Milk chocolate tart

Serves ~6, uses 20cm tart ring

For the pastry:

117g plain flour
27g cocoa
54g icing sugar
94g butter (+ pinch salt if unsalted)
1 yolk
1-2 tbsp iced water (if needed)

For the filling:

200ml double cream
150ml milk
75g dark chocolate (Green and Blacks 70% was very good)
1.5tbsp icing sugar
1 egg, plus 2 yolks
Pinch salt

Make the pastry in the normal way.  For advice on this I recommend Delia Smith's How to Cook - Volume 1.  Line and blind-bake the tart ring.

Place the milk, chocolate and pinch of salt in a saucepan.  Heat without boiling and stir to melt the chocolate.  Add the cream.  Whisk the icing sugar and eggs together.  Then whisk all the filling together and pass through a fine sieve.

Bake the tart at around 150C for 45 minutes or until just set.

Chill and serve cold with cream.

Confession: It's the pastry from Tom Kerridge's chocolate tart and the filling is a lighter version of Simon Hopkinson's petit pot au chocolat!

Norfolk apple and treacle tart

NF notes:

- Recipe in 'Cooking Without Fuss' by Jonny Haughton as well as 'Country Cuisine' by Elizabeth Kent
- 150g fresh weight, dried white bread crumbs fine, or panko
- Ratio of syrup to crumbs key
- Serve with creme fraiche
- Think just warm or room temp is ideal (like many apple dishes?)
- Could do 4 eggs 1 yolk or just 4 eggs
- Grate apple finely electrically.  Browns v quickly.
- Pastry: 410g plain flour; 250g butter; 95g golden caster sugar; 1 egg yolk; some water

Link to recipe:

http://goodfood.uktv.co.uk/recipe/treacle-tart-5/

Pasted recipe:

Matt Tebbutt adds grated apple to this classic dessert to balance out the sticky sweet filling
By Matt Tebbutt

Serves: 6-8
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Prep Time: 20 minutes plus 15 minutes cooling
Effort: easy
   
INGREDIENTS
500 ml golden syrup
1 lemon, finely grated zest and juice
150 g brioche, or croissant crumbs
250 ml double cream
5 eggs, beaten
1 Bramley apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 pinch freshly ground nutmeg
1 x 30 cm blind-baked pastry tart cases
clotted cream, or ice cream, to serve

METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3.

2. Heat the syrup, lemon zest and lemon juice together in a medium non-reactive saucepan. Stir in the crumbs and the cream, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

3. When the mixture has cooled completely, add the beaten eggs and the grated apple along with a pinch of nutmeg.

4. Pour the mixture into the pastry tart shell and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the tart is set. Remove from the oven, then immediately sprinkle over a bit more nutmeg. Set aside to cool slightly.

5. Serve the tart warm or cooled with clotted cream or ice cream.

Short rib of beef... pie

The inspiration behind cooking this was a lovely looking section of short rib of beef in my butcher's.  It is a cut which I understand Mario Batali was very keen on while running a restaurant in New York.  Some might find it almost too meltingly fatty, in a pie, in which case I might recommend feather blade steak.  Maybe give it a go and decide for yourself.  One nice thing about short rib is it comes in a handy shape for both browning quickly and evenly, and then sitting in the base of a casserole while braising.  With two sections of bone within, it was around 6''x6''x2'', possibly 900g in all.

Serves 4 (Approx.)

1 piece short rib of beef or equivalent (see above)

3 onions
3 sticks celery
2 carrots
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled

3/4 bottle of red wine (I used a South African syrah which I would recommend)
1 tsp tomato puree
Handful of thyme, tied with string

1 tsp Worcester sauce
25g butter
1 level desertspoon plain flour

Salt and pepper
Pre-prepared (bought) puff pastry
Egg to glaze

Start by browning the rib thoroughly on all sides, in a heavy frying pan, over a medium/high heat, in plain oil, without seasoning.

Meanwhile fry the vegetables, chopped into circa 2cm bits, in a large casserole, again in flavourless oil, aiming to colour the vegetables as opposed to sweating them to being translucent.  So do over a high heat and don't stir too regularly.

Add the rib to the casserole.  Dispose of oil in the frying pan.  If there are nice browning bits attached to the base of the pan then pour the wine in the frying pan, scrape the bottom over a heat then pour into the casserole.  Otherwise just pour the wine straight in.  Add a glass of water if you think needed.

Add the teaspoon of tomato puree and the bouquet of thyme.  Simmer uncovered for around 5 mins to evaporate the alcohol and skim off any scum that arises.  Fold a piece of tin foil to sit over the meat/liquid inside the casserole while braising, which helps focus the heat and minimise evaporation.

Place in an oven at 120C for 5 hours minimum.

Remove from the oven and place on a very low flame.  Fish out the meat to a board.  Skim off excess fat from the casserole and simmer to reduce if needed.  Remove the bones from the meat.  If you like, remove particularly fatty bits also - your preference.  Cut the meat into 1 inch cubes.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the flour and cook over a low heat for around a minute, whisking all the time as it bubbles.  Ladle in some of the liquid/vegetables, whisking well after each ladle.  Not sure of exact quantity... right amount for the meat you have and pie dish you want to use.  Maybe 750ml of liquid/veg.

Add the Worcester sauce, salt and pepper very generously, simmer for five minutes, then add the meat and simmer for another minute.

Pour into your pie dish.  Top with the puff pastry, using beaten egg and a pastry brush to stick the pastry to the dish.  If you like you can make a border of pastry around the dish before placing the full layer on top of this.

Brush with beaten egg, make a hole for ventilation, and bake at 200C for around 30mins or until the pasty is well flaked and deep golden brown.

Michel Roux (Snr)'s Lemon Tart

As per the gooseberry sorbet recipe, both linking to and copy-pasting a recipe here, partly for my own records.  This recipe is all over the internet so I don't feel bad about this!  The notes below are not me trying to improve on MRS by the way, in case you were worried about that.  Highly recommend any of Michel's books, and don't in fact think the man himself wrote the words below.

http://www.flubu.com/blog/2012/05/10/recipe-michel-roux-snrs-lemon-tart/


"Serves 8

Prep 25 mins
Cook 1 hr plus chilling
Ingredients

Pastry (makes double)
500g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
140g icing sugar
250g unsalted butter , cubed
4 egg yolks

Filling
5 eggs
140g caster sugar
150ml double cream
juice 2-3 lemon (about 100ml/3.5fl oz)
and 2 tbsp lemon zest

Method

1. To make the pastry, mix the flour and icing sugar in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until crumbly. Mix in the egg yolks. If the pastry is still too dry, add 1-2 tbsp water until it comes together. Roll into a ball and divide in half (freeze one half for another recipe). Flatten out the pastry with your hands, wrap the dough in cling film, then chill for at least 30 mins. While the pastry is chilling, make the filling. Beat all the ingredients, except for the zest, together. Sieve the mixture, then stir in the zest.

2. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about the thickness of a £1 coin, then lift into a 23cm tart tin. Press down gently on the bottom and sides, then trim off any excess pastry. Prick a few holes in the bottom with a fork and put back in the fridge for 30 mins.

3. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Line the tart with foil and fill with rice or dried beans. Bake for 10 mins, then remove the tart tin from the oven, discard the foil, and bake for another 20 mins until biscuity. When the pastry is ready, remove it from the oven, pour in the lemon mixture and bake again for 30-35 mins until just set. Leave to cool, then remove the tart from the tin and serve at room temperature or chilled.

Notes:

    The quantity of pastry given is about double the amount that you’ll need because if I’m going to the effort of making my own pastry, I always make double and freeze half for next time. If you don’t want to freeze some, simply halve the pastry quantities.
    To make this tart even more decadent, whip some whipping cream with icing sugar and a bit of lemon juice, then fold in a sheet of soaked leaf gelatine. Top generously and leave to set."

NF notes:

- Trimming off excess pastry above the tart rim with a sharp knife while the pastry is still warm before adding the filling, having left an overhang when first lining the tin, can create a nicer edge.
- Chop the zest finely before adding to filling.
- Whisk up the filling before pouring in to ensure evenness.
- Sieving the filling as per above is a great tip.
- Pouring the filling into the case after having placed the pastry case, in it's tin, on a baking tray in the oven can make it easier to fill the case right up.
- 'Perforated' tart rings are available which help bake the pastry.
- Longer, slower cooking is better for egg based tarts, eg. 2 hours at 120C.
- Nice with creme fraiche

Shortbread (courtesy of Justin Aubrey)

The 'log' technique was given to me by Justin Aubrey of The Perseverance, Shroton Street, Marylebone!  These quantities make a smallish batch - about 20.

Shortbread

50g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

If the butter is straight from the fridge, cube it and leave for 20 minutes to come to room temperature.  It should not be too warm or too cold.

An electric hand whisk is quite an easy way of doing this recipe.  Place the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract in a bowl.  Whisk until lightened in colour and creamy-looking.  Sieve the flour into the bowl.  Turn the whisk back on, here the trick is to not over-work the mixture.  Mix it until it has become like fine breadcrumbs, then use your hands to work into a ball.  It need not be perfectly smooth.

Tip the contents of the bowl into cling film and roll into a sausage shape the width of the biscuits you desire.  Chill for two hours then slice into rounds with a sharp knife.  Bake at 180C on greaseproof paper on a tray until done and cool on a rack.

Optional extras might include orange or lemon rind, chopped stem ginger, or some sugar sprinkled on top prior to baking.

Lovely with a tepid fruit compote, ice cream etc!

Variation with walnuts and 1/4 of the sugar replaced with honey.