French Tarts

When I lived in London they had this fab take-away called French Tarts who used to make the most delicious tarts with a light flaky pastry base.  They'd deliver these tarts along with the most delicious roasted vegetables, frites and dessert tarts (the tarte tatin was to die for) and even bottles of wine and cigarettes (we used to smoke back in the day).  This was my idea of deliverance heaven.

Here is the link to their menu.  I don't know whether they still exist, but they will forever be etched in my mind as good food that went with very good times.

http://www.yourbestlocal.com/restmenu.asp?rest_id=28-SW11-1EE&cat_id=page1&order=1

I woke up yesterday morning with a craving for French Tarts, as it was such a cold day, and this is the sort of food I like to eat.  I don't know how they make their tarts, but I will try different methods until I nail it.  I guess it's similar to a Galette as it appears to be sort of free form, but I'm guessing it's made in a tin.

But instead I tried just using a slab of reduced fat puff pastry, and topping it with a sour cream, egg and mustard mix, before topping it with toppings.  These tasted pretty damned good but not french tarts as I remember them.  Will keep working on it until I get it right.

Tart 1 for Adults

Caramelise 2 red onions by frying on low heat for about 30 minutes with a little water, butter, oil, sugar and balsamic vinegar.  When the onions were ready, I added 2 courgettes chopped into ribbons and a sliced chorizo sausage and warmed through before turning off the heat.  I then beat one egg and added about half a cup of light sour cream and a teaspoon of mustard.  This mix I then divided in two and spread over 2 pieces of pre-rolled pastry.   I then placed the onion/courgette/chorizo topping onto one pre-rolled square of pastry and topped with sliced brie.  This was baked in a 200 oven for about 20 minutes until golden.

Caramelised onion, courgette, chorizo and Brie Tart

Tart 2 for children

The second piece of pre-rolled pastry which has been brushed with half the sour cream mix, I topped with sliced in half cherry tomatoes and a grating of edam cheese.  Baked for 20 minutes or until golden in a 200 degree oven

Cheese and Tomato Tart for the children

Fat Girl FAT... a weekend of warm puddings

This past weekend was rather chilly which put me in the unfortunate position where I felt the need to produce warm puddings all weekend.  Needless to say the scales are not my friend this morning, but I'm hoping that if I am very good for the next 48 hours I'll be able to reverse the damage.  Fingers crossed.

These puddings are not the prettiest puddings in the world, but they do taste good.  They all required very little effort and use ingredients that are generally found at home, so I was able to impress the family with ready steady cook.

Friday night : Lemon Pudding
Saturday night : Chocolate Pear Pudding
Sunday: Milk Tart



Friday night:  Lemon Pudding
A light lemony saucy sponge type pudding

Ingredients
55g butter
115g sugar
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
2 eggs separated
55g self-raising flour
285ml milk

Method
Soften the butter slightly in the microwave.  Using a cake mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl before adding the lemon rind and juice, egg yolks, flour and milk and folding together until mixed.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff.  Fold into the pudding mixture gently before pouring into an ovenproof pudding type dish.  Place pudding dish into a roasting tin, and pour a kettle of boiled water into the roasting tin to surround the pudding dish.

Bake at 200 for 45 minutes.



Saturday night:  Chocolate Pear PuddingA chocolate sponged topped pear affair

Ingredients
1 can pears drained
60g flour
15g cocoa powder
60g castor sugar
75g butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place the pears in a small round oven proof dish.  The pears should fill the dish.  The one I use is the size of a side plate.

Mix the remaining ingredients together using a cake mixer.  Spread over the pears.

Bake at 200 for 30 minutes. 

I served this pudding with some chocolate sauce out of a bottle, but you could serve it with ice-cream or cream or all of the above.



Sunday night:  Milk Tart
A South African light custart tart topped with cinnamon

I am not going to share this milk tart recipe as I don't believe it tastes authentic.  Milk Tart is a traditional South African custard tart that is topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon.  This tasted good, but not as good as it could.  So I will redo the milk tart in the near future and share the best recipe I can find.