Goat Cheese, Green Tomato & Apple Chutney Tartlet - Quick dinner

 

More depressing than an Adele's song is a recently published survey  which reveals that 55% of Londoners are turning to quick snacks for an evening meal. And here they are:

 

MOST POPULAR QUICK-FIX DINNERS

1.       Toast

2.       Cereal

3.       Cheese and crackers

4.       Ham sandwich

5.       Crisps or nachos

6.       Crumpets

7.       Packet / tinned soup

8.       Instant noodles / rice / pasta

9.       Porridge

10.   Nutella on toast

 

Turn up the volume on that 21 album, it might cheer me up as reading the rest of the survey* had me in tears. Concomitantly, new research carried out by Love Food Hate Waste and Mumsnet demonstrates that "As modern life becomes busier, and quick solutions become more favourable, we are at risk of losing valuable cooking skills and knowledge to pass on to the next generation."
See infographic**.

What is going on? the food scene is buzzing, there is cookery program of  some sort, with a record audience, every hour, on TV, in the meantime Londoners are eating Nutella on toast standing up in front of their fridge!

 

So where can we find inspiration? my lastest source of, was provided by Jeanne of Cooksister and a canapé served at an event promoting Canadian railways.
  

Let's backtrack a little. He recently harvested the last of the tomatoes on the two plants which provided a bumper crop this year. Considering the neighbour has a monster 16+ feet tree by the fence which completely over-shadows our garden, we were able to make the grand total of two red tomato salads and the same amount of green tomato chutney.

 

I would recommend Cooksister chutney recipe which can be adapted to other fruits, alternatively there is a lot of good brands out there, but don't just spread chutney on toast....wait...

 

Here come part two of the inspiration, at a press event as the canapés were doing the rounds, a tiny little tart with deliciousness on the top attracted my attention. After inconspicuously poking at deliciousness, it was decided that it contained goat cheese topped with chutney.

 

Genius doesn't come into the assembling of such but served with fresh veggies that is a quick dinner worthy of a mention.

 

How does it work?

You'll need one tartlet tray or a small pie tray.

1/2 packet of shortcrust pastry roll out thin and cut to the size of the above tray

150g goat cheese, ring removed, mashed with a fork and combined with

150g of ricotta (failing ricotta) use 4tbsp milk to loosen the goat cheese.

 

Grease the tray with a little oil, place the pastry in, top with cheese mixture.

Bake for 20minutes in pre-heated oven 220C/fan 200C/gas 7

           watch that the pastry doesn't turn too golden (mine did)

Remove from the oven, leave it to cool before topping with a generous spoon of green tomato and apple chutney serve with baked bean or fresh vegetables

More Chutney recipes

 

Javelin Warrior's Roasted Spiced Strawberry and Rhubarb Chutney

Cook Sister Spiced Green tomato and Apple Chutney

Pebble Soup Green Tomato Chutney

Simply Being Mum Simple Cooked Christmas Chutney

 

*survey : Researchers from Pukka Pies polled 2000 workers

**Love food hate waste & Mumsnet research

Soya Yogurt 5 Ways

If Maison Cupcake first soya experience was in the 80's in the form of "bean feast" a recurring dish at her mum's table, ours at Pebble Soup happened about at the same time while trekking in the Golden Triangle.

 

We camped outside villages. In the evening we used people's open fire to cook our meals. One night our Burmese guide magicked tofu, that night, we went to bed persuaded to have eaten a delicious wild animal. That's what happens when you taste blind something you never had before.

 

Soya has keep a little magic, I am very partial to "soya and horseradish cheese", Alpro Soya Yogurt are not far behind. The texture is much lighted than conventional yogurt and the scientific blurb tells us that they are:

Naturally low in saturated fat, low in sugars: 50cal, 2.3g fat. 2.5sugar per 100g

Naturally lactose free 'n gluten free

Contains calcium, vitamins B12 and D

Alpro is running an Inspiration Campaign which is bloggers led and opened to all to participate, have a peep at #Alprotops and see what you can magic.

In the meantime here are my suggestions:

Intrigued by the many Alpro tops

I made a beeline for goji berries which were known, until the naughties, as wolfberries, when marketing hooked on their nutrient value and rebranded them as super-fruit. Don't they look attractive? on the top of this Lemon 'n Lime Soya Yogurt Milkshake

Next day happened to be the week-end and that often means cocktail time. His face was a picture when presented with Vanilla 'n Whirl Maple Syrup Whirl topped with chocolate shavings

Next came Muffins - Strawberry soya yogurt, chia seeds a new one on me. Chia seeds are tiny black seeds from the plant Salvia Hispanica, another one with  nutrients galore.

 Left with Alpro simply plain and now well in my stride, breakfast muesli got the treatment

and how nice it was and last but not least, armed myself with a large spoon and polished the pot.

 disclaimer: my thanks to Alpro for including Pebble Soup in their campaign
more information on the products used on Alpro Website

Redcurrant Tart

Food writing has changed my life in more ways than one. When I used to write for the blog, people didn't pay much attention, dinner invitations where coming loosely and freely.

 

Enter the magazines. It was a little bit more difficult to get invited. Sort of "shall we invite her or not? Will the food be good enough or not?". Needless to say it didn't make any difference to me, good or disastrous, I am always happy to be invited.

 

Then came the books and now my face is being scrutinised at every mouthful. One of my friends, cleverly got round the problem. Having invited us, she emailed her main ingredient for pudding and asked for the best recipe I could think of.  

 

The onus was on me, if it all went wrong then it would be my fault. As cooking with redcurrants is not something I do everyday, I had a moment of panic. I almost suggested that she used bananas instead and make my famous Banoffee tartlets. But I knew that there were no banana growing in her Cambridge's allotment.

 

Red currants are indeed very pretty. They are also incredibly tart which makes these shiny little berries  rather difficult to accommodate. At the end, I opted for couple recipes of the same dessert. The pudding was a triumph, declared by her partner, "As good as the Banoffee pie" which I would have shared with you if it hadn't been devoured before I had time to grab my camera.

 

Redcurrant Tart

 

For the sweet pastry 

• 200g  plain flour
• 100g  butter
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg

 
In a mixer add flour, butter and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs, add the egg when you get a dough stop mixing. Roll it up in a Clingfilm. Leave it in the fridge to rest until you are ready to use it, minimum 30 minutes.

Tip: don't use a roller on sweet pastry, you are going to end up with a mess. Use the palm of your hand to flatten it and push it with your thumbs. Repeat.

For the filling:

340g  almond paste or marzipan (ideally 50 per cent almonds if available)

100g butter, softened

100g  plain flour

6 tbsp caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 medium eggs

300g • 11oz redcurrants, rinsed and de-stalked

Stalk the redcurrants, reserve
Put all the ingredients in the mixer bowl and blitz until smooth, transfer to a bow and add the currants without breaking them

arrange the pastry into tart mould, bake blind for 15 minutes 200C/180C fan/gas 6. 
Remove from oven, leave it to cool add the mixture and cook for 25 minutes, it will rise. Leave it to cool before sieving icing sugar (optional) 

 

 
 

Ploughman with Maple Caramelised Onion Mini Quiches

Can't think of any english sound more difficult to pronounce than "ough". It's a nightmare.

 

"Through" sounds like "flew", "cough" like "off", "though" like "so" and what about "plough" why should it sound the way it does? For years, a group of us met at The Plough and for years, the jokes were on me. There would be all sort of references and invitations for me to say the name of the pub which I kept pronouncing "The Ploof".

 

For my defence, I had no reason to know how to pronounce that word, one doesn't use a ploof in suburbia. Of course when it came to order a "ploofman" so called friends chuckled in their beers. Eventually, I worked it out and The Plough never saw my custom again.

A couple of weeks back, Sue bought a wonderful food parcel back from Canada. It contained a jar of "Maple Caramelised Onions" which yesterday became a dinner saver. Shortcrust pastry, a spoon of the wonder jar, covered with guiche filling (egg + cream) and topped with grated cheddar, this is a must try recipe, Ploughman made into a quiche. My little revenge on The Ploofman and it was delicious cold too.

 

Camilla Stephens' Cheddar Ploughman Tartlets, seen in Higgidy Cookbook were the inspiration.

 

 Ploughman Mini Quiches

Makes 4
Preheat oven 190C/fan 170C/gas mark 5

Ingredients
1/2 pack of Shortcrust pastry (bought commercially)

1 onion finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp of maple syrup

1/2 spoon of balsamic vinegar

1 egg

2 tablespoons of creme fraiche

salt and pepper

60g mature cheddar grated
3 cherry tomatoes (optional)

 

To caramalise the onion

in a small saucepan

heat the oil

add the onion (2 is small)

leave it to soften and when it's translucid add the syrup and the vinegar (make sure the heat is low)

cook 5 minutes to coat the onion. have water ready on the side in case onion catches

 

For the quiches' egg mixture

in a bowl beat 1 egg and 2 tablespoon of creme fraiche (thick cream is required), season well.

Assembling and Baking
Use single tartlets tins.and a bowl larger that each shape to cut out the pastry
Roll the pastry out as thin as you can 0.5cm
cut 4 shapes
place the circles in the tins and layer thinly with onion, add the cream mixture, then the cheddar and top with half a cherry tomato
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes
Serve hot or cold

As I want a maximum people to know about this new recipe, I've shared it with

 

Catherine Wheels Mince Pies

Vanessa Kimbell from Prepped came up with the best Xmas 2011 idea: a food bloggers get together to exchange gifts. The event will take place at Fortnum & Mason. I feel extremely lucky to be able to take part.

My offering will be Catherine wheels mince pies. I will be cooking them nearer the time.  

Till then, I am asking you to close your eyes and picture a cross between a mince pie, a continental pastry and a squashed Chelsea bun. There, you've got it.This recipe is very easy to make and when you think about all what we will have to do before Xmas, this is just perfect

Catherine Wheels Mince Pies

Ingredients:

50g/2oz golden caster sugar

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry

411g jar traditional mincemeat

1tbsp milk

25g/1oz flaked almonds

Method:

Roll

Scatter the sugar over the worktop, unravel the pastry and roll it.

Spread the mincemeat evenly making sure to leave a border of 2cm all around

Fold one of the longest edges over the mincemeat and roll the pastry tightly into a sausage shape, when you get to the other edge brush it with milk and press down to seal

Press both ends in and chill for 30 minutes (if you fancy freezing this is the time to do so)

time to preheat the oven 200C/gas 6/fan 180C
Squash

Cut the roll into 12 rounds about 3 cm thick

Lay them evenly on a baking tray

Flatten them with your hand

Bake

Scatter the almonds on the top and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and the mincemeat sizzle

Leave to cool for 5 minutes

Serve as they are or with ice cream

"Whoo", "Whoo", "Whoo", Whoopie Pies

OK, this is a bit of an easy title for Halloween. Last year or so Whoopie pies were almost unheard of in the UK, now they are the new cake phenomenon or they seem to be.

But what is a Whoopie pie? Amish in origin; I bet you will have no difficulty to guess the reasons behind the name.

That doesn't answer, "What are they?" The reply will look like a cop-out: they are a cross between pie, cake and cookie. They look like two gooey cookies with fluffy icing in the middle.

There is no way of telling what the authentic whoopie pies did taste like. The story is that they were baked for Amish workers and put in their lunch-boxes . But if the Amish men were going "whoopie" just at the sight of them there might have been a reason and that reason is simply that whoopie pies are incredibly delicious.

To feed the little devils, wizards and witches of Greenwich on Halloween night, I used a short-cut and got my whoopies out of a Betty Crocker Whoopie Pie mix. Three simple steps, takes 15 minutes to bake and 15 minutes to mix. It worked a treat, next time you are shopping, you could do worse than grab a packet at £2.15 for 10 whoopie pies- though I managed only 9- comes in two flavours Chocolate and Vanilla or Double chocolate. Impressed.

Disaster Revisited: The Cake

I never really understood why my cakes were soggy in the middle and hardly ever rose.

You would think that such creations would never see the light of the day. Au contraire. I always took them dished them up, mostly at picnics, never realising that in doing so I was consolidating a certain reputation.

Till not long ago, a friend arrived for lunch complete with a hand made cardboard box full of pepper-flavoured cookies, presented with the following sentence : " you have bought me some non edible desserts in the past, now it is my turn" who could blame him really and by the way, the pepper cookies were delicious.

So when I read an invitation to revisit my dessert memory vault and take another look back at...a dessert disaster. I was in. You could too: Sugar High Friday is the The Domestic Goddess' brain child.

Slightly worried though I decided to approach the cake from a "one portion angle". I also broke my rules and bought all the ingredients. To make sure of sure I got the recipe out of what I consider the best baking cook-book: The Baker by Leanne Kitchen and to leave no room for the devil to do is work I follow the recipe for Little Jam-Filled Cakes step by step.

Perfection, loveliness, risen to plume height in the sky ( may be not that high), cooked in the middle, light, great recipe ..........at least for the first batch. For the second, I decide to put a little paper-cup in the holes....disaster: the cakes ate the paper which in turn meant that if we wanted to eat the cakes we had to cut off the edges.

Little Jam- Filled Cakes

IngredientsMakes 12
75g (2 1/2 0z) unsalted melted butter, plus more for tin
170 g 960z/ 1/4 cup) granulated sugar superine
2 large eggs
280g 910oz/2 1/1 cups) self-raising flour
250ml (9fl oz/1 cup)milk
6 tablespoons strawberry jam or preserves
1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
6 small strawberries, hulled and thinly slice
icing (confectioner's) sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method
1.Preheat oven to 200C (400F/Gas6). Butter a standard 12-cup muffin tin; set aside.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar and stir to combine. Make a well in the center
3.In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and butter. Pour into the well in the flour mixture and gradually stir until just combined, using a large metal spoon.
4. Spoon 3/4 of the cake batter into the muffin holes. tope each with 1/2 teaspoon of the jam then cover with the remaining batter.
5. Fan the strawberry slices over each cake, gently pressing them in.
6.Bake for 20 minutes or until lighly golden or until a cake tester inserted in top cake layer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to coll in the tin for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to coll completely.
7. Dust with icing sugar if desired
8. Little jam-filled cakes are best eaten the day they are made but keep well in a cake tin .......and I have just got one.....hand made by a friend.

Courgettes Ricotta, Pine nuts Tart

During the week, I was commissioned to write a piece about the end of the year Master Fine Art Degree show at Goldsmiths' university. As a result, last night, I attended the preview. I, he, BBC4, and hundred of others it was rather crowded.

I had forgotten what the London's art scene was really like, it is so vibrant, really quiet exciting so if you fancy an exhibition with a difference this week-end get to New-cross, under Goldsmiths' big squiggle, there is rather a lot happening.

If July means end of the year shows it also means courgettes harvest and we know what that entails: tonnes of the green cucurbitas and never enough recipes. Good little Pebble that I am, I am here to the rescue with this delicious Courgettes, Ricotta and Pine nuts tart which takes no time to make

Lorraines are not the only quiches

"Debbie Nextdoor" came to stay over. Debbie used to live next door, hence her name.

She had been invited to a birthday party. On Sunday she was enumerating all the party food when it crossed my mind that such as a catalogue of food sounded strangely like Waitrose party food.

So I got their free magazine out and so it was. Though one of the clues should have been that when she got there, the house did not smell of cooking.

As I was sifting through the mag. I noticed a lot of various quiches, great, I was going to cook with no recipe but from a picture.

A quiche is a shortcrust pastry, then on the top a mixture of eggs, cream, salt and pepper, plus something else, in the oven for 35 minutes at 200C. Et voila.

Quiche Lorraine contains ham and bacon but why not try something else. What Waitrose offers is the egg mixture and the something else first and then topped up with something more, if you see what I mean. Like in the picture quiche mixture + spinach topped up with ratatouille.

• Red onion topped up with goat's cheese quiche
• Asparagus topped up with Cherry tomato quiche
• Spinach & Chargrilled Vegetable quiche
• Mushroom & Watercress quiche
• Wensleydale & Tomato quiche
• Bacon, Leek & Roqueford quiche

These are only a few ideas and with the summer picnics coming up, I hope this list will be useful.

Pain bagnat at the beach

I went to the "O2" formerly known as the dome. Well, call me party-Popper but I think that "the beach" is the reflection of a very sad state of affairs.
I do not object to the concept: indoor-beach: bizarre but why not; man-made complete with lights imitation, sun for the day, moon in the evening : good; free entertainment for kids and grown ups : excellent.
What I do not like AT ALL is the distortion of simple pleasures, beach but no water, beach but no weather, beach but only certain prescribed activities (please, let's make sure that we all do the same at the same time, here is a timetable) at that point, I have got to say NO that is NO beach. Have the organisers given a thought about the wonders of the fresh salted air that make your skin crispy and itchy, the sand in your food, the endless hours spent doing nothing or nothing much, that for me is a beach so on that "moany"-note, I leave you with the sound of the crickets, find a bit a open space (balcony will do) & try the following recipe.

Pain bagnat

It is said that this sandwich was originally invented for the "boules" players in Nice, the flavours combine and seep in the bread while it is being weight down, it can also be made a day in advance.

ingredients

make 4

1 French bread (baguette), white bread rolls can be used too

olive oil

basil

can of tuna

3 tomatoes sliced

1 hard boiled egg

anchovies

red or green pepper finely sliced

few spring onions or small white ones

pitted black olives (optional) could use olive paste

Preparation

• Slice the bread length-wise
• brush the olive oil on the inside
• sprinkle basil
• spread the rest of the ingredients
• wrap in cling film
• weight it down with a chopping board for as long as possible
• unwrap and cut large slices.

Sue gave me a recipe of a picnic loaf which works on the same weighting down principle using: ciabatta, olive oil, pesto, sliced mozzarella, feta cheese, rocket, fresh or sun dried tomatoes.

Lemon pie & Waitress

At the week-end, he and I went to see a preview of "Waitress".

I L I K E D it, made me cry and laugh simultaneously. I defy any woman out there not to recognise a little bit of her own life in Jenna's. And before you think that it is a "girly film", I need to tell you that he liked it too. The director, Adrienne Shelly, adds her original voice to a time-immemorial subject.
In short, it is a slice of Jenna's life, she invents pie-recipes which are named after the events in her life. The filming of the food is luscious, only problem which has troubled me since Sunday, the tag line: "if life were as simple as pie".
Now I ask you : "is pie simple?", if it was, would not the name be universal, we would have no need words such as cheesecake, tarte, quiche, tourte.
Is a "tarte tatin" a pie? can't even establish with certainty that cake is not a pie, since some cakes seems to be pie and some are not.
So what is a pie? I've dived in the "American pie council" official site to find out. Pies have been around since about 2000 BC, Pharaohs ate pies, it took its time to arrive to our shores, as it landed in the 12th century. That is quiet a trip and when it did it was in a "coffyn", after 14 centuries that makes sense.
Pie had crust on top, when it took its top off was it still pie? It is all very confusing. And if you have got an answer, I would love to hear it.
In the meantime here is :

Tarte au citron/Lemon Pie :
Make one tart/ prep 25 minutes/ cooking time 30 minutes

It is better to use a metal tin, there is a "scientific" reason why which has got to do with water but more to the point a metal tin gets the pastry crispy, lovely.

Ingredients:
for the pastry:
125g plain flour
pinch of salt
55g icing sugar
100g unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
Mix by hand all the ingredients in a bowl until you get a ball of dough, leave it to rest until you are ready to pour the filling in.

for the filling:
150g sugar
150g unsalted melted butter
3 eggs
2 lemons

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C.


• To make the filling, whisk the caster sugar to the eggs until it is smooth and white.


• Add the juice of 1 lemon, the zest and mix.


• Melt the butter slowly and add it to the mixture (if you feel virtuous halve the amount of butter)


• Taste and add the rest of the lemon if necessary


• Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface, the thinner the nicer.


• Line a normal (26 cm)size tart tin with the pastry


• Carefully pour the filling mix into the case and bake for around 30 minutes until the filling is set


• Keep an eye on it during the last 10 minutes allowing it to brown just a little
  Let the tart cool at room temperature

If you like Meringue, cover the cooked tarte with meringue mixture made with 2 white eggs whisked until hard, 100g of sugar, bake again on low oven till the meringue colours slightly

Waitress is out on the 10th August, more info about the film : "Waitress"