put a paper liner into 900g loaf tin, or grease and line with baking paper.  Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.

Put all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat well with an electric whisk until light and creamy.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and tap on the worktop a few times to settle the mixture and release any air bubbles.  Level the top.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until done.  Cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to cool completely.

Cuts into 8-10 slices.

The author adds the note that this also makes an excellent cherry cake by adding 180g washed and halved cherries.  I would probably make sure they are dried and mixed with a little of the flour before adding to the mixture in an attempt to prevent them from sinking and might also add half a teaspoon of almond extract to turn it into a cherry and almond cake.

QUICK AND EASY LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Lemon meringue pie was a real treat when I was a child and my mum usually made it using a Green's pie filling mix.  I was reminded of this when reading a recent post in "Lavender and Lovage" about the Be-Ro recipe for it (see here).

Hence, on my recent trip to the UK I bought some of the packet mixes and I was keen to relive the memories.  Using ready made pastry it was done in no time at all and was exactly as I remembered it, especially as I made it in my ancient Pyrex pie dish, just like Mum would have done.

Of course, she always made her own pastry as I'm not sure there was any other option in the 50’s and 60’s and in any case, shop bought would have seemed far too extravagant!

It’s a delicious, quick and easy dessert and there was that glorious crunch when I cut the first slice - something that I always think of as a "Mary Berry moment"!

Ingredients 

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry

one sachet of Green's lemon pie filling (each pack contains two sachets)

2 medium eggs, separated

280ml (half a pint) cold water 

110g caster sugar

Method 

Remove the pastry from the fridge about 15 minutes before you start to bring it up to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.  Grease a 20cm pie dish and line it with the unrolled pastry.  Trim and crimp the edges then prick the base with a fork.  Line it with the baking parchment that comes with the pastry, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk 3.

While the pastry case is baking, make the filling according to the packet instructions:  

Tip the sachet contents into a small saucepan and stir in the water until it's smooth.  Add the egg yolks and heat gently until it comes to the boil.  Cook for one more minute and allow to cool slightly.

Remove the pie dish from the oven, remove the baking paper and beans and pour in the lemon filling.

To make the meringue, put the egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk until stiff.  Add the sugar one spoon at a time and whisk again until stiff and glossy.

Spoon the meringue mixture over the lemon filling beginning at the edges.  Spread the meringue out to fill in the gaps and swirl to level and make a few peaks.

Bake for 25 minutes until the meringue is golden brown.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 5-6 portions.

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.

RHUBARB FOOL

This gorgeous old fashioned dessert has a wow factor well beyond its simplicity.

The recipe has its origins in a book by Simon Hopkinson called "roast chicken and other stories" and I found it on a blog called "The Rhubarb Fool". 

The simplicity lies in the cooking of the rhubarb which is just baked in the oven with sugar until tender and processed in a food processor to a slightly lumpy purée. This is swirled into softly whipped double cream to give a marbled effect rather than blended to a homogenous pink.

We were having six guests for dinner on a June evening and it was Nick's idea after he spotted red rhubarb in a local supermarket.  I normally balk at the price of shop bought rhubarb but it does look so pretty for a special occasion.  This rhubarb was mostly a deep red with a little green on the stems which produced a very soft pink colour when cooked.  There was plenty of it so I put a layer in the bottom of each glass before topping with the actual fool mixture.

I happened to have some vanilla sugar on the go, long forgotten at the back of the cupboard from the last time I used an actual vanilla pod, which was a few years ago.  Otherwise I might have stirred a teaspoon of vanilla extract into the rhubarb before baking, or might have used plain caster sugar.

The recipe suggests swirling the reserved juice into the cream along with the purée but instead I served it separately as I was also making a chocolate torte and thought it would also be nice drizzled over that.

I decorated each one with a tiny sprig of mint.

Ingredients 

1.3 kg rhubarb 

500ml double cream

350g vanilla sugar or caster sugar

Grated zest of 1 orange (optional)

small sprigs of mint for decoration (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170° fan / gas mk 5.

Wipe, trim and roughly chop the rhubarb.

Tip it into a baking dish or roasting tin, spreading out into an even layer.  Sprinkle over the sugar and orange zest and stir in.  Do not add any water and cover with foil so that it bakes and does not roast or become brown.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until soft and tender.  Drain through a colander over a jug to retain the juice.

Allow to cool before transferring to a food processor and blend to a slightly lumpy purée.

In a large bowl, whip the cream until softly thick, i.e. not stiff but holds its shape.

Spoon a layer of puréed rhubarb into the bottom of eight glass dishes.  Fold the remaining purée into the whipped cream to give a marbled swirl effect and divide this between the dishes.

Decorate with a small sprig of mint (optional) and chill on a tray in the fridge for at least two hours or until needed.  Serve the reserved juice alongside.

Serves 8

SAUCY LEMON PUDDING

Don't be put off by the rather uninspiring photo! This pudding is delicious!

There are plenty of recipes on the internet for it and this one comes from the Olive Magazine website.  It popped up in my news feed at the right time when I needed a pudding and although easy is a little vague.  The instructions tell you to mix the batter in a food processor, to whisk the egg whites until firm but not stiff and fold the two mixtures.  You can (at the time of writing) see the recipe here.

I dutifully processed the batter in my Magimix, whisked the egg whites separately and…..then what?  I thought tipping the egg whites into the food processor would beat all of the air out of them so I spooned the batter mixture into the egg whites instead.  That seemed like use of a food processor for its own sake and it would have made more sense to mix the batter in a bowl by hand or with an electric whisk then fold in the egg whites.  Then , when I went back and looked at the videoclip in the recipe ……. that's exactly what was shown! 😁 The written recipe did not match the video instructions which made a lot more sense!

If you serve the pudding more or less straight from the oven you get a sponge with a runny custard underneath it.  If you serve it a bit later the custard sets the way custard does but it’s no less delicious for that and perfect with a little cream (or ice cream).  The next time I make it I would use a different dish and take a better photo.  Watch this space!

Ingredients

200g golden caster sugar (or white)

50g butter

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon plus extra to make up to 100ml

50g plain flour

3 eggs, separated

250ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Butter a baking dish or soufflé dish.  Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 fan / gas mk 4.

Put the egg whites into a medium bowl and beat with an electric hand held whisk until firm but not completely stiff.

Put the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl.  Beat with the whisk until paler and creamy.   Add all the other ingredients and beat until you have a smooth batter.

Gently fold in the egg whites with a metal spoon until well combined then pour the mixture into your baking dish. 

Sit the dish in an oven tray half filled with hot water and bake for 40-50 minutes until set and a light golden brown.  

Dust with icing sugar and serve hot so that the sauce underneath is runny.  It will set as the pudding cools but is equally delicious.

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!