My aim is to pass on my love of cooking and good "ground up," home made food prepared from fresh ingredients. The only time you'll see 'shop bought' ingredients is when they're as good as or better than what can be bought in the markets, for example some kinds of frozen vegetables or some canned products where the natural thing may not be available in your neck of the woods.
I'll try to post tips, original ideas and recipes that have either come my way, I've invented or modified sufficiently significantly to be able to call them my own.
Here goes, first off. "The Wickedest Nuttiest Tart in the World"
Eat your heart out American cousins this knocks spots off pecan pie, and that's good for sure, but try the Ibicenco version and you'll never go back to 'ornery' pecan pie.
Part 1
Make a pate brisee (sugar short crust pastry) first, as follows.
Sift 350gm good quality plain flour into a cold bowl then add a half teaspoon of salt
Sift 50gm icing sugar on top of the flour
Chop up 200gm unsalted butter (straight from the fridge) into dice sized cubes and add to the flour
Tip the contents of the bowl into a food processor and blitz the mixture (but not for too long it must stay cold) until it has the appearance of breadcrumbs.
Return the mixture to the cold bowl and make a well in the middle.
Pour very small quantity of iced water, at first maybe 100ml, into the well.
Using three fingers of one hand (wash hands first) stir the flour mix and water together adding iced water a very little at a time until the mix binds together. There should be none of the floury mixture sticking to the sides of the bowl by now.
Remove the dough, which should have the consistency of stiff putty, from the bowl and kneed very gently and quickly into a ball.
Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour, an hour is even better.
Part 2
Blind bake the tart case
For people who may not be familiar with blind baking, it doesn't mean that you should do it with your eyes shut! Rather the opposite.
You'll need a well buttered 28cm loose bottomed tart tin for this part of the show, some dried peas or beans that you'll have had lying around unused in the store cupboard for ages, cling film and aluminium foil.
First pre heat the oven to 200C
Then cover a part of your kitchen worktop with cling film, and dust it with flour
Take the pastry ball from the fridge, roll it in the flour and then press it out into a rough circle.
Roll the pastry with a floured rolling pin into a circle until it stands proud of the edges of the tart tin by three or four centimetres or a bit more.
Gently invert the tart tin and place it lightly on to the pastry circle so as not to cut into the dough.
Now comes the tricky bit. Put one hand between the cling film and the work surface with the other lightly holding the tart tin in place, flip the tin over so that the circle of dough flops into the tin leaving some of the pastry overlapping the edges. Don't trim the excess yet, the pastry will shrink during cooking and there'll not be enough room for the filling!
Tuck the pastry gently into the corners of the tin and breathe a sigh of relief! You've done it.
If you don't quite get it right, don't worry. Moisten any broken edges with cold water and press them together. Nobody will see when they're tucking in to the pie!
Prick the base of the tart well and layer it with aluminium foil
Pour over a good layer of dried peas, beans or baking balls. These are to stop the pie base rising up during cooking
Put the tart tin in the oven and immediately lower the heat to 180 C. This is to give the pastry a good blast of heat to first set it, then a slower more gentle bake to cook it through.
Ovens vary, so you'll have to be a judge of cooking time. I first bake my pastry for 15 minutes with the baking beans in, then I lift out the aluminium foil containing the beans and continue cooking until the base shows no sign of being soggy. Keep an eye on the cooking pastry case because it has sugar in it, you don't want it to burn. Overall, the blind baked pastry case should be a very pale golden colour.
Take the tin out of the oven and get ready to load it with goodies!
Return the mixture to the cold bowl and make a well in the middle.
Pour very small quantity of iced water, at first maybe 100ml, into the well.
Using three fingers of one hand (wash hands first) stir the flour mix and water together adding iced water a very little at a time until the mix binds together. There should be none of the floury mixture sticking to the sides of the bowl by now.
Remove the dough, which should have the consistency of stiff putty, from the bowl and kneed very gently and quickly into a ball.
Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour, an hour is even better.
Part 2
Blind bake the tart case
For people who may not be familiar with blind baking, it doesn't mean that you should do it with your eyes shut! Rather the opposite.
You'll need a well buttered 28cm loose bottomed tart tin for this part of the show, some dried peas or beans that you'll have had lying around unused in the store cupboard for ages, cling film and aluminium foil.
First pre heat the oven to 200C
Then cover a part of your kitchen worktop with cling film, and dust it with flour
Take the pastry ball from the fridge, roll it in the flour and then press it out into a rough circle.
Roll the pastry with a floured rolling pin into a circle until it stands proud of the edges of the tart tin by three or four centimetres or a bit more.
Gently invert the tart tin and place it lightly on to the pastry circle so as not to cut into the dough.
Now comes the tricky bit. Put one hand between the cling film and the work surface with the other lightly holding the tart tin in place, flip the tin over so that the circle of dough flops into the tin leaving some of the pastry overlapping the edges. Don't trim the excess yet, the pastry will shrink during cooking and there'll not be enough room for the filling!
Tuck the pastry gently into the corners of the tin and breathe a sigh of relief! You've done it.
If you don't quite get it right, don't worry. Moisten any broken edges with cold water and press them together. Nobody will see when they're tucking in to the pie!
Prick the base of the tart well and layer it with aluminium foil
Pour over a good layer of dried peas, beans or baking balls. These are to stop the pie base rising up during cooking
Put the tart tin in the oven and immediately lower the heat to 180 C. This is to give the pastry a good blast of heat to first set it, then a slower more gentle bake to cook it through.
Ovens vary, so you'll have to be a judge of cooking time. I first bake my pastry for 15 minutes with the baking beans in, then I lift out the aluminium foil containing the beans and continue cooking until the base shows no sign of being soggy. Keep an eye on the cooking pastry case because it has sugar in it, you don't want it to burn. Overall, the blind baked pastry case should be a very pale golden colour.
Take the tin out of the oven and get ready to load it with goodies!
Part 3
Make the nutty filling
Ingredients
200gm lightly smashed walnuts
100gm lightly smashed macadamia nuts
150gm whole, unsalted pistachio nuts
1 tin Lyle's Golden Syrup or equivalent
150gm butter
100gm moist natural brown sugar
3 eggs
150gm ground almonds
Part 4 Cook
Method
Set he oven to 160 C
Put all the nuts, brown sugar, golden syrup and butter into a pan, then gradually raise the heat stirring constantly until the mixture bubbles to a gentle boil. Cook for a minute or so until you begin to feel the mixture thicken slightly, don't let it burn, if you do its an expensive mistake, then set it aside to cool. This might take a while, but if you're in a rush pour it into a clean shallow roasting tin.
While the nutty mixture is cooling beat three eggs well, best with an electric whizzer and add the ground almonds.
Fold the eggs and ground almonds together
When the nut mixture is cool, you know when this is right because you can stick your finger into it for a taste without getting burned
In a clean bowl add the eggy almond mixture to the nutty mixture, stirring all the time to make sure the eggs don't cook in the process.
Now at last its time to load the tart
Pour the blended mixture into the blind baked pastry tart case until it reaches a few millimetres below the edge. You need this head room to allow the filling to rise a little
Lightly cover the filled tart with aluminium foil and put it into the oven on a lower middle shelf for about 35 minutes
After 30 minutes or so check how its getting along. It should have started to rise and have become drier with a hint of a 'browny' crust. Now use your judgement (a word you don't often read in recipe books) for the next bit.
Take off the aluminium foil and continue cooking until you are satisfied that the filling is cooked through and the top isn't burned. You can test for the filling being cooked by lightly touching the top of the filling. If its soggy and wobbles cook it some more if its firm to the touch it is cooked.
Take the tart from the oven and set it aside to cool. Wait at least 30 minutes until you attempt to unmould it. The filling and pastry need time to cool, set and firm up. When you're satisfied, first trim the tart edges to shape with a sharp knife before unmoulding it
Then place one hand on the removable base and allow the side of the tin to fall away gently. put the tart on a wooden board to cool further until you're ready to serve it.
Voila! You have the richest, nuttiest Tart in the world
Serve in smallish slices, with, best of all, chilled mascarpone. Its too rich to eat a lot at once unless you're a racing cyclist n the Tour de France on a high energy sugar diet.
Make the nutty filling
Ingredients
200gm lightly smashed walnuts
100gm lightly smashed macadamia nuts
150gm whole, unsalted pistachio nuts
1 tin Lyle's Golden Syrup or equivalent
150gm butter
100gm moist natural brown sugar
3 eggs
150gm ground almonds
Part 4 Cook
Method
Set he oven to 160 C
Put all the nuts, brown sugar, golden syrup and butter into a pan, then gradually raise the heat stirring constantly until the mixture bubbles to a gentle boil. Cook for a minute or so until you begin to feel the mixture thicken slightly, don't let it burn, if you do its an expensive mistake, then set it aside to cool. This might take a while, but if you're in a rush pour it into a clean shallow roasting tin.
While the nutty mixture is cooling beat three eggs well, best with an electric whizzer and add the ground almonds.
Fold the eggs and ground almonds together
When the nut mixture is cool, you know when this is right because you can stick your finger into it for a taste without getting burned
In a clean bowl add the eggy almond mixture to the nutty mixture, stirring all the time to make sure the eggs don't cook in the process.
Now at last its time to load the tart
Pour the blended mixture into the blind baked pastry tart case until it reaches a few millimetres below the edge. You need this head room to allow the filling to rise a little
Lightly cover the filled tart with aluminium foil and put it into the oven on a lower middle shelf for about 35 minutes
After 30 minutes or so check how its getting along. It should have started to rise and have become drier with a hint of a 'browny' crust. Now use your judgement (a word you don't often read in recipe books) for the next bit.
Take off the aluminium foil and continue cooking until you are satisfied that the filling is cooked through and the top isn't burned. You can test for the filling being cooked by lightly touching the top of the filling. If its soggy and wobbles cook it some more if its firm to the touch it is cooked.
Take the tart from the oven and set it aside to cool. Wait at least 30 minutes until you attempt to unmould it. The filling and pastry need time to cool, set and firm up. When you're satisfied, first trim the tart edges to shape with a sharp knife before unmoulding it
Then place one hand on the removable base and allow the side of the tin to fall away gently. put the tart on a wooden board to cool further until you're ready to serve it.
Voila! You have the richest, nuttiest Tart in the world
Serve in smallish slices, with, best of all, chilled mascarpone. Its too rich to eat a lot at once unless you're a racing cyclist n the Tour de France on a high energy sugar diet.
