Raspberry Curd Tart

Today's bake was inspired by a recipe from this month's Olive which was a Blackberry Curd Tart but instead I fancied using raspberries instead to see if that would work well.

Being in school today for Summer School, I took the magazine in to have a read through and get the list of ingredients, unfortunately on leaving, I wrote down the ingredients and promptly left the recipe at school, sounds like the beginning of a Bake Off technical challenge this.

For the pastry I used my usual sweet shortcrust pastry recipe and techniques. For the filling I broke down the raspberries with a little bit of sugar over a low heat to extract all the juices and then shoved it through a sieve to remove all the pips. To this juice I mixed in the condensed milk and 3 large yolks and turned the oven low and cooked the filling gently until set.

I was slightly disappointed upon mixing the ingredients as I was expecting a vivid red but alas it wasn't to be. The end result however was a success; crisp pastry, very smooth light curd filling that was slightly more sweet than sour but with some extra raspberries on top soon brought it back to the sour side.

Not a bad result for a recipe less baking session.

Raspberry Curd Tart
Ingredients
Pastry
210g Plain flour
35g icing sugar
125g cold butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
2 tsp of water
1 egg white (to brush the cooked case)

Filling
300g raspberries plus extra for the top
1tsp caster sugar
1 tin of condensed milk (397g)
3 large yolks

Uses one 20cm tart tin

Method
Pastry
Mix the flour and sugar together, add the butter.
Rub the butter into the flour gently between your fingertips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the yolk and water and mix together.
Using your hands bring together the mix into a dough ball, don't overwork.
Wrap tightly in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30mins to an hour.

Get two sheets of cling film, spread one across the work surface, placethe  dough in the middle and spread the other sheet over the top.
Roll out gently in between the two sheets of cling film (this method stops any excess flour being added to the pastry and drying it out).
Remove the top layer and using the bottom layer drape the pastry gently into the tin and press gently into all edges.
Take a square of greaseproof paper and place over the pastry, fill with lentils, baking beans, coins and blind bake for 12-15 minutes at 180C (fan)
Remove the paper and items and bake for a further 12-15 mins, keep an eye out, when it reaches a golden colour you are happy with then take it out.
Brush with egg white and place back in the oven for a minute or so.
Take out and leave to cool completely.
Turn the oven down to 150C (fan)

Filling
Place the raspberries and caster sugar into a saucepan and heat gently until it breaks down and releases all the juice.
Push through a fine sieve until all the juice is separated from the pips.
Stir in the condensed milk and egg yolks until fully combined, the colour should be uniform.
Pour into the cooled tart tin.
Place into the oven (150C) and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Serve with some ice cream and the extra raspberries

Enjoy

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Spinach salad with Dates & Almonds

 Ottolenghi is currently one of my favourite chefs. I have eaten at his restaurant/deli outlets several times and gone back multiple times just for the cakes and patisserie available. His recent programme Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Feast was a superb tour of that region and his books are stunning with many recipes pairing ingredients together that you wouldn't normally consider as well as showing new ways with old ones. His Plenty book would happily send me vegetarian if I didn't like meat so much.

So I was very happy to get his latest book (co-authored with Sami Tamimi) Jerusalem to cook from for Dom's Random Recipe Challenge this month. The challenge was a lot more simple than usual, instead of us randomly picking the book it had to be the 30th book and the 30th page to celebrate the 30th random recipe challenge, how time files.

The recipe on page 30-31 was a salad.

Now the word salad is a word that comes with negative connotations regarding dieting or dire offerings with a tired old iceberg and a dull tomato. In the world of Ottolenghi however, the salad is a glorious feast for the senses and this one is no different...
Sweet, slightly sticky dates, offset with sour lemon and sumac. crisp fried pittas, crunchy almonds and soft spinach leaves with just the slightest hint of chilli heat all combine together in a superb salad that can be happily eaten as an entire meal instead of being relegated to a side dish. Simple but brilliant.

Spinach salad with Dates & Almonds
Ingredients
1tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
100g pitted medjool dates, quartered lengthwaqys
30g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 small pittas, ripped to small pieces
 75g whole almonds, roughly chopped
2 tsp sumac
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
150g baby spinach leaves
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt

Method
Add the dates and onion to a bowl with the white wine, mix and leave to marinate for 20 minutes, drain any remaining vinegar off and discard.
Heat half the oil with the butter in a frying pan and cook the almonds and pitta over a medium heat for 5 minutes until golden and crispy. remove from the heat and sprinkle over the chilli flakes, sumac and a pinch of salt. Set aside to cool.
Toss the spinach leaves with the pitta mix, add the dates and onion, remaining olive oil, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
Serve immediately.

Enjoy

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Orange and Polenta Cake

While Britain slowly roasts under a blazing sun and the 'news'papers report that the end of the world is upon us all because the mercury exceeds 25C the last thing you probably want to do is go into the kitchen and bake a cake when you want to go outside and bake yourself, preferably with a beer or chilled wine baste.

But hold on just one minute and get yourself inside (or get up early while it's still quite cool) and make this little gem of a cake I found on Good Food.

It is a simple cake with no fancy toppings which would melt like a ice lolly on a barbecue or in the case of cream, go off faster than you can whip it. It keeps very well for a few days and it is definitely a summers day cake with a lovely golden colour and deep orange flavour from the soaking liquor.

I altered the recipe slightly as the original stated to wait until the cake is cold to drizzle it with the syrup, that in my mind is a silly idea. While it is still warm, stab it all over with a toothpick or similar then brush the syrup over so it soaks in and then repeat until it's all used up, this keeps it deliciously soft and tasty.

Orange and Polenta Cake

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter

250g golden caster sugar

4 large eggs

140g polenta

200g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

zest and juice 2 oranges (less 100ml juice for the glaze)

Method

Line the base and sides of a 23cm cake tin.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients and the zest and juice after removal of 100ml.

Transfer to the tin and spread evenly.

Bake in a preheated oven a 160C/140C(fan) for about 45 minutes until a skewer can be removed clean.

Turn out onto a wire rack.

Add the sugar and juice to a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, allow to cool.

Stab the cake with a toothpick then brush the glaze over the top, keep brushing as the cake absorbs it. Leave to cool completely

Serve with a bucket of ice cream.

Enjoy.

 

 

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Profiteroles

It doesn't come much better than a profiterole. Sure you can argue the merits of an éclair but éclairs are messy and once you start one you are committed until it's finished, unless you are that person that saves half for later...tut tut. A profiterole is a bite sized piece of joy. Crisp, light choux pastry, filled to the point of bursting with fresh cream and drenched with chocolate, it's a dieter worst nightmare.

I have been a little obsessed with perfecting the art of the choux recently, having decided to teach it to 13-14 year olds, I have to get it right myself first.

It's a simple pastry at heart, no gently rubbing flour into butter, no worrying about the heat of the room, no danger over kneading and making it tough for just a few examples.

There are several key points to follow for making a decent choux bun:

• beat the flour in quickly when  the liquid boils
• make sure to return the mixture to the heat to dry.
• careful with the amount of egg added as it is temperamental and you might not need it all.
•  don't open the bloody oven until its cooked.

Once you have mastered the art then the world is your lobster. Flavour the cream with your favourite liqueur, baileys or whisky for example or don't use cream and fill it with cream patisserie instead. Drown them in your favourite chocolate or up the game and make a Croquembouche or a St Honore.

Profiteroles
Ingredients
150ml water
50g Butter
60g flour, sieved.
2 eggs, beaten
200ml Double Cream
1 tbsp icing sugar
100g Dark Chocolate

Method
Melt the butter with the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiled, take off the heat, pour in the flour and beat hard with wooden spoon until a smooth paste and coming away from the sides.
Place back on the heat for about 30 seconds to dry out further.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before adding the egg
Add the egg, a bit at time, mixing well after each addition. the mixture will look like it's splitting but keep beating, it will sort itself out. when the mixture reaches a consistency where it will drop off the spoon with a jerk then stop adding the egg.
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag.

Pipe small mounds on a sheet of greaseproof paper, keep them even.

Once done, then with your wet finger, tap the pointy tops down gently to make them smooth.
Bake in a preheated oven at 190C (fan) for 20 minutes until the buns are crisp and golden.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully.

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks, stir in a tbsp of icing sugar (optional). Using a thin nozzle, pipe cream by piercing the bottom of each choux bun with the nozzle and then piping straight into the centre.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of water and either dip each bun into the chocolate or drizzle it all over with a spoon.

Enjoy

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Strawberry and White Chocolate Cake

After the success of the Triple Chocolate Cake of Death, another colleague at work got wind that I can make a decent cake when I put my mind to it and enquired if I could make one for her up coming wedding anniversary, being in a nice mood for a change and never one to turn down an opportunity to bake, I agreed and began pondering what to make.

The brief was even vaguer than the chocolate one with the brief  for this bake just simply 'cake'. Very helpful that. normally my go to flavour in cakey form are Lemon or chocolate, usually with raspberries but....British Strawberries are in fine form at the moment and there are some fine varieties floating about.

My advice when buying them are to give them a sniff, if they smack you round the head with strawberry aroma, get them bought and eaten but do it quickly because they are usually at the peak of their powers and will go off very quickly.

To go with the strawberries, I decided to opt away from the usual dark chocolate and go the other end of the spectrum with a white chocolate butter cream. I also decided to move away from a strawberry jam filling and go for a deliciously gooey and sticky strawberry compote which would help show off the strawberry flavour instead of just being very sweet.

Ingredients
Main Cake ( two 8 inch tins)
6 eggs - weigh in shells to find their weight then use this measurement for the following.
Caster Sugar
SR flour
Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Little cake (one 4.5in tin)
1 egg, as above weigh in shell to find the weight.
SR Flour
Caster sugar
Butter
tiny drop of vanilla extract

Strawberry compote
450g strawberries, hulled and chopped in half or quarters.
4 tbsp Caster Sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice.

White Chocolate Buttercream
220g Butter
500g Icing sugar
300g White chocolate
milk (if needed)

To decorate
100g white chocolate
Punnet of strawberries

Method
Cook each cake separately. For each cake, beat all the ingredients together in a bowl until a smooth cake batter is formed and the mixture easily falls off a spoon. Divide the mixture between the two lined and greased cake tins equally or pour the mixture straight into the lined and greased little cake tin. Level out and place in a preheated oven at 160C(fan) for about 45 minutes for the big cake and about 20-25 minutes for the little cake. Check they are done by inserting a skewer into the middle to see if it can be removed clean. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Compote
Place the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice into a saucepan, heat gently until the strawberries start breaking down, stop cooking when it is syrupy but there are still decent lumps of strawberry in there. set aside and leave to cool.

Decoration
Cling film a flat movable surface, such as a chopping board. melt the chocolate, in a bowl, over a pan of simmering water. once melted pour over the clingfilm and spread into a thin even layer, place in the fridge to cool and set.

White Chocolate Buttercream
melt the white chocolate using the above method and set aside. beat half the icing sugar with the butter until smooth, continue beating in the sugar until all is combined and smooth. pour in the white chocolate and beat until well combined. If very thick then add a tsp of milk until at the required consistency. If too thin, add more icing sugar to thicken it.

Assembly
Trim the cake and make it even so it doesn't lean to one side. On the bottom layer pipe or spoon a barrier of buttercream around the edge.
Spoon the compote into the centre, try and avoid lots of syrup and add mainly the strawberries. The remainder can be spooned over individual slices.

Place the second cake layer on top.
Apply a crumb coat of buttercream to the big cake and the little cake separately and place in the fridge to set for about 10 minutes.
Completely cover the big cake with butter cream and place the little cake on top and cover that as well.
Hull and half strawberries and attach around the cake and the top of the cake.
Slice the layer of set chocolate into shards and place around the top of the cake at angles.

Serve with the remainder of the compote.

Enjoy

 

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Chocolate and Almond Cake - A Random Recipe

I have been a bit rubbish with blogger challenges recently. I always start the month off full of enthusiasm, checking out the new challenges and thinking about what I could do but then the month happens and blazes past and before I know it I'm reading the round-up wondering where the month went.
Well not this month, at the very least I'm going to get my favourite one done which regular readers will probably figure out is Dom's Random Recipe challenge. I always enjoy the fear of choosing a recipe and wondering which one I will end up suffering through.

This month's challenge is a summer themed one. Yes, Summer, that season where the sun shines, everybody goes bright burnt red, gets food poisoning off undercooked barbecue and is currently Missing in Action. Yeah I'm sure it will turn up eventually.

We were instructed to choose from the summery chapters of our books of which a few came to mind straight away but then this month's summer editions of Olive and Good Food landed and I decided to use them instead. Olive's Italian themed magazine got the nod after a quick flip of a coin and then I landed on page 46-47 and I picked the first recipe I looked at which was a Chocolate and Almond cake from Positano which reportedly grows the best almonds in Italy.

A fairly simple recipe and completely flour less so suitable for that coeliac in your life. The end result is a slightly squidgy cake with the texture resembling a good brownie. This, combined with fresh cream and even fresher strawberries or raspberries to cut through the bitter chocolate, makes a lovely cake/pud to enjoy in the sun when/if it makes an appearance.

Chocolate and Almond Cake
Ingredients
200g good chocolate (70%)
200g butter
250g caster sugar
5 eggs, seperated
250g ground almonds
zest of one lemon

To serve
Icing sugar
Cream
Strawberries/raspberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C/170c(fan) and line and butter a 23in cake tin
melt the chocolate in a bowl, over a pan of simmering water. stir in the butter and mix until smooth.
Add the sugar, mix well and  then add the egg yolks.
Remove from the heat and stir in the almonds.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl until they form peaks, add the grated lemon zest then fold very gently into the chocolate mix.
Pour gently into the tin and bake in a preheated oven for 30-45 minutes until the cake pulls away from the sides.
Turn out the cake onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
Dust with icing sugar and serve how you like.

Enjoy

Salmon in a Bag

Awhile back I bought a whole salmon in order to fillet it up and have a good supply of fish for a reasonable price. The whole thing cost about 18 quid and I managed to get about 15 decent fillets off it. not bad at all.

I've been mainly eating them with a jacket potato and some salad for a quick and easy tea.
This time however,  I wanted to do something a little different but still keep the quick and easy element.

It's a simple recipe were (nearly) all ingredients are cooked in a makeshift paper bag and served as it comes.
The lemon thyme is well worth tracking down but a splash of lemon juice will also do the trick.

Ingredients
1 salmon fillet
3-4 sun dried tomatoes, sliced
2 spring onions, sliced
200g new potatoes
Few sprigs of Lemon Thyme
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Ingredients
Get the potatoes on the boil with plenty of salted water, depending on the size they should take about 10-15 minutes.
Get a large piece of greaseproof paper and place the salmon fillet in the middle, arrange all the other ingredients around the salmon.
Once the potatoes are soft, drain and slice in half and place around the salmon.
Drizzle over some oil and season with salt and pepper.
Seal up the bag by twisting and folding to reasemble a cornish pasty. ensure the ends are well twisted to ensure the steam stays inside.
Place in a Preheated oven at 180C for about 10-15 minutes.


Serve with a green salad to up your healthiness rating even more


Enjoy