Goat's cheese and onion tart

This goat’s cheese and onion tart is delicious and great served with salads on a hot sunny day. I make one large tart when cooking this dish for my family and friends. Alternatively, this recipe will make individual tarts to serve as a starter. You can make your own pastry, or if you want to save some time use some shop bought shortcrust pastry.

INGREDIENTS
Makes 6 tartlets or one large tart

For the pastry:-

140g plain flour

85g butter, cubed

3 tbsps cold water  

OR USE 500g block shortcrust pastry

5 very large red onions, sliced 

olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

½ tbsp chopped thyme leaves

6 slices goat's cheese , from a small log or 3 English goat's cheeses with a bloomy rind, halved

METHOD

1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.Put the flour in a bowl, add the butter to the flour and rub in with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the grated cheddar into the pastry and mix. Add 3 tbsp cold water and mix until the pastry forms a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill for 5 mins. Butter a 20 x 6cm deep loose-bottom tart tin, or a 35 x 12cm rectangular tart tin.

2. Line 40cm tart tin or 6 tart tins if you are making individual tarts (about 10cm across) with pastry and prick the bases. Line with parchment and baking beans and bake for 10 minutes or until the pastry starts to brown, lift out the parchment and bake for another 5 minutes or until the pastry is crisp, dried and cooked.

3. Meanwhile, slice the red onion thinly. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and carefully fry the slices on a low heat until they start to soften, about 15 minutes in total. Add the balsamic and thyme and bubble together.

4. Place the onion in the large tart case or in the individual tart cases. Place several slices of goat's cheese on top of the large tart, or just one slice in the individual tarts against one side of the pastry so it is off centre.

6. Bake until the goat's cheese begins to bubble and brown a little. Drizzle with a little olive oil before serving.

We’re Jammin’

Oh yes, we like Bob Marley and we are jammin’ big time in our house. If you look out into our garden right now there is a sea of red and black fruit in every direction that you care to look. We have blackcurrants, raspberries, gooseberries that are now good to harvest and the blackberries are also not far off from being ready to pick. Last week, our resident Farmer Giles (my husband) and I picked over 5 kilos of blackcurrants alone. So out came my big saucepans and jam pot and I got cracking on making some delicious blackcurrant jam.

Making jam is quite therapeutic. You place fruit and sugar in a pot and stir the contents to make sure that they do not stick and burn to the bottom of the pan and hey presto at the end you have jam to put into your store cupboard.  Effectively you are bottling up a taste of summer that you can open up and enjoy at any other time of the year. I made several pots of blackcurrant jam. My children have already done a spot of baking and they have used one jar making some fabulous little jam tarts – yum!

Mrs Beaton's blackcurrant jam

Mrs Beaton's recipe for blackcurrant jam is as follows:-

Blackcurrants -
To every 450g (1lb) of Fruit, weighed before being stripped from the stalks, allow: 
340g (12oz) Sugar 
150ml (¼ pint) Water

Let the fruit be very ripe and gathered on a dry day. 
Remove blackcurrant stalks and put into a preserving pan, with 150ml (¼ pint) of water to each 450g (1lb) of fruit. 
Boil together for 10 minutes. 
Add the sugar and boil the jam again for 30 minutes, from the time when the jam simmers equally all over or longer, 
If it doesn't appear to set nicely when a little is poured on to a plate. 
Keep stirring to prevent it from burning, carefully remove all the scum. When done, pour into sterilised jars with airtight lids. 
Let it cool before sealing. 
Great attention must be paid to the stirring of this jam, as it is very liable to burn, on account of the thickness of the juice.

Time: 10 minutes to boil the fruit and water. 30 minutes with the sugar or longer. 
Sufficient: Allow from 6 to 7 quarts of currants to make 1 dozen pots of jam, each pot to hold 450g (1lb) 
Seasonable: Make this in July.

Blackcurrant jam tarts

Make these as little or large as you want. This pastry can be used for any sweet tarts.
INGREDIENTS
350g plain flour a pinch of salt 175g unsalted cold butter, cut into cubes 100g icing sugar 3 egg yolks blackcurrant jam
METHOD
Pulse the flour, salt, butter and icing sugar in a food processor until the mixture resembles damp breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks one by one pulsing between each one. The mixture will combine into a ball and leave the sides of the machine. Press the dough into a disc shape and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. Heat the oven to 150°C. Flour a surface and roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out your tart shapes and press the dough into little cases. Chill for another 15 minutes in the fridge and then bake for about 12 minutes. Don't allow them to colour. Remove from the oven and fill each tart with Blackcurrant Jam. Return for another 5 minutes or until the pastry edges are golden-brown.

Frittatta

A frittata is a good family dish. It is really a big king size omelette that is good for sharing and it is also a great way to use up bits and pieces in your fridge. I prefer to eat them hot, however they are just as good served cold.

I tend to make my frittata up as I go along by grabbing what is available out of my fridge. A great combination is goat’s cheese, peas and broad beans or you could just add a variety of vegetables such as courgettes, tomatoes with a tiny bit of chopped up chilli. The one I made today had chorizo and a number of vegetables. It got a big thumbs up from my children.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 8

A ring of chorizo

A handful of new potatoes, boiled

A handful of baby tomatoes

A bunch of spring onions, chopped

A couple of heaped tablespoons of roasted tomatoes

8 eggs

Dash of milk

Salt and pepper

METHOD

1. Skin and chop the chorizo and add it to a frying pan. Gently fry the pieces of chorizo until they start to take on a little colour and the pieces are sizzling in the pan.

2. Chop the new potatoes into bite size pieces and add them to the chorizo, add the baby tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes so that they start to take on some of the flavour of the chorizo.

3. Add the chopped spring onions and roasted peppers. Cook for 2 minutes.

4. In a separate bowl break the eggs, add the dash of milk, season and beat the mixture.

5. Add the egg mixture to the chorizo and vegetables. Gently stir the mixture so that the egg coats all of the ingredients. Now cook the frittata for about 8-10 minutes.

6. Turn on your grill so that it is hot. Take the frying pan off the hob and place it under the grill to cook the top of the frittata. Cook for about 3-4 minutes making sure that the egg is cooked.

7. Turn out the frittata on to a plate and serve with a salad.

Roasted peppers

Roasted peppers are great served as an anti-pasta. They work well with cheeses (especially goat's cheese), a plate of salamis and olives. You can keep them in the fridge once cooked for up to a week. They also work very well in a cheese sandwich. The trick is to cook them on a low heat for about 45-50 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

Mixed coloured peppers x 1 per person, washed, chopped into strips with the seeds and core removed

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 120 C. Place the peppers in a deep baking dish and drizzle on enough olive oil to lightly coat the peppers. Season with salt and pepper and mix through using your hands or spoons.

Place the dish in the oven for 45-50 minutes, making sure that you turn the peppers every 20 minutes to prevent them from burning on the top. You want them to be slightly caramelised but not dark brown.

The best carrot cake ever!

This carrot cake recipe is guaranteed to please everyone. It is one of Delia’s cake recipes. Delia chooses to cover her cake in a fromage frais and mascarpone mixture spiced up with some ground up cinnamon, then sprinkled with nuts. I like to serve the cake with the fromage frais mixture served on the side. It means that those who do not want the topping can opt out.

Alternatively you this cake is fantastic served with a deliciously creamy cinnamon ice-cream. To decorate the cake and make it just that little bit more special for a dinner party, you could add some spun sugar on top of the cake. Whichever way you serve this cake, it will be a big hit.

INGREDIENTS
7 oz (200 g) wholemeal self-raising flour
3 level teaspoons mixed spice
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
6 oz (175 g) dark brown soft sugar, sifted
2 large eggs
5 fl oz (150 ml) sunflower oil
grated zest 1 orange
7 oz (200 g) carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
4 oz (110 g) sultanas
2 oz (50 g) desiccated coconut
2 oz (50 g) pecan nuts
For the syrup glaze:
juice 1 small orange
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 oz (75 g) dark brown soft sugar
FOR THE TOPPING:
1 x 250 g tub mascarpone
1 x 200g tub fromage frais, 8% fat
1 rounded tablespoon golden caster sugar
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
TO SERVE:
2 oz (50 g) pecan nuts

You will also need 2 x 8 in (20 cm) sandwich tins, 1½ in ( 4 cm) deep, bases lined with baking parchment. 

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C), then turn it down to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C) when you have toasted the pecan nuts. 

First, place all the pecan nuts on a baking sheet and, using a timer, toast them in the oven for 8 minutes. Now chop one half roughly for the cake and the other more finely, for the topping later. Then don’t forget to turn the oven down to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C) for the cake. 

To make the cake, whisk the sugar, eggs and oil together in a bowl with an electric hand whisk for 2-3 minutes, then check that there is no sugar left undisSolved. Now sift the flour, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl, tipping in the bits of bran left in the sieve. Then stir all this in gently, followed by the remaining cake ingredients. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared tins and bake the cakes on the centre shelf of the oven for about 30 minutes. They should be nicely risen, feel firm and springy to the touch when lightly pressed in the centre, and show signs of shrinking away from the sides of the tin. If not, give them another 2-3 minutes and test again. 

Meanwhile, make the topping by whisking all the ingredients together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Then cover with clingfilm and chill for 1-2 hours, until you are ready to ice the cakes. To make the syrup glaze, whisk together the fruit juices and sugar in another bowl and then, when the cakes come out of the oven, stab them all over with a skewer and quickly spoon the syrup evenly over the hot cakes. 

Now leave them to one side to cool in their tins, during which time the syrup will be absorbed. Then, when the cakes are completely cold, remove them from the tins. If you are covering the cake with the icing, spread one-third of the filling over one of the cakes, place the other on top, then cover the top and sides with the remaining icing. Scatter the remaining toasted pecan nuts over the top. 

Alternatively serve the cake in slices with the icing on the side, or skip the icing and serve with a delicious cinnamon ice cream.

Cinnamon ice cream

INGREDIENTS

225ml milk
1 cinnamon stick 
3 egg yolks 100g 
caster sugar 
1tsp ground cinnamon, freshly ground if possible 
450ml whipping or double cream

METHOD
1.Put the milk in a pan with the cinnamon stick and bring to the boil. In a bowl, whisk together the yolks, sugar and ground cinnamon. Discard the cinnamon stick, then strain the hot milk over the yolks, whisking continuously.

2.Pour the custard mix back into a pan and cook on a low-ish heat for 10mins, stirring constantly until thickened. Whisk the custard into the cream, then cool, chill and freeze in an ice-cream maker.

No ice-cream machine?

Pour the cooked custard into a bowl, then put the bowl in the freezer for about one and a half hrs until it starts to freeze around the edges. Stir well, repeat process twice more until the mix is smooth. Freeze until needed in a suitable container.

Summer dining

We Brits have been basking in the sunshine over the past few weeks. It truly has been glorious and perfect for alfresco dining in the evening. Our dinner party group met up last week and we were treated to a summer feast of warm roasted peppers stuffed with goats cheese served with lettuce and balsamic vinegar,

pan fried chicken breasts marinated in chilli and ginger, served with freshly picked peas and broad beans and new potatoes, 

followed by a glorious white chocolate cheesecake topped with British strawberries.

At times like this you realise that there is an abundance of wonderful British produce. It is definitely worth seeking these products out in the shops, or growing your own! The dishes were fresh and perfect for a spot of summer dining. I do not have the recipes, however I will post them just as soon as I do.