March recipe: Bakewell tart

Bakewell tart

Bakewell tart is a jam- or fruit-filled almond tart. It may be derived from the Bakewell pudding, a sort of almond custard pudding traditionally considered to have been invented by mistake in the early nineteenth century at a hotel in Bakewell*, Derbyshire.

There are many variations of Bakewell tart. Some recipes use puff pastry for the base, some insist on a specific type of jam for the filling, some use fruit instead of jam, some use breadcrumbs instead of flour in the almond sponge. The version I make uses shortcrust pastry and whatever jam I have to hand, which in turn usually depends on what soft fruit was most abundant the previous summer. The tart in the photograph is filled with blackcurrant jam. Here’s the recipe.

Bakewell tart

Pastry

4 oz (approx 100 g) plain flour

1 oz (approx 25 g) lard

1 oz (approx 25 g) butter

Filling

Approximately 3 generous Tablespoons (3 x 15 ml spoons) jam of your choice

2 oz (approx 50 g) butter

2 oz (approx 50 g) light brown soft sugar

2 eggs

2 oz (approx 50 g) plain flour

2 oz (approx 50 g) ground almonds

First make the pastry. Rub the butter and lard into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Mix with a little cold water to a soft dough. If it is flaky, add a little more water; if it is sticky add a little more flour.

Or you could use ready-made shortcrust pastry if you prefer.

Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface and use it to line a shallow tart dish about 7” (approx 18 cm) diameter.

Spread the jam over the pastry in an even layer.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg.

Stir in the flour and ground almonds.

Spread the mixture evenly over the jam and level the surface.

Bake the tart in a hot oven at approximately 200 C for about 25 - 30 minutes, until the filling is set and pale golden.

Serve warm or cold, with pouring cream, whipped cream or ice cream.

I expect to get about 6 slices out of a tart this size, but that depends on how large a slice you like.

The tart will keep in an airtight tin for several days, or can be frozen.

*Bakewell is a pretty small town in the beautiful Peak District National Park, and probably makes an appearance as Lambton in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

May recipe: Smoked salmon pate

Smoked salmon pate

This wonderfully quick and easy recipe is perfect as a sandwich filler or as part of a spring/summer picnic.

You can vary the herbs as you like, so if you can’t get chives or don’t like chives, you can substitute another fresh green herb of your choice.

Smoked salmon pate

4 oz (approx 100 g) smoked salmon

4 oz (approx 100 g) cream cheese

1-2 Tablespoons (1-2 x 15 ml spoons) single cream

Salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons (2 x 15 ml spoons) chopped fresh chives

Roughly chop the smoked salmon.

Mix the chopped salmon, cream cheese and 1 Tablespoon of single cream in a blender or food processor, and process to the desired texture.  I like this pate fairly coarse, with distinct pieces of smoked salmon, but if you prefer it completely smooth, just blend it for longer.

Alternatively, if you don’t have a blender, chop the smoked salmon finely with a sharp knife and then beat the chopped salmon into the cream cheese and 1 Tablespoon of single cream with a wooden spoon.

Add a little more single cream if the pate is too stiff (different varieties of cream cheese seem to vary in texture).

Season with salt and black pepper to taste, and stir in the chopped chives.

Pack the pate into a pot or serving dish and refrigerate for an hour or two.

Serve on bread, toast, oatcakes etc.

This pate will keep for a week or so in the fridge.  It does not freeze.

Newly-hatched mallard chicks

Mallard ducklings

A nestful of newly hatched mallard ducklings at Flatford Wildlife Garden.  Aren’t they sweet?

When I say newly hatched, I mean it. The mother duck was sitting on a nestful of eggs the night before, and when the volunteers came in next morning to open up, the nest was full of ducklings. Ten of them.

Before the garden opened to the public the same morning, the mother duck had chivvied her babies out of the nest and trotted them off to the river. With a bit of help from one of the volunteers who made her a temporary tunnel under the fence to lead the ducklings through.

(Mother ducks never seem to realise that although they can fly over fences and walls their babies can’t, and that picking a nest site in an enclosed area might not be the most inspired choice. Like the duck some years ago who decided to nest in the enclosed central courtyard of a prestigious office complex, so when the eggs hatched the caretaker had to carry the ducklings through the shiny glass atrium in a bucket with the mother duck quacking anxiously alongside. Fortunately the ‘aaah!’ factor of fluffy ducklings means human help is frequently on hand.)

These ducklings are now probably swimming about on the River Stour somewhere in Dedham Vale, delighting the visitors.

Flatford Wildlife Garden also has several nest boxes occupied by blue-tits and great-tits. Some of the nest boxes are fitted with cameras connected to TV screens in the visitor centre, so you can watch the chicks and the parent birds feeding them, without disturbing them.

Update (30 April): one set of great-tit eggs have hatched, so you can watch the chicks on screen, and the blue-tits are expected to hatch within a day or two.

Flatford Wildlife Garden is open every day from April to October, 10.30 am to 4.30 pm, free entry. Details on the website here. 

April recipe: Lemon cake

Lemon cake

The sharp, bright taste of lemon seems especially well suited to brisk spring days. This simple lemon cake is quick to make and always turns out well.  It is delicious served plain, or if you fancy something a bit more elaborate, it can be sliced in half and filled with lemon curd and/or lemon buttercream.

Here’s the recipe.

Lemon cake

8 oz (approx. 250 g) self-raising flour

3 oz (approx 75 g) light brown soft sugar

4 oz (approx 100 g) butter

1 egg

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons (2 x 5 ml spoons) demerara sugar, optional

Grease a deep cake tin about 6 inches (approx 15 cm) in diameter.

Rub the butter into the flour and sugar until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Beat the egg, and add it to the mixture along with the lemon zest and lemon juice.

Mix well until smooth.

Put the mixture in the prepared cake tin and level the top. Sprinkle the top with 2 teaspoons of demerara sugar, if liked. This will give the cake a crunchy top.

Bake in a moderately hot oven at about 170-180 C for about 45 minutes to an hour until the cake is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.

If liked, you can cut the cake in half horizontally and sandwich the halves back together with lemon curd and/or lemon buttercream.  Or you can serve the cake plain, which is what I normally do.

The cake will keep about a week in an airtight tin, and freezes well (freeze it plain, without the buttercream/ lemon curd filling).

March recipe: Leek and bacon pie

Leek and bacon pie

Leeks, being a hardy vegetable crop, will stand in the ground all winter despite rain, wind, frost and snow.  This makes the leek one of the most useful crops for the kitchen garden, since leeks can be harvested fresh in March when not much else is growing. Leeks are versatile in the kitchen, too.  They can be sliced and fried in butter as a hot vegetable, and I’ve previously posted recipes for Leek and turkey pie, Stir-fried sweet and sour pork with leeks, and Bean and vegetable pie.

This leek and bacon pie pairs the mild onion flavour of leeks with smoked streaky bacon (or smoked ham works equally well).  It’s a sort of more substantial form of quiche, ideal for the cool days of early spring.  Here’s the recipe.

Leek and bacon pie (serves 2)

Shortcrust pastry

4 oz (approx 125 g) plain flour

1 oz (approx 25 g) lard

1 oz (approx 25 g) butter

Water to mix

Filling

8 oz (approx 250 g) leeks

2 oz (approx 50 g) smoked streaky bacon

1 egg

2.5 fl. oz. (approx 70 ml) milk

Grease a shallow heatproof pie dish.

Rub the butter and lard into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Gradually add cold water to mix to a soft dough. If the mix is floury, you need to add a little more water; if it is sticky, you have added too much water and need to add some more flour.

(Or you can use ready-made shortcrust pastry if you prefer).

Roll out about two-thirds of the pastry and line the bottom and sides of the pie dish.

Put the other one-third of the pastry aside while you make the filling.

Trim the leeks and wash them thoroughly.  If they are very gritty (which is likely by March if they are home-grown), cut a vertical slash down the length of the green part and put them in cold water for a few minutes so that the leaves can separate and any grit trapped between them can fall out into the water.  Cut the leeks into thin slices.

Chop the bacon into small pieces.

Fry the bacon over a moderate heat in cooking oil for a few minutes until starting to colour. Add the sliced leeks and continue frying for a few more minutes until the leeks are starting to soften.

Remove from the heat and season with salt and black pepper.

Put the leeks and bacon into the pie dish and spread out evenly.

Beat the egg and milk together and pour over the leeks and bacon.

Roll out the remaining one-third of the pastry to make a lid.  Put it on top of the pie filling, trim off any surplus, and seal the edges.

Use any surplus pastry to make decorations for the top of the pie, if wished.

Brush the top of the pie with milk.

Bake in a hot oven at about 200 C for about 30 minutes until the pie is golden brown.

Serve hot, with potatoes and vegetables of your choice.  This pie goes very well with roast potatoes, which need the same cooking temperature and about the same length of time and so can share the oven with the pie.