Serve these Christmas Pudding Souffles to you guests and you will instantaneously be seen as a culinary genius. People are always impressed by a served a souffle, in fact they are a lot easier than people imagine.
Beautifully light Helston Pudding. It’s easy to make comfort food which makes a light alternative to Christmas Pudding. I have put in a couple of minor changes to make it even more Christmassy, and served it with an orange brandy sauce.
Pear and Blueberry Frangipane Tart. Taking things on from our Blind Baking Post. I am making the best use of some of the fruit from the garden, pears, and blueberries. Well to be honest the pears would have been from the garden but for our local contingent of deer. I had no idea they would take a liking to the pears, and there wasn’t a great deal there in the first place. Thankfully, the berries have done well this year and to – date they are still intact.
There is quite a lot to do here, but do give it a try. Not only is is a great Autumn dessert served warm with fresh vanilla custard but it also takes you through some classic skills essential to master tp produce great puddings and desserts.
Alternative Thinking.
Over the course of these blogs one of the things I would like to do is encourage you to look on recipes in a different way this will expand your thinking and simplify your cooking.
The first one of these is Ratio’s. Most baking recipes are simple a ratio of ingredients which of course dictates how they will react with each other and give us the result we require.
Frangipane uses one of the easiest ones to remember been equal quantities of butter, sugar, eggs, and ground almonds. Flour can also added according to way the mix is to be used and the finished texture you require. For this recipe I have chosen not to use any flour. This will give me a softer texture, almost pudding like which I like to compliment the fruit. If you would like the tart to cut cleanly and have a stiffer texture add the flour along with the almonds in the recipe.
The custard recipe is simple for each 100ml of liquid we need 1 egg yolk and 15g of caster sugar. You can then flavour the custard as wished but I am going for the classic vanilla using fresh vanilla pods. Other flavours that work well with this are, cinnamon, orange or cardamon.
You will be surprised how often a basic ratio appears in cooking. Once you have remembered the appropriate amounts and basic techniques the recipe almost becomes redundant. But let’s get cooking!
Pear and Blueberry Frangipane Tart.
Frangipane, often known as almond cream is a classic component of any pastry kitchen. I believe its invention is attributed to an Italian Marquis, Muzio Flangipani, I cannot guarantee that is the case but whatever its origins this type of paste can be found in dishes across Europe and of course our own Bakewell tart.
Pear and Blueberry Frangipane Tart. Serves 8
1 blind baked 23cm x 3cm tart case (not too dark a bake)
85g blueberries
4 small poached or tinned pears
1 recipe almond cream
Oven temp 165˚c
Cooking time 45 mins
Almond cream – (Frangipane)
155g unsalted butter
155g caster sugar
155g ground almonds
3 med eggs (cracked into a jug and whisked smooth)
½ tsp Vanilla essence
35g plain flour (optional)
If you are baking your tart shell at the same time, use the cooking time to organise your ingredients and make sure everything is at room temperature, particularly the eggs. My store cupboard was a quite cool, so I placed the sugar in the warmth of the top oven while the tart shell baked in the oven below. Remember to make sure your mixing bowl is not cold as well, aim for blood heat.
A food mixer makes this much easier but it can be made by hand, with a bit of elbow grease!
Take the eggs and break them into a jug then whisk well. Adding the eggs one by one as most recipes will require you to do can lead to the mix separating. Add the soft butter and sugar to the bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Now begin to add the egg slowly beating it in as you go. Some recipes will tell you to add the almonds first, this is a bit of insurance against separating but makes the mix heavier. If you’re a bit nervous add a good pinch of almonds before the egg. Once all the egg is added fold in the almonds followed by the flour.
If at any time in the process the mix begins to look a little separated, stop adding any more ingredients and very gently warm the bowl in a little warm water. Gently fold the mix together and it should become smooth again. You can then proceed to finish the mix. Don’t whatever you do apply a lot of heat, if the butter begins to melt all will be lost. Carefully fold the blueberries into the mix then cover the bowl until the shell is ready.
When the tart shell has cooled down remove any pastry overlap if present and spoon the mix into the shell. Using the back of a spoon or small pallet knife level off the filling.
Lift each pear half from the syrup and drain well. Using a small sharp knife we are going to make cuts across the fruit from tip to the base of the fruit and all the way though.
Repeat these cuts on each of the pear halves. Then by pressing down lightly on the the fruit the slices will slide apart and form a fan. Place each pear half equally distant on top of the filling.
You are now ready to bake the tart. Have the oven pre-heated to 180˚c. place the tart into the centre of the oven then immediately turn the oven down to 165˚c and bake for about 45 minutes. Its not bad idea to rotate the tart in the oven after 25 minutes, but don’t leave the oven door open too long or the filling will sink. Don’t worry about the pears sinking into the filling. They are supposed to do that, if you have used flour in the filling they don’t sink down quite as much.
To test if the tart is cooked the best option is to use a probe thermometer and check the temperature of the centre of the tart. A reading of 95˚c will guarantee it ready. You can of course pop in a skewer, but the problem is the tart will be soft even when cooked. A light press in the centre of the tart should feel a little soft but without any suggestion of liquid.
If ready lift the tart onto a cooling wire and let cool down. Its nice to serve the tart just warm but if its too hot it can be a little stodgy.
Plenty of time now to make the custard or Crème Anglaise if you’re posh.
Fresh Egg Custard
Makes about 330ml
150ml Double Cream
150ml Full Fat Milk
1 Vanilla Pod split
25g Caster Sugar
3 Egg Yolks
For this we are using a half and half mixture of double cream and milk. Put the liquids into a pan where you can easily access the edges. Aim for a liquid depth of about 3-4cm. bring the pan up to a simmer then split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds, adding both to the pan. Remove to the side of the stove and leave for 5 mins to extract the full flavour of vanilla into the milk and cream.
The best tool for cooking the custard is a heatproof silicone spatula. Been flexible it cleans the sides and bottom of the pan helping to prevent the custard curdling or burning. I would always use a probe thermometer to know when the custard is ready. Chefs can tell by the texture of the custard. They do it every day and even than sometimes get it wrong. Too much heat and the yolks cook hard and separate from the liquid. You will have sweet, scrambled egg! Have a clean bowl and sieve ready to receive the cooked custard.
Separate the egg yolks and sugar into a stainless or pirex bowl and beat well with a wire balloon whisk, the sugar should melt into the egg yolks and produce a thick fluffy mixture. Don’t throw the white away, put then into a clean container and freeze them for a future meringue or souffle.
Slowly pour the hot cream on top of the egg and sugar mixture mixing continually
Return the mixture into the pan and place on the heat stir carefully with the spatula Work backwards and forwards covering the whole base of the pan, then run the spatula around the edge.
Cook the mixture until it starts to thicken on the back of the spoon then begin to test the temperature. Take care not to touch the sides or bottom of the pan with the probe and produce a false reading. We need a temperature of 82˚c to have cooked the custard and produce a nice coating consistency.
When it’s ready immediately strain the mixture through the sieve into the cold bowl to stop it overcooking in the hot pan.
Cover the bowl with cling film to avoid a skin forming and place to cool ready for use. Refridgerate if you have made the custard well beforehand.
The tart can be returned to a warm oven if it has completely cooled down. it’s no problem to make the tart in the afternoon, for use in the evening. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge, but it does make it a little heavier in texture.
To reheat pre-made custard sit the bowl in a pan of warm but not anywhere near boiling water, Stir the bowl to lift the custard from top to bottom until warm though. Do not allow the bowl to get too hot or all your hard work will be lost.
When you are ready to serve slice the just warm tart into wedges by cutting between the pears. dust with icing sugar and place onto warm plates with a generous amount of warm fresh custard. Then tuck in!
Enjoy life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
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