Tips & Techniques – The Watchful Cook

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A HANDY TART FOR THE SUMMER…WHAT SUMMER?

In this less than summery weather we are having, I always think things like quiches and tarts are useful to have in your repertoire. If it’s cold and grey (as per London as I write this) they can be eaten with new potatoes and a vegetable and if (by some miracle), we have sun and warmth, you can make them early in the day while it’s cool and eat them at room temperature with salad. I was extolling their virtues amongst a group of friends recently and I was a bit taken aback when one said, somewhat accusingly, “well I suppose you’re bl**** WonderWoman and always make your own pastry”. Ha, if only….no, I don’t.

It isn’t my favourite kitchen activity and if I didn’t have a Magimix, I am not sure I would ever make pastry. I nearly always have some ready made pastry tucked away in the freezer and my favourite is the French brand Marie La Pâte Feuilletée Ready Rolled Puff Pastry (no, I am not being paid to mention this). Rather conveniently the ready rolled round perfectly fits a 24cm flan tin so given that I nearly always have the other ingredients to hand for a tart or quiche, this cuts out the (for me) tedious part of the recipe. I’ll be honest and say that I used this by mistake the first time – I overlooked the fact that it was puff pastry but now I actually prefer it for this recipe.

This recipe owes its genesis to Sybil Kapoor’s Onion Tart in her book ‘Simply Veg” published by Pavilion (and I urge you to buy it – fabulous recipes that always work). As is my habit, however, I have tweaked and experimented – not least by using puff pastry – to make something that fits our personal tastes and sometimes, just uses what I have. This version is, however, the one we prefer and appears regularly, warm or cold. It puffs up massively while cooking and then when cold, sinks back to something that almost looks slightly disappointing. Do ignore this little failing, as the flavour is deeply savoury and rewarding; it also travels well for picnics or packed lunches.

I like to use a well flavoured olive oil for this as it is reflected in the final flavour and I have been getting good results recently with the Greek brand Charisma which even Edoardo admits is a very good oil. If the budget runs to it, the French Roscoff pink onions are superb in this recipe – their subtle flavour really shines through but use what you have or can source well.

If you want to use shortcrust pastry, please do – and if you want to make your own, well that’s good too!

ONION AND THYME TART

Print Recipe

Serves: 6 Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 packet Marie La Pâte Feuilletée Ready Rolled Puff Pastry or 170g shortcrust or puff pastry
60ml extra virgin olive oil
2 large or 3 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste with sea salt salt under the blade of a knife
2 tbsp thyme leaves, stripped from the branches (yes, I know it’s a pain but it’s worth it)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium eggs, well beaten
200 ml creme frâiche or soured cream
60g finely grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C fan and set a baking tray to heat

Line a 23/24cm flan tin with your chosen pastry

Prick the base and then line with baking parchment or greaseproof paper

Fill with baking beans and put on the heated baking tray to bake blind for 15 minutes

Remove the beans and paper and return to the oven for a further 5 - 7 minutes until the pastry is golden brown

While all this is going on in the oven, heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a low to medium heat

Add the onions and garlic and fry gently for about 20 minutes; some colour is fine but we’re not looking for a high degree of browning here which would impair the fresh flavour

Add the thyme leaves and stir around to distribute evenly amongst the onions and garlic

Remove from the heat and seasonTransfer to the pastry case, spreading them evenly

Add the creme frâiche or soured cream to the beaten eggs, season well with freshly ground black pepper and add to the onions in the pastry case

I don’t add salt here as the Parmesan gives enough for our tastes

Gently mix it into the onion mixture being careful not to pierce the pastry which your not - so -Watchful Cook has done on one occasion

Sprinkle with the cheese and return to the oven, on the baking tray, for 25 minutes until puffed up and golden brown

Notes

Eat this warm (but not hot) or cold with salt or vegetables, depending on the weather!

August 4, 2017

Courses/ Desserts & Savouries/ Food People/ Summer/ Tips & Techniques/ Uncategorized

PUDDING FROM PIEMONTE

Amaretti Stuffed Peach served with single cream and a glass of Moscato

My recent trip to Turin for the 2017 Turin Epicurean Conference included an amazing evening at www.quibitorino.it which is a space in Turin under the guidance of the lovely Margherita Frari. The vision for this place is as a restaurant, meeting place and exhibition space, all to encourage the integration of the increasingly multicultural city of Turin. It also serves as a food collection point for customers of local producers rather in the way that www.foodassembly.com does.

During our evening there we were fortunate to be under the expert tuition of Margerita and also Marco Giachello, one of Piedmont’s most well known and charismatic chefs. He works to conserve Piedmont dishes, products and methods and actively seeks to promote those things beyond Piedmont, so that we non-Piedmontese can learn how to create their wonderful dishes in our own homes. Sometimes it’s difficult to do that as the Piedmontese have the advantage of fabulous ingredients, produced relatively locally and in some cases, very locally!

I will probably post about everything we created that evening but am starting (perversely) with the pudding, given that peaches are in season right now. Do please try to buy Italian peaches for this as it does make a difference to the flavour, although Spanish ones can be flavoursome too. It will make life much easier for you if you can get freestone peaches; I have to admit that the first time I made this when I came back to the UK, I had made the mistake of unwittingly buying clingstone peaches. It was only with the help of a very sharp, very narrow knife that this didn’t end up as peach purée, so do check.

This is an easy summer dessert that can be served warm or at room temperature but don’t serve it chilled; it will kill the flavours stone dead. Roero, by the way, is an area of Piedmont to the south of Turin and famous for fruit (especially peaches, pears and strawberries) not to mention some wonderful wine.

I’ve given the option of using either cocoa or coffee as I am not that keen on chocolate, but the original recipe uses cocoa. Ditto with the choice of rum or brandy; I dislike rum so tend to use brandy but again, the original, as I was taught, was with rum.

Amaretti Stuffed Peaches

Print Recipe

Serves: 4 - 8 depending on appetite! Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

4 fresh freestone peaches (it is helpful if they are still quite firm but not unripe)
200g amaretti biscuits (preferably not the soft ones but they will do if it’s all you have)
1 egg yolk, beaten well
2 tsp caster sugar (optional - I tend not to use it as I find the biscuits sweet enough)
3 tbsp rum or brandy
cocoa powder or very finely ground (espresso grind) coffee
icing sugar
butter
extra caster or Demerara sugar

Instructions

Set the oven to 180 deg C

Line a baking tray with baking parchment (not essential - just helps with the washing up!)

Slit the peaches through their “seams” with a sharp knife and twist to separate the two parts

(This is where you discover if you really have bought freestone peaches

If you haven’t, take a long, thin and very sharp knife - a fish filleting knife is ideal - and gradually work it around behind the pitt until the two parts of the peach come apart

This won’t be as elegant a dish as it could be but the flavour will still be wonderful)

Slightly enlarge the cavities using a teaspoon; ensure you leave plenty of peach intact ; reserve the extracted flesh

Put the peach halves on the baking tray and turn your attention to the filling

Bash up the amaretti biscuits until they are crumbs (I put them in a bowl and thump away with the end of my rolling pin)

I like a mixture of crumb size but nothing bigger than about 2 ml in diameter

Add the peach flesh and mix well

Add the caster sugar, if you want to use it and mix well

Add 2 - 3 tsp cocoa powder or coffee and again, mix well

Add a couple of tablespoons of your chosen spirit, adding a little more if the mixture is too dry

Add as much beaten egg as will achieve a firm mixture

Taste and add more of whatever you think is lacking but try to avoid the mixture becoming sloppy

Fill the peach cavities with the mixture, heaping it up well; I like to cover the entire peach

Add a few flecks of butter over the top and sprinkle with Demerara sugar; this will create a slightly crackly top to the finished dish

Bake for about 25 minutes until they are bubbling and smelling wonderful

Leave to become warm or room temperature (but please don’t serve them from the fridge)

I like to then sprinkle them with a mixture of cocoa or coffee and icing sugar

Notes

They are wonderful if served warm with a scoop of good ice cream to match either the cocoa or coffee, or vanilla Good also with creme frâiche but I tend to find double cream a bit too rich

July 30, 2017

I was always an enthusiastic cook, but I was a wasteful and lazy cook. Leftover broccoli? In the bin, because I couldn’t be bothered to work out what I could do with it. Now I know differently and the purpose of my blog is to share with you (and, I hope, learn from you all) how it is perfectly possible to keep a good table (to use my mother’s phrase), be watchful of cost and buy in keeping with my conscience. Oh and food and eating should be FUN! In the UK, we seem to have become a but earnest and holier-than-thou about food and whilst I agree that there are few things more important than the food you put in your body, for heaven’s sake, let’s have some fun and pleasure with food.