Apple, Blackberry and Coconut Tart

Where have the last few months gone? I had every intention of posting lovely festive tarts and pies in November and December and then got bogged down with work deadlines, three birthdays in the family, oh and that event called Christmas. So here we are in 2013 ready to start again.
This year I'm on a mission to reduce our family's food wastage, not that we do waste much actually, but we can always improve. So with that in mind this tart came about after a last minute call from friends to come over for dinner on New Year's day, and me offering to bring a pud. It was my challenge to create a dessert from ingredients I had in the house. Nigel Slater always finds something interesting in his fridge (always beautifully wrapped in brown paper) to create a delicious supper so I thought I'd give it a go too.
I had some ready-rolled puff pastry in the freezer, a few apples and half a jar of Tiptree blackberry jelly (bought on visit to the Tiptree Jam tearooms in Tiptree, Essex, earlier in the year). I wanted to add a frangipane layer (almond, egg and sugar mixture) but didn't have enough almonds so mixed in some coconut to make up the quantity. And the result was, as Nige would say, rather good! We enjoyed it with creme friache but a scoop of ice cream or lashings of custard would also go down well.

Serves 6
Takes 35-40 mins
50g butter, softened
50g golden caster sugar
1 egg
25g ground almonds
25g desiccated coconut
1tbsp plain flour
320g sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
3tbsp blackberry jelly
3 eating apples, such as Cox's, cored and sliced
2tbsp flaked almonds

1 Preheat the oven to 200C, Fan 180C, Gas 6. Beat together the butter and sugar until soft and creamy. Beat in the egg then stir in the ground almonds, coconut and flour.

2 Unroll the sheet of pastry onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Spread the blackberry jelly over the pastry allowing a 1cm border around the edges.

3 Place the almond mixture, in spoonfuls, over the jelly and spread out lightly. Arrange the apple slices over the almond mixture and sprinkle over the flaked almonds. Fold the pastry border over to make an edge.

4 Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until the topping is golden, the apples are tender and the pastry is cooked. Cut into squares and serve warm or cold.

Butternut Squash and Beef Pasties

The time had come to use the small but perfectly formed butternut squash grown on our allotment. Just the one you understand, well the total harvest was 3 but our allotment buddies had 2 and I had extra little gem squash (the round green ones in the pic).

I could have roasted it and used it in a roasted veg tart but that felt a bit summery. It was pouring with rain outside and a bit chilly and I wanted hearty comfort food, so I decided to put it into a pasty filling with some beef skirt. Beef skirt is a lean fairly cheap cut which has fantastic flavour, you'll get it from a good butcher but if you can't find it use rump steak instead.
The pastry is a proper pasty pastry recommended by the Cornish Pasty Association. It's made with strong flour and is a cross between bread dough and pastry, it becomes quite pliable and stretchy so you can roll it quite thin without it cracking and twists easily when you crimp the edges. The filling is raw so as the pasties cook all the flavour and juices from the vegetables and beef stay within the pasty, nothing is lost.
This is not a quick recipe, but it's not difficult either and is the perfect way to unwind and while away a couple of hours on a rainy November day.

Makes 6
Takes about 2 hours plus 1 hour to chill the pastry

For the pastry:
500g strong white bread flour
120g white vegetable fat (such as Cookeen)
25g margarine or butter
1 tsp salt
175ml cold water
For the filling:
450g beef skirt or rump steak, finely chopped
2 medium onions (about 200g), finely chopped
600g mixed finely chopped butternut squash and potato ( I used about half and half as my butternut squash was small, but you can use all butternut squash and no potato if you have plenty)
Plenty of salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 knobs of butter
1 egg, beaten

1 Place the flour in a bowl, add the white fat, margarine or butter and salt. Rub in the fat until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix to form a dough, adding a little extra water if the mixture is too dry. Knead the dough then wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins in the fridge. The chilling time is important as the dough softens and becomes much easier to roll out.
2 While the dough is chilling place the chopped beef, onions, squash and potato in a bowl. Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and salt. Mix well.
3 Heat the oven to 170C, fan 150C, Gas 3. Divide the dough into six equal pieces and roll each piece to a round approx 23cm diameter. Pile one-sixth of the filling onto each round of dough, shaping it roughly on one half, leaving a 1cm border. Brush the border on one half with a little egg, place a knob of butter on top of the filling and fold the dough over to enclose the filling. Press the edges together to seal. Crimp the edge by starting at one end and twisting the dough edge along the pasty. Place on two baking trays, brush the pasties with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 45-50 mins until golden and crisp.

Tarte Tatin

The apple harvest is not good this year so all the more reason to make the best use the of the ones we do have. There's nothing like the crunch and flavour of a good Cox's Orange Pippin and that's what I've used in this classic Tarte Tatin which is another case of the simplest things often being the best. Just four ingredients - sugar, butter, apples and puff pastry and you end up with a delicious pud. Cox's are not overly sweet so they balance the sweetness of the caramel perfectly and when they cook they soften but don't turn to mush. Mush is good for some things but not for Tarte Tatin. The story goes that this tart was invented by the Tatin sisters in France. One of the sisters burnt some apples so they quickly covered it in pastry and popped it in the oven to cook. The resulting dessert was served to diners in their hotel restaurant and everyone loved it - hence the Tarte Tatin was born.
It's a forgiving tart, you don't have to be too precise with the pastry, however rustic it looks it's still great. You can change the fruit to pears, pineapple, banana or mango for delicious variations.
The main requirement is the right dish to cook it in, I used a shallow round Le Creuset dish which is ideal for making the caramel on the hob as well as baking the tart. If you don't have one you could use a frying pan suitable for oven use or make make the caramel in a pan then pour it into a good quality tart tin or shallow baking tin (not lose bottomed or you'll end up with a very sticky oven to clean).

Makes one 23cm tart
Serves 6
Takes about 1 hour

5 small Cox's apples, cored, peeled and halved
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
100g caster sugar
50g butter
320g pack ready-rolled puff pastry

1 Coat the apple halves in lemon juice (if using) and set aside. Heat the oven to 200C, fan 180C, Gas 6. Place the caster sugar in a shallow 23cm diameter flameproof, ovenproof dish or pan. Add 3 tbsp water and heat over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat, bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 mins until it turns into a golden caramel.
2 As soon as it turns a rich golden colour remove from the heat and add the apples. Turn to coat in the caramel them turn them all round-side down. Dot with pieces of butter. Place the sheet of pastry over the top, quickly trim with scissors allowing a few centimetres overhang. Roughly tuck the pastry in around the apples, taking care not to touch the caramel as it will hot. Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until the pastry is golden and crisp.
3 Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins. Run a knife around the edges to loosen the pastry then carefully turn the tart out onto a plate, taking care as the caramel will be hot. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or cream.

Sausage, Courgette & Leek Tart with Cheese Pastry

We're still gaily chomping through the courgettes from our allotment (well some of us a little more gaily than others), although I don't think there'll be many more now - hurray says hubby! We've eaten them every which way - stir-fried in garlic butter, mixed with pesto, in soup, in pilau, in curry etc etc and.... in this sausage tart. Cheese pastry really adds to the overall flavour of the tart, you can make it with bought shortcrust if you don't want to make your own but I'd add a sprinkling of Cheddar to the filling instead. I used the pastry trimmings to make some cheese straws sprinkled with a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds before baking - mmm, they were pretty delicious straight from the oven and didn't last long.  I found this enamel tin in a local hardware shop - a bargain I thought at just £1.99 - and perfect for a chunky, rustic tart like this.

Makes one 23cm tart
Serves 4-6
Takes about 1 hour plus 30 mins to chill the pastry

Cheese Pastry:
200g plain flour
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground pepper
100g butter
75g mature Cheddar, finely grated
1 egg, beaten
Filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil or rapeseed oil
4 good quality pork sausages
1 leek, sliced
1 medium courgette, halved lengthways and sliced
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 eggs
150ml pot single cream

1 To make the pastry, place the flour in a bowl. Add the cayenne pepper and season with salt and pepper. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs then stir in the cheese. Mix the egg with 1 teaspoon cold water, add to the bowl and mix to form a dough, adding another teaspoon of water if the dough seems dry. Knead lightly then wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 mins.

2 While the pastry is chilling, heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the sausages for 10 mins. Push the sausages to one side of the pan, add the leek and courgette to the other side and cook for a further 10 mins until the sausages are cooked and the leeks and courgette are tender. Cut the sausages into chunky slices.

3 Heat the oven to 190C, Fan 170C, Gas 5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use to line a 23cm tart tin. Trim off the excess and re-roll trimmings for cheese straws or biscuits. Line the pastry with a sheet of baking paper and top with ceramic baking beans or dried beans and bake in the oven for 10 mins. Remove the paper and beans and cook for a further 5 mins.

4 Place the leeks, courgette and sausage in the pastry case with the cherry tomatoes. Beat the eggs with the cream, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and pour over the filling. Bake for 20 minutes until golden and just set.

Banoffee Tarts

I could eat dulche de leche (rich gooey, sticky, toffee sauce) in spoonfuls straight from the jar or tin - it's my idea of heaven. And with bananas it's a winning combination, for me anyway. So why is banoffee pie a rare treat in our house when I love it so much? Well, my hubby has something to do with it. He HATES bananas with a PASSION! In fact if I eat a banana he recoils in horror and looks at me as though I've been rolling in dog poo. My girls were never banana lovers either but they've taught themselves to like them - they followed the if-you-eat-something-everyday-for-20-days-you'll-grow-to-like-it rule, and it worked. In fact, younger daughter Ellie made these tarts for me as I've been rushing to meet a recipe book deadline. She polished off quite a few with her friend Charlie who tried to get a whole one in his mouth, but didn't quite meet the challenge.
Sainsbury's sell chilled gingerbread dough and I thought it would make a great banoffee pie base. It was a tad dry and difficult to roll out as it kept cracking so in the end we rolled it into smallish balls and rolled out small circles for each tart. Once baked though it was nice and crisp and had a good flavour.

Makes 12 tarts
Takes about 25 mins plus cooling

350g Sainsbury's gingerbread dough block
12 tsp dulche de leche sauce (such as Merchant Gourmet) or half a 397g can Carnation Caramel
1 small banana, sliced
150ml pot double cream or whipping cream
1 small chocolate Flake, crumbled

1 Take the gingerbread dough out of the fridge 20 minutes before you want to use it. Heat the oven to 190C, Fan 170C, Gas 5. Roll out the gingerbread dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out 12 x 8cm rounds using a cutter and use to line a 12 hole bun tin. Any gingerbread trimmings can be re-rolled and used to make biscuits. Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins until crisp. Leave to cool.

2 Place a teaspoon of dulche de leche in each gingerbread tart case and top with a slice of banana. Whip the cream until just thick enough to form soft peaks, then place a spoonful on top of each tart and sprinkle with crumbled Flake. Chill until ready to serve, they'll keep a good few hours in the fridge if you want to make them in advance.

Maple Pecan Pie with Soured Cream Pastry

Two things got me thinking about Pecan pie last week. Firstly, American pies were the showstopper challenge on last weeks Great British Bake Off, one of my fave programmes at the moment. And, secondly the change in the weather - cool misty mornings and shorter evenings - means lovely seasonal autumn foods and flavours are back on the menu.
The sweet nutty filling goes really well with this soured cream pastry which is deliciously buttery, almost flaky, with just a hint of sweetness. I've coarsely grated the butter into the flour which cuts downs on the rubbing in and adds to the lightness and flakiness of the finished pastry. Any trimmings are well worth re-rolling and baking as jam tarts or cut into shapes for biscuits.

Serves 8
Makes one 23cm tart
Takes about 45 mins plus pastry chilling time

Soured cream pastry:
225g plain flour
25g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
175g firm chilled butter
6 level tbsp soured cream (a small 150ml pot will be enough)
Filling:
100ml maple syrup
50g butter
75g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g pecan halves
3 eggs


1 To make the pastry, place the flour, icing sugar and salt in a bowl. Coarsely grate the butter into the bowl, tossing it in the flour every now and again to stop it forming large clumps. Add the soured cream and mix to form a soft dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
2 While the pastry is chilling, gently heat the maple syrup, butter, sugar and vanilla extract in small pan until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Cool slightly.
3 Heat the oven to 190C, Fan 170C, Gas 5. Roll out the pastry and use to line a 23cm tart tin. Trim off any excess and crimp the edges. Save any pastry trimmings, they can be re-rolled, cut into shapes and baked as biscuits. Keep about one-third of the pecans as halves, roughly chop the rest and scatter them over the pastry base. Beat the eggs into the maple syrup mixture and pour over the chopped pecans. Scattter the pecan halves over the top and bake for about 25 mins until the pastry is golden and the filling is just set. Serve warm or cold with ice cream or whipped cream with an extra drizzle of maple syrup.

Courgette Pizza Tart with Olive Oil Pastry

The courgettes and runner beans are coming thick and fast on our allotment but I'm really envious of these wonderful chillies my brother-in-law Fred has grown. He's got loads and has very generously given me some.

My attempt at growing peppers this year has been pretty pitiful by comparison so I've given one of my plants to Fred to see if he can work his magic. I've been trying to grow Padron peppers which are the small Spanish peppers fried whole and served as tapas - most of them are mild but the sting in the tail is that one in 15-20 is fiery hot so it's a bit of a Russian pepper roulette when you eat them.
The combination of courgette and chilli sits happily on this easy olive oil pastry base and I've added a sprinkle of chopped chorizo for a delicious smoky sausage hit.  Using olive oil in the pastry instead of butter means it's very quick to mix as there's no rubbing in.

Serves 2
Makes one 25cm tart
Takes about 45 mins plus pastry chilling time

Olive oil pastry:
170g plain flour
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp olive oil
1 medium egg
1 tbsp cold water
Topping:
3-4 tbsp pizza topping sauce (I used M&S new Margherita pizza sauce)
1 medium courgette, thinly sliced
1 chilli, deseeded and chopped
125g pack mozzarella, drained and sliced
90g pack diced chorizo (again M&S)

1 Place the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the olive oil, egg and water and mix to form a dough. If it feels a bit dry add a little more water. Knead lightly until just smooth, wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.
2 Heat the oven to 200C, fan 180C, gas 6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to make a thin round approx 25cm in diameter. Place on a baking tray and spread the pizza topping sauce over the top.   Cover with the courgette slices, sprinkle over the chilli and finish with the mozzarella and chorizo. Drizzle with a little olive oil and bake for 15 mins until the base is crisp and the mozzarella is starting to brown.