Upside-down apple tart

I’m rather annoyed I missed apple day to post this one on! http://www.commonground.org.uk being a big fan of English Apples, and any excuse them. This recipe does just that, and being homemade, it can easily be made egg-free, dairy free- and lets face it there are not many egg-free, dairy free puddings around. Cooking puddings yourself also saves money, and is very satisfying!

This one is a vegan adaptation of the Upside-down apple tart, with orange and oatmeal pastry, from ‘The Almost Vegetarian Cookbook’ (sums me up nicely) by Josceline Dimbleby

The tart can be made in advance, kept in the tin and reheated (good for parties then) The cardamom, honey and orange give a lovely flavour…

Ingredients

125g (4oz) plain flour
50g (2oz) fine oatmeal
75g (3oz) caster sugar
half tsp salt
125g (4oz) dairy free marg
finely grated zest of 1 orange
1-2 tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
750g (1 and half 1lb) apples
4tbs lemon juice
2 tbs fine-cut orange marmalade
2 tbs clear honey
seeds of 4-5 cardamon pods, ground finely

method

to make pastry, put the flour, oatmeal, caster sugar and salt into a food processor and whiz just once to mix. Add the marg to the flour mixture to the food processor and whiz again briefly, just until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs. Add the finely grated orange zest and with the motor running, pour in enough orange juice, whizzing very briefly, for the dough to begin to stick together. Pat the pastry into a ball, cover it with clingfilm and leave in the fridge to chill whilst you prepare the apples..

Smear the base and sides of a 19-20cm (7 and half to 8 inc sandwich tin with a little marg (don’t use a tin with a loose base) and preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200oC/400oF. Peel the apples and. Slice the apples in half and using a very sharp knife, cut out the cores. Slice the apples thinly in half moon slices, putting the slices into a bowl and sprinkling them immediately with lemon juice as you cut them to prevent them discolouring. Put the marmalade and honey into a bowl with the ground cardamon seeds, stir together and spread the mixture over the bottom of the buttered sandwich tin. Next arrange the apple slices neatly overlapping in the tin.

Take the pastry from the fridge and using a well floured rolling pin, roll it out very lightly on a floured board the size of the cake tin.
Carefully roll back the pastry over the rolling pin and place it on top of the apples in the tin. If pastry should break at all, don’t worry, simply press it together. Press the overlapping pastry edge down into the sides of the tin and pierce two holes in the top to allow the steam to escape.

Cook the tart in the centre of the preheated oven for 25mins, then turn down to gas mark 3/160oC/325oF for 30mins. Finally, turn off the oven, open the door slightly and leave the tart in the oven for a further 10-15 mins.

To serve: slide a knife around the edges of the tin and carefully turn the tart out on a flat serving plate. Serve tart warm with dairy free custard or cream…

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Crab-apple Jelly

Next to the Quince Tree (see Quince Chutney) was a small bag full of crab-apple windfalls, fantastic free food! I brought a jelly strainer last week, what a difference it makes, just load it up, then let it drip through over night- simple!
This Jelly is from Jimmy Doherty’s book ‘A Taste of the Country’ It’s the first time I’ve made it, very sharp and sweet at the same time… should go well on toast or with pork…

Ingredients

About 2kg/4 and half lb crab apples
granulated or preserving sugar

method

Wash and chop the crab apples. Put them into a preserving pan with just enough water to cover (about 1 litre/1 and three quarter pints) Bring to the boil slowly, then reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour. Stir occasionally, breaking up the fruit to release the pectin.

After an hour, pour or ladle the fruit and juice into a scalded jelly-bag and allow the juice to drip through for several hours. Measure the strained juice and our it back into a clean preserving pan. For each 565ml or 1 pint of juice add 450g or 1lb of sugar. Stir over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil. Boil until setting point is reached – about 10 to 15 mins. When the jelly is ready, take the pan off the heat, remove the scum from the surface, and quickly pour into sterilized jars –this jelly sets very fast.

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn 2008 www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Fruit pie

Pies = a little bit of heaven


And at this time of the year, can cost next to nothing. With blackberries to pick and apples in season to scrumpy (or ask nicely for from a friendly neighbour)
Here’s a recipe for you to play with what ever fruit is in session… blackberry and apple like me, or apple, raisins and cinnamon or rhubarb and lemon…. The list goes on..

Ingredients

6oz short crust pastry (make your own for economy, or cheat like me and get it out of the freezer)
1 and half lb of fresh fruit
4 oz sugar

method

place the fruit in a pie dish with sugar spread on each layer, finish with a layer of fruit piled high in the middle, add a little water, cover with pastry.
Bake just above centre in a hot oven (425o-450oF) gas mark 6-7 for 15 mins, then lower the temp a little for about 20mins until the fruit is cooked. Dredge with sugar and serve hot or cold… with custard, with icecream, with cream, with a cup of tea, the choose is yours.

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn. www.loisblackburn.co.uk for more.

Blackberry and apple crumble

Last night I made another blackberry and apple crumble, a staple of this time of year. It seems impossible to go out for a walk right now, without coming home laden with blackberries. I’ve just had a neighbour offer me apples from their tree to, so I’m sorted! My crumbles are all different, depending on what ingredients I have at hand, I recommend you do the same… see whats in your store cupboard, what around for free, and then experiment. Here is a basic recipe for you to play with:

Ingredients (filling)
3 large Bramley apples (or whatever you can get hold of for free)
150g caster sugar
pinch of cinnamon
a good punnet of blackberries

topping
50g/2oz butter or marg (butter crumbles are lovely, but marg works just fine)
110g/4oz plain flour (or I like a mix of flour and oats)
55g/2oz caster sugar
seeds such as linseed or flaked almonds (optional)

method
1. preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6
2. peel, core and cut apples into slices of chunks
3. add a splash of water to a pan, the sugar and cinnamon and gently sauté the apples until slightly cooked
4. add the blackberries to the apples and stir gently
5. to make the topping, lightly rub butter or marg into the flour (or flour oat mix) add the sugar an rub into crumbs.
6. spoon the apples and blackberries into a shallow, ovenproof dish, sprinkle over crumb mixture
7. cover with seed or flaked almonds if desired
8. place in the oven for about 20-30 mins or until light golden brown.
9. serve with icecream, or cream or yogurt or custard!

It freezes well, allowing you to take advantage of the glut of fruit.

Today’s illustration ‘blackberries’ © Lois Blackburn www.loisblackburn.co.uk for more