Tomato and almond tart

During the summer months we sell veggie tarts and pies with a salad bar along side at markets. I'm always on the look out for different recipes and ideas and find Yotam Ottolenghi to be a great inspiration!

He has a recipe in his book Plenty More for Tomato and almond tart which is his savoury version of the French fruit and frangipane tart. 

From the first time it made it's appearance at a Farmers Market it has become a firm favourite with customers.

I have adapted the recipe slightly using cream cheese instead of butter, basil in place of thyme and substituting our cows milk feta for the ricotta and parmesan. 

If you prefer use anchovies or whole blanched almonds instead of olives.

Tomato and almond tart

Serves 6 - 8

140g cream cheese
2 eggs beaten
65g fresh breadcrumbs
80g ground almonds
2 garlic cloves crushed
120g feta crumbled
handful of basil leaves
pack of ready rolled all-butter puff pastry (Jus - rol is my preference)
1kg medium tomatoes (about 10) cut sideways into 1cm slices (3 slices per tomato)
18 black wrinkly olives pitted
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 240C/220C Fab/ Gas Mark 9

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Unroll the pastry and place on the lined baking sheet. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score a smaller square 1cm inside the edge to make a frame, but don't cut right through.

Chill in the fridge whilst making the topping.

Beat the cream cheese using an electric mixer. A hand held one is fine.  Add the eggs slowly with the machine running. Stop the machine, add the breadcrumbs, almonds and garlic and mix until everything is combined.

Fold in the crumbled feta.

Use a palette knife to spread the almond mixture over the pastry and up to the scored lines. Evenly scatter the basil leaves over it. Lay the tomato slices on top in 3 long rows, with a fair amount of overlap in the rows. Sprinkle over the olives. Drizzle the tomatoes with half the olive oil and and season with salt and a good grind of black pepper.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes. If you have a particularly fierce oven you may need to reduce the temperature to 200C/180C Fan/ Gas Mark 6 after 15 minutes.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Drizzle over the remaining olive oil. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Freekeh with artichokes and peppers

Last week in The Observer Food Monthly there was a recipe from Nigel Slater for Freekeh with peppers.

Freekeh? What's that then?

Well, unless you are a fan of Yotom Ottolenghi or love Middle Eastern food you'll be forgiven for not knowing what Freekeh is so let me introduce you!
Please meet Freekeh, green Middle Eastern grown wheat that's picked unripe then roasted over wood fires to burn off the husks giving it a wonderful smoky flavour.
If you like couscous and bulgur wheat then you'll love Freekeh!

Living in the middle of nowhere like we do it isn't the sort of thing that you'll find in the village shop or even the local Waitrose, however for those of you in the grand metropolis it should be easily available in supermarkets and Middle Eastern shops. I actually found it in Marks and Spencer whilst Christmas shopping!

I made this recipe for lunch yesterday as we needed something that was quick to prepare and I happened to have all the ingredients to hand. We loved it and so much so that it's a candidate for our salad bar at markets this summer.

Freekeh with artichokes and peppers

Serves 2

75g Freekeh
Yellow pepper
1.5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp water
Tin of artichoke hearts
10g dill fronds
2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped
Juice of 1/4 lemon

Put the freekeh in a bowl, cover with warm water and set aside for 10 minutes.
Slice the yellow pepper in half, tear out the core and seeds, then slice each half into four strips. Warm the olive oil in a frying pan then add the peppers and let them cook over a moderate heat and covered with a lid for 10-15 minutes or so until tender and silky, turning once. Pour in the water and shake the pan, season.
While the peppers are cooking, drain the freekeh and then boil in deep water for 12 minutes until nutty and chewy.
Slice the artichokes in half and add to the pan with the peppers. Finely chop the dill and add it with the coriander and lemon juice to the pan. Warm briefly, then drain the freekeh and toss with the pepper mixture.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Leek and bacon suet pudding

The dark, cold and wet wintry weather means comfort food comes top of the list and there's nothing better than a leek and bacon suet pudding. It's a north country dish and I hadn't heard of it until fairly recently when Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall featured it in his cookery column in a weekend magazine. Now its a must in this house every winter.
I have adapted the recipe as there are only the two of us and Hugh suggests serving his recipe as a side dish. We eat ours as a main course with lots of lovely green veg.

It's quite an adaptable recipe too ...... the original has unsmoked bacon in it but what's the point of unsmoked bacon? Maybe it's just me but as I don't eat a lot of meat but want flavour I like smoked bacon. It also calls for double cream but single cream seems to work just as well.
Usually I'll just make the one pudding but on this occasion as you'll see from the photo's I made two small ones.

I was prompted to make it the other day as there was some cream left over after we'd had friends for supper, some leeks festering in the fridge and some smoked bacon in the freezer and of course I always have a packet of suet in the cupboard.

Leek and bacon suet pudding

Serves 2

100g self-raising flour

50g shredded suet

1tsp English mustard powder

70ml cold water (approx)

Salt and pepper

25g butter plus more for greasing

4 slices smoked bacon chopped 

3 leeks trimmed, washed and chopped

50ml single cream

500L pudding basin or two 250L pudding basins

Mix the flour, suet, mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper. Combine with just enough water to make a stiffish dough. 

Melt the the butter in a saucepan and fry the bacon for a couple of minutes, then add the leeks and saute until soft. Approx 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cream.

You can either make two individual puddings or one larger one.

If making two, divide the dough in half.

Roll out the dough into a large circle (s)  Cut a quarter out of the circle(s)

Butter a half litre or two quarter litre pudding basins. Line by dropping the larger piece of pastry in them, drawing together the cut sides to make a firm join. Fill with the leek and bacon mixture.

Roll out the remaining quarter of pastry into a circle and lay on top. Press together the edges of the pastry lid and casing to seal. Put a double layer of buttered, pleated foil over the top and tie with string. Either place in a steamer filled with water or on an up turned plate or tart tin in a large pan. Fill with water to come a little above halfway up the basin (s), cover the pot and leave simmering for an hour. Check the water from time to time and top up if necessary.

Once cooked, remove the foil, run a knife around the edge of the pudding and serve with lots of lovely green veg.

Apologies for the aenimic photo but for some reason this is the only one I seemed to have taken of the cooked pudding!

Borough blue, leek and walnut tarts

These tarts are hugely popular and we always sell out of them at markets. For those of you who can't get to buy them from us, here's the recipe for you to make them yourself. I would recommend that you use ready rolled puff pastry simply for the ease of cutting into even sized squares.

Borough Blue, leek and walnut tarts

375g pack ready rolled all butter puff pastry
40g butter
500g trimmed leeks thinly sliced
150g Borough Blue cheese cut or broken into pieces
75g walnuts roughly broken and 6 walnut halves

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan) Mark 6

Melt the butter in a pan, add the leeks and cook for about ten minutes or until they are soft. Season. Leave to cool.

Unroll the pastry and leaving it on its wrap, cut it in half lengthwise, then cut each half into three squares. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score a smaller square 1cm inside the edge of each to make a frame but don't cut right through.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the pastry squares on top.

Squatter 25g Borough Blue over each tart.

Stir the broken walnuts into the cooled leeks and then divide it between the tarts. Place half a walnut in the centre of each tart.

Bake for 15 -20 minutes until golden.

Serve with a lovely green salad.

Chickpea and chorizo stew

The other day a friend asked me for my chickpea and chorizo stew recipe as she'd lost her copy and so to save me scanning the recipe I pointed her in the direction of this blog. There was just a slight problem, she couldn't find it  ......... I thought that I'd published it last year but in fact discovered that I hadn't finished it and so it was still waiting as a draft. Tonight I made it for supper and as it is so delicious decided that I really should complete and share the blog post.

The original recipe is one of Nigel Slater's pulled out of a Sunday magazine many years ago but remains a firm favourite.

I adore chickpeas and love the smoky flavour that the  chorizo imparts.

Chorizo pronounced 'chore... reeth...oh' is a coarsely textured spiced pork sausage used in Spanish cooking. It gets its smoky flavour and rich red colour from pimento, which is better known as smoked paprika. It is available as dried or semi-dried cured sausage which can be sliced and eaten like salami or a soft uncooked one which needs cooking before eating. In this recipe the fresh uncooked ones are used.

I buy mine from one of our fellow market traders in Totnes.

The photograph below shows the ingredients I used last year including lovely large tomatoes and parsley from the garden. The original recipe calls for white wine ...... however I've never put it in as I always seem to drink it!!!

 

 Today you'll see I used a tin of tomatoes instead of fresh ones. The main reason being that we ate the fresh ones for lunch and the parsley stayed in the garden due to a torrential downpour when it was required! Using fresh tomatoes does give the dish a summery feel to it and the tinned tomato version makes it more winter comfort food.

Chickpea and chorizo stew

Serves 2

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic sliced

2 fresh (uncooked) chorizo sausages - approx 200g

Pinch crushed dried chilli flakes

A glass of white wine (optional)

2 or 3 large tomatoes roughly chopped

 or 1x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 x 400g tin chickpeas drained

Small bunch parsley chopped

Creme fraiche (optional)

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onions. Stir to coat in oil then add the garlic. Cook over a moderate heat with the lid on for approx 10 minutes, stirring a few times. Cut each sausage into about 4 fat chunks. Mix these into the onions and then add the chilli flakes. At this point add the wine if using and bring up to the boil. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas.

If using fresh tomatoes then add half a can (use the chickpea can) of water. This isn't necessary with the tinned tomatoes. Season with salt,  and black pepper. Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer half-covered with a lid for 45minutes. Give it a stir from time to time and If it becomes too dry add a splash or two of water.

Just before serving stir the parsley into the stew.

We usually serve it with rice and a dollop of creme fraiche.