Pumpkin and goats' cheese tart

The sweet flesh of pumpkin goes perfectly with the sharp savouryness of goats' cheese. This is another recipe from Ottolenghi. This time a super easy pumpkin (or butternut squash) puff pastry tart with goats cheese, pine nuts and garlic. Perfect straight out of the oven with a simple salad and equally good at room temperature the next day. For an impressive starter, cut the pastry into squares to make indiviudual tartlets.


ingredients

serves 4

1 small pumpkin (about 1kg), peeled, deseeded and cut into quarters
250g puff pastry
100ml soured cream
100g goats' cheese
2 tbsp pine nuts
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 chilli, finely chopped
1tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
small handful chopped parsley

*Drizzle the pumpkin wedges in a little oil and season well. Bake in the oven at 200C for 30-45 minutes until soft.
*Once cool enough to handle, slice the pumpkin into thin slices.
*Roll the pastry out into a rectangle about 2mm thick and spread the soured cream on top.
*Lay the pumpkin slices onto the pastry and crumble over the goats' cheese. Sprinkle the pine nuts on top.
*Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top.
*Meanwhile, mix the oil, garlic, chilli and parsley in a bowl.
*Once the tart's cooked, brush the parsley dressing on top. Read more...

Jamaican Veggie Patties

I had a few odds and ends of vegetables in the fridge, a carrot here, the end of a cabbage there and a handful of new potatoes. I've been making a lot of soup recently so I decided to give this recipe from 101cookbooks a go. Sweet little vegetable patties with a little spice and coconut milk. You'll have to excuse the pastry as I didn't go all out and make the traditional patty pastry flavoured with turmeric giving it an orange hue. But even without this, these are dangerously moreish. what started the afternoon as a pile of patties, quickly disappeared as everytime I ventured near the kitchen, I took another bite. Hot pepper sauce is obligatory here. Don't worry, the pastry dilutes the fire and you're left with a tang that is perfect with the spiced filling. It also goes without saying that you can use whatever combination of vegetables you have on hand.

Recipe



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Beetroot and Goat's Cheese Tart

Inspired by Hugh's Saturday column - I made this delicous beetroot and goat's cheese tart. Obviously I tweaked it a little to suit what I had (no wine or thyme unfortunately) but the essential idea was the same and boy, is it a good one. Buttery pastry, sweet roasted beetroot and sharp goats cheese - a trio made in heaven. All you need is a simple salad on the side or even better a potato salad slick with mayonnaise.

This is definitely a good way to eat beetroot as although I love it, I know it's not always the easiest thing to cook with, least of because of the stained fingers. This soup is another favourite, as is eating it raw in salads - it has a carrot-like sweetness and is wonderful in a grated carrot, apple and beetroot salad sprinkled with pine nuts.

This recipe makes enough to fill a standard 24cm tart tin. Hugh suggests using a loose-bottomed 20cm sandwcih tin for a deeper tart. As you can see, I used my new favourite rectangular tin and so made less of the filling.

Ingredients
1 tart case, baked blind
25g unsalted butter
3 red onions, halved and finely sliced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
500g small beetroot, boiled, peeled and sliced.
1 small bunch spring onions, finely sliced
280g goat's cheese log

• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Melt the butter in a pan and gently fry the onions until soft.
• Add the beetroot slices, balsamic vinegar and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until almost all the liquid is absorbed and the mix is glossy.
• Cut the cheese into 1cm slices and lay a few on the base of the tart.
• Tip in the beetroot mix and put the rest of the cheese on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and golden.
• Sprinkle the spring onions on top to serve.

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Spinach and Anchovy Tart

I've been lusting after this baby for a while now, everywhere I look in food magazines, there are beautiful tarts made in this rectangular tart tin. Not only was I won over by the elegance, I also hoped it might be easier to line with pastry and blind bake (I ALWAYS get holes). So, it was with great delight that I wandered around John Lewis homewares department last week and came out clutching my tin.

We seemed to get an explosion of green in the veg box this week, a bag of beautiful baby spinach, earmarked for nothing more than a salad and big bunches of spring greens. In my quest for tart inspiration, I came across this recipe on BBCGoodfood.com, except I used stirfried sping greens, chopped finely instead. The anchovies are not overpowering at all, but lend a salty savouriness, that perks this up and stops it being bland.

I also skipped the potatoes and made a potato salad instead. Slice new potatoes into thick coins and roast with olive and oil and salt until cooked through and golden, make sure you scrape them off the bottom of the roasting tray every so often to stop them sticking. Once cooked, add pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, finely chopped onions and parsley. My new favourite way to eat new potatoes.

As you might expect, this is delicious eaten at room temperature so leftovers won't last long as I discovered when we devoured them at 4am after a night of dancing. The crumbs were quite a depressing sight the following morning.


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Pea and Leek Tart

So, I've been a bit lax with the blogging, christmas seems to have come even earlier this year and time is just slipping away from me!

I have of course, still been cooking, dutifully storing up pictures to share... I've also really gotten into cooking lots at the weekend so there's always something tasty and filling at the end of the day. I made this tart in the same vein and it worked perfectly - leeks sweated down slowly and sweetly with peas thrown in, all encased in a cheesy, eggy custard and baked in flaky pastry ( although I did cheat and buy it from a shop!). Perfect for lunchboxes, or a little slither as a snack, not that is lasts that long...

Most vegetables work well in this quiche-like set up, try this Swiss Chard and Onion Tart, or Potato, onion and Goat's cheese. Combinations on my list to try are:

Bacon, cheddar and tomatoes

Smoked mackerel and dill

Roast tomato, pesto and mozzarella

Broad bean and goats cheese

Asparagus, Lemon and Ricotta

Broccoli and blue cheese

Ingredients

300g shortcrust pastry
2-3 large leeks, finely sliced
50g butter
200g frozen peas (or fresh peas when in season)
3 eggs
400ml cream
175g cheddar, grated
1tsp dijon musard

• Line a 24cm tart or flan tin with the pastry and bake blind
• Boil a kettle and cover the peas in boiling water. Leave to sit for 5mins, then drain.
• Meanwhile fry the leeks gently in the butter for 5mins until completely soft and pour in the defrosted peas, seasoning well.
• Whisk the eggs, cream and mustard together with plenty of seasoning.
• Once the pastry is cooked, tip the pea and leek mixture in and spread out across the whole pastry base, sprinkle over the cheese and pour over the eggy custard.
• Bake at 190C 25 mins until the top is golden and firm to the touch.

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Party Time

A birthday is always a good excuse for a party, couple that with just having moved into a flat and you're onto a winner. I resisted the temptation to spend days creating elaborate canapes as although I knew people would expect food (it is my party) they'd be more interested in the wine...

We're into baking bread at the moment, so I thought several loaves of homemade bread, some dips - hummus, tapenade, roasted red pepper pesto, maybe a baked camembert or two, and some posh crisps ought to do it. the idea was to have lots of finger food that didn't require plates (less washing up or wasteful paper plates).

My one concession to canapes were fabulous little caramelised onion and feta pastries. Deliciously sweet onions are well known partners to sharp, salty feta and these were little mouthfuls of joy. Seen as though everyone liked them so much, here's the recipe below.

Caramelised Red Onion and Feta Pastries

Ingredients

Makes about 50

250g shortcurst pastry
8 medium red onions, sliced into half moons
50g butter
4tbsp balsamic vinegar
4tbsp sugar
200g feta, crumbled
1 small bunch parsley, chopped or a small bunch thyme (just the leaves)

• Heat the butter in a large frying pan and tip in the onions, stir to coat in the butter and leave to cook on a low heat for about 15mins, stirring occasionally until completely soft.
• Season well, add the sugar and blasamic vinegar, and leave to simmer until the onions are sticky, brown and caramelised.
• Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.
• Preheat the oven to 180C
• Roll the pastry out until a few mms thick and cut into rounds (I used a small glass to do this, bear in mind that you want the pastry in mouth sized circles).
• Place onto a baking tray lined with greasproof paper and bake in the oven for about 10mins until golden and cooked through. (the pastry will rise a little and bubble in places, after a few mins baking, whilst the pastry is still soft, you can push the bubles down gently).
• Once all the pastry is cooked, leave to cool.
• To assemble, you probably need someone to help, to get an assembly line going. One person to spoon the onions onto the pastry and someone else to sprinkle on the cumbled feta and a little parsley or thyme. Just try not to eat too many whilst you're making them!

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Summer Fruit Tart

Mmm.. this tart just tasted of summer (despite the weather...)Its a base similar to a cheesecake, pressed into a tart tin and then filled with a creamy mascarpone filling and topped with peaches, I only used peaches because I had them, but you can use whatever fruit you have or indeed a mixture.

The contrast of the fruit with the creamy mascarpone and crunchy base is just perfect. I followed a Nigella recipe for this ( the black and white tart in How to be a Domestic Goddess) but found I had too much of the mascarpone mixture left over, so we had it with strawberries later in the week with some biscuits crumbled on top in a ‘deconstructed’ version of the tart. I’ve changed Nigella’s recipe and decided to use half greek yoghurt, half mascarpone and have done away with the egg – makes a quicker, more cost effective pud. Also, the limoncello is obviously optional, I only used it because I have it and it goes so well with mascarpone.

Ingredients

250g digestives
75g butter, melted
250g mascarpone
250g greek yoghurt
75g icing sugar
Squeeze of lemon
1 tbsp limoncello
Enough fruit to top

Blend the biscuits to a rubble and mix in the melted butter. Tip into a tart tin and press the mixture onto the base and sides. Leave in the fridge to set. Meanwhile whisk the mascarpone until smooth and add the icing sugar, beat until combined, add the limoncello and yoghurt and beat until smooth. Spread this mixture over the base and top with the fruit.

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Swiss chard and Onion Tart

I know I've not been posting regularly recently. Its mostly because I've been eating fairly mediocre food that certainly isn't getting me excited, so I figured not many people would be either. Its amazing how quickly it is to fall into the habit of not cooking and eating rubbish food, and I'm obsessed with food! Anyway, the veg box arrived yesterday and I decided to make this tart, one to stop the chard ending up in a stirfry as most of the leftover veggies do and two because I've not made one for ages.

I cheated and used ready bought pastry, which made this really quick to make. In essence you can pretty much cook any veggies in this eggy mixture, another good combination is brocolli, walnuts and blue cheese, or leek and peas with perhaps feta, or roasted tomatoes, pesto and mozzarella.

This is perfect for packed lunches, just wrap in foil and take with some salad.

500g shortcrust pastry
butter
3 onions, finely sliced
250g swiss chard, finely sliced
pinch nutmeg
4 eggs
1 142ml pot double cream
100g strong cheddar, grated

Preheat the oven to 180C. Roll out the pastry and line a tart tin, line with baking paper and fill with with baking beans. Cook for 10mins, then remove the beans and paper and cook for 10mins more. Meanwhile, cook the onions in a little butter until softened, add the sliced stalks and cook for a min or two more. Now add the leaves and cook until wilted, season well and add the nutmeg. Whisk the eggs and cream, season and mix in the cheese. Lay the chard and onion in the bottom of the tart and pour the eggy mixture over. Bake for 20-30mins until just set. Allow to cool for 10mins before serving. Read more...

Custard Tarts

So I finally got round to recreating the amazing custard tarts I had a few weeks ago, having spent the interim time thinking about them a lot. Turns out they're pretty easy to make especially if you buy the pastry. Using cornflour in the custard, not only thickens the custard but stabilises the mixture so its much less likely to split. I baked these in a cupcake tray and then transferred them to the paper cases afterwards mostly because they looked pretty...

These are pretty standard portugese tarts, in looking for a recipe, the flavourings varied a little, I went for vanilla and nutmeg but some use orange zest and cinnamon which I wasn't so convinced about.

Ingredients

Makes 16 tarts

3 egg yolks
115g caster sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
250ml single cream
150ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch grated nutmeg
300g puff pastry

Whisk the egg yolks, cornflour and sugar in a pan until smooth, slowly add the milk and cream. Heat over a low heat, stirring fairly continuously until the mixture has come to the boil and thickened. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla and nutmeg. Cover with clingfilm, making sure the clingfilm touches the surface of the custard to prevent a skin forming and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile roll the puff pastry out to a rectangle about 1cm thick, roll up along the short side into a sausage and cut into 16 1cm rounds. Take each round and roll out flat to about 10cm diameter. Press the pastry rounds into the cupcake tin. Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases and grate a little nutmeg on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry and custard are golden. Read more...

Potato, Onion and Goat's Cheese Tart

Mmmm this tart was delicious. In a bid to use my new heart shaped tin,we found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website, which I think is a lot better than the BBC food website, there's still the mine of recipes but you get great pictures, new and innovative recipes without the rubbish Ready Steady Cook recipes.


Seen as though we cheated and used ready made pastry, this recipe was super easy. Make sure you cook the potato and onion until they're really soft and caramelised. This tart is also really rich, so you only really need a salad to go with it or some simply cooked vegetables.

Recipe



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