Last updated at 09:50, Thursday, 25 September 2008

THESE pretty tartlets are worth the extra effort involved in making them and make the most of the season’s best British Cox’s Orange Pippin apples and brambles. If you want to pick your own brambles you will need to do it fast as the season is nearly over!

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Description

Makes 6 x 10cm (4in) individual tarts

RICH ALMOND PASTRY

This pastry is quite pliable so if you can’t get it into the tins in one piece it is easy to patch up and ‘push’ into the moulds

Ingredients

175g (6oz) plain white flour

1 pinch of salt

50g (2oz) ground almonds

110g (4oz) good quality butter, softened, cut into small pieces

1 tbsp. caster sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 med egg yolk

2-3 tbsp. of cold water

Method

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the ground almonds and mix well.

Add the butter and rub in lightly. Stir in the sugar.

Mix together the lemon juice, yolk and 2 tbsp. of water. Sprinkle over the dry ingredients and using a round bladed knife stir this in and start to bring together by pressing the mixture against the side to the bowl. If the mixture still looks crumbly add a little more water. Use you hand to knead to smooth, dough.

Wrap the dough in foil or a polythene bag and rest somewhere cool for 15 minutes before using. (Sometimes the fridge is too cool for this and will make the pastry difficult to handle)

To prepare ahead

The pastry will keep well for a day or two before using.

To freeze

You can make the cases ahead of time. The uncooked cases freeze well in the tart tins and then can be filled and cooked to order.

FOR THE FILLING:

110g (4oz) Marzipan

A little caster sugar for rolling out

2 med Cox’s Orange Pippin apples

175 ml (6 fl oz) Double cream

1 yolk from a large egg

1 teaspoon of caster sugar (+ extra for rolling out marzipan)

25g (1 oz) flaked almonds (optional)

For the Coulis:

275g (10oz) brambles plus extra to garnish the tarts.

Sugar to taste

Grease the tart tins before use. Line the tins with the pastry using a suitable small plate to cut out the circle. Lay the pastry over the tin and press round the base. Go over the sides with your thumb to strengthen them. Trim off excess. Let them rest for 10 minutes if possible.

(To freeze ahead; The cases can be frozen, empty at this stage for up to 3 months)

Preheat oven to 200C, (400F), Gas mark 6.

Roll out marzipan, sprinkle sugar on board if sticky. Cut out 6 small circles –approx. 2-3 inches in diam and place one in the base of each tart case.

Remove the core from the apples but leave skin on. Slice thinly and arrange on top of the marzipan.

Mix together the cream, egg yolk, and sugar and pour equally over the apple slices. Top with the flaked almonds and place on a baking sheet in the centre of the oven.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until pastry is golden and apples soft. The almonds ‘catch easily’ so keep an eye out for burning. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

For the Coulis

Reserve about 12 to decorate the tarts., Put the rest in a small pan with a small amount of water and bring to boil for 1-2 minutes. Press through a fine sieve. Sweeten if the berries are very sharp but the coulis should contrast with the sweet tarts. You can use an artificial sweetner if you prefer.

Serve the tarts in a pool of blackberry coulis decorated with a few of the reserved brambles. Serve with pouring cream to if you wish.

HANDS-ON APPROACH TO FOOD

TUCKED away in Woodend, just outside Egremont, is a cookery school run by Grainne Jakobson, The Whitehaven News’sregular food correspondent.

Grainne said: “I don’t like to call the demonstration sessions ‘classes’ as such but they are the opportunity to watch, learn and taste lots of different types of cooking All the dishes demonstrated are served up for lunch or dinner and the sessions are an unusual and fun way to enjoy good cooking and good eating.”

This year’s sessions (starting from late September) will include 60- minute entertaining; Christmas cooking and perfect presents; a Caribbean Feast and many others for spring and summer.

Great attention is paid to presentation and the emphasis is on using good-quality local produce when possible. The groups are small and the demonstrations informal, with the opportunity for chat and sharing ideas and tips.

Grainne is the daughter of Grace Mulligan, the presenter of ITV’s long-running Farmhouse Kitchen so she has been trained all her life in the importance or good food, good shopping and good eating.

Grace is ‘consultant in charge’ at Woodend Cookery and always at the end of the phone for help and advice.

Times have changed since the programme was shown, and this is reflected in the sorts of recipes that are now more popular. In general less fat and sugar is used and, now that the majority of women (and men) go out to work and have less time to spend in the kitchen, recipes are written to be quick and easy to follow.

The demonstrations take place in Grainne’s family kitchen. The recipes are easy to follow (they are written and then tested at least three times which will involve editing and re-writing). Some of the recipes used in the most popular sessions may have been made 10 or even 15 times.

But Grainne admits that in the ‘live’ demonstrations mistakes and problems do happen from time to time! “I don’t have the benefits of editing and fast forwarding to skip over potential problems and have, for example, dropped a vital ingredient on the floor and had a pastry case that I was trying to make for a lovely lemon tart that completely folded in my hands – much to everyone’s amusement. The challenge is, of course, to rectify the ‘problem’ and move on!”

Grainne also offers practical ‘hands-on’ sessions which can be devised to suit your particular requirements and skills. There are refreshments as well as lunch or dinner with a complimentary glass of wine.

Grainne said: “If you are struggling to think of a present for someone special or for those who ‘have everything’ then a Woodend Cookery gift voucher could be the solution!”

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

FOR the latest brochure contact Grainne Jakobson at Woodend Cookery, Woodend House, Egremont, Cumbria CA22 2TA. Phone: (01946) 813017. email: gmjakobson@sky.com. website: www.woodendcookery.co.uk

First published at 16:07, Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk