The Pastry Tart

As satisfying as it can be to execute good pastry, it is at the same time, I’m sure, the most bloody infuriating food to work with. Crumbling apart while rolling it, sticking to every surface available, sinking to the bottom of the flan dish or burning to a crisp in the oven. Making pastry has the potential to be a f@!*ing nightmare! It always makes me chuckle watching my girlfriend making anything flour based in the kitchen, as soon as that flour pot comes out of the larder, stress levels immediately rise; at this point I usually make a swift and quiet exit out the kitchen. But it really doesn't have to be stressful, honestly...

To get pastry right, you have to get it wrong in pretty much every way possible first, and, when you start getting it right, you won’t stop making it. I’m fairly confident, now that I’ve cocked it up so many times, I think I have finally mastered it and I’m prepared to try and explain the process as best I can so you don’t have to cock it up!

Sweet Pastry

Note: Apologies for the length of this recipe but, there's a lot to explain here so read carefully!

250g of plain flour

125g of icing sugar

125g of butter diced and chilled

1 small capful of vanilla extract, or half a pod of vanilla scraped out.

Pinch of salt

2 large egg yolks.

You will also need a flat rimless baking tray.

A rolling pin

Cling Film

Baking parchment

Baking beans or copper coins

Flan dish with a wide rim and removable base

Now I’ve tried mixing the ingredients in a blender and I’m sure the results are not nearly as good as when mixed by hand so, to make it easier to mix by hand, the first thing to do is dice the butter up nice and small so the cubes are easy to work into the flour with your fingertips. Once you’ve diced the butter, put them in a bowl and leave in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. There’s a debated point in making pastry; whether to have soft butter or chilled butter? Having chilled butter I believe allows the mixture, when mixed by hand, to produce a nice crumbly texture before binding it together, which makes for a crisper shorter pastry when baked. Use soft butter and the butter will melt into the flour too quickly causing the gluten in the flour to start to stretch and mix and you will end up with a soft, doughy pastry when baked.

Sift the flour, followed by the icing sugar into a large bowl with a pinch of salt. Make a well in the center and add the diced butter, mix together with a knife so all the cubes of butter are coated in the flour. Start to mix the butter and flour, rubbing together with your fingertips, this part takes time but with patience will produce the best pastry. When the mixture starts to come together like fine breadcrumbs, stop, make a well in the center of the flour mix, and add the 2 egg yolks and the vanilla, mix together with a knife. Tip the whole lot out on a clean work surface and gently bring together, if the mixture feels too dry, add a desert spoon of cold water. Very briefly, gently kneed the mixture together with the palm of your hand, It’s important not to over need, only for about 20-30 seconds, you just want the pastry to bind together, a good point to stop is when the outside of the pastry just starts to become very slightly oily.

Flatten the ball of pastry slightly so as to allow it to chill evenly, wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 45 minutes.

Next we’re going to roll the pastry out on cling film (my AMAZING sister taught me this tip), reason being it will stop the pastry sticking to the surface and falling apart, it will also make it much easier to move around when we eventually put it in the flan tray. Lay a large enough peace of cling film on a clean surface followed by a second piece which, should overlap the first by about 10cm so as to give a good sized surface area to roll onto, dust sparingly with flour. Gently roll out the pastry on top of the cling film until it’s about the thickness of a pound coin and large enough to fit in the flan dish. Now, with your flat rimless baking tray, gently slide it under the cling film and pastry, place the flan dish upside down in the center of the pastry (can you see what’s gonna happen here yet?) then gently flip the whole thing upside down so the pastry is the right way up in the flan dish. Now, keep the cling film on and slowly smooth the pastry down the sides of the flan dish, gently pushing it into the sides with the back your knuckle. Remove the cling film when the pastry is evenly spread in the dish, cut off the excess pastry from the sides leaving about an inch hanging over the edges (we’ll cut this off after baking), then put the whole thing back in the fridge for 20 mins resting.

For the blind baking, cut enough baking parchment to fill the dish, crumple it up then flatten it out again, making it easier to fit in the dish. You can use either baking beans or copper pennies to place on top of the parchment to keep the pastry from rising, bake in a preheated oven at 140° for 20 minutes or until lightly golden in color, if you have a fan assisted oven it’s always a good idea to turn it at least twice during baking for an even color. Remove from the oven and take out the baking parchment, you’ll find that the base of the pastry is slightly fluffed up, with the back of a spoon gently smooth it down again then place back in the oven at a slightly lower temperature of 120° until the base of the pastry is crisp.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a baking rack. When the pastry has cooled trim up the edges with a sharp knife, the pastry casing should be nice and crisp now so no need to egg wash it or anything before adding what ever mixture you are using to it.

The Cinnamon Club

‘Baked wild African prawns with ‘kadhai’ spices, tomato lemon sauce. Fillet steak of Wagyu beef with stir fried morels, saffron sauce.  Finished off with a White chocolate parfait with pink peppercorn crisp washed down with a bottle of Tokaji Aszú....Urmm, yup. Had we both had this we would have left the Cinnamon club £367 poorer and it would have to be orgasmically good for that price!

I did however thoroughly enjoy the offer of £24 for the three courses. If you don’t mind eating either very late or very early (the offer is between 5-6pm or 9.30-10.30), it’s a smashing good deal for some really very tasty nosh. If you are booking a table at the Cinnamon Club I would strongly recommend arriving earlier to enjoy some of the fiery cocktails at the rather raunchy looking cocktail bar downstairs, at £8-12 a cocktail you would hope for a very special concoction and that they were, full of spice, delicious fruits and plenty of booze. The Cinnamon club is located just around the corner form Westminster; set in the historic Grade II listed former Westminster Library. The interior as much grand as the outer building, still with ornate book shelves in place and hundreds of leather bound books on the mezzanine level surrounding the dining room of dark brown leather and high white arches, giving the atmosphere of a 1920’s Poirot scene.

Arriving at our small table in the corner, we were presented with an appetizer of deep fried chick pea ball, heavily spiced  and sitting on a cool mint raita, “yes please I’ll have more of them”, fiery little numbers and very moreish. Being the greedy bugger I am, thinking with my stomach rather than head, had the more heavier of starters on offer which in hindsight wasn’t such a good idea as I thought to myself afterwards, waddling my way back to the station feeling especially full. ‘Coorgi style stir-fry of pork with kokum berries’, not the fresh flash cooked stir fry I was expecting, but more a deeply rich, dry sauce surrounding thin slithers of slow cooked pork, very rich but equally delicious. ‘Pan seared sea bass fillet with curried chickpeas, green mango and coconut chutney’, has now set the bench mark of how chick peas should be cooked, packed with flavour, soft yet still holding there shape and texture, a million miles from the tasteless dry cannon balls I’ve found else where, curry slightly over powering for the delicate fish but tasty all the same. ‘Grilled rump of Galloway beef with masala mash, rich onion sauce’ and rich it was, but sadly let down by the tough lump of jaw exercise sitting on top, perhaps the Wagyu beef next time?

Now I’m not one for turning down a pudding, especially if it’s included in the price but, at this point I was starting to feel more than a little over indulged (was the assortment of flat bread really necessary?) but, thank god I didn’t. ‘White chocolate parfait with pink peppercorn crisp’ was nothing short of heavenly, moving swiftly past the tasteless crisp and strait to the parfait covered in crunchy praline full of chocolaty nuttiness, a deliciously light end to a very rich meal!

Helford

Duchy Oysters from the river.

Oysters, you either love em or you hate em. To some they're a salty bogey, to others they are a treat. Fresh from the sea they encapsulate the fresh ozone salty taste of the seashore in there gnarled barnacle bound shell, pure and simple food served straight up. Note: best enjoyed by the sea with a pint of Cornish Ale...Fact.

This year hasn’t been a good year for the blog, it’s been over ten months since the last posting on the the subject of making sloe gin, which by the way the is looking great, dark rich and perfectly clear, the Sloes and damsons have been removed and it’s all been bottled up for storage until next year.

There are few experiences about London that I really enjoy, and one of them is leaving. Escaping town and heading to the West Country. Down the busy A3, up to the M3, passed Fleet and then onto the A303, then you really feel like you're leaving. Passed Stone Henge on your right and then into the rolling open plains between Andover and Shaftesbury, huge expanses of arable land, endless fields of wheat and rapeseed that appear to go onto into the distance forever, blending into the sun which, on a late summers evening is like driving through a Constable painting.

There is a place in Cornwall I spent holidays as a child and over the last 3 years have since returned to in the late summer. It’s a place I’m reluctant to suggest to many people about, as the very reason I love it is the fact it still feels relatively undiscovered and quiet but, I’m still not sure if any body actually reads this blog so what the hell. Beyond Falmouth and just before reaching Helston, there is a turning off towards the coast which will lead you to the very end of a long sea estuary. It will appear a river if you didn't know any better but, in fact you will reach the very end tip of the Helford estuary arriving at the small parish of Gweek an old pilchard fishing village.

There are no main roads leading to Helford only small lanes that will send your sat-nav into a panic attack! Honestly the best navigation will be to keep the river on one side of you, have rough idea of where the cost is and head in a general direction until you find somewhere with a place name and find yourself on the map, any way the best way to discover the area is to get lost and see where you end up (you could ask the locals but, you may have a job understanding them)!

All along this stretch of estuary are creeks hidden by wooded banks with a dark and ancient feel to them, brilliant for walking and exploring especially Frenchmans creek which, you may know of if you have read the book. Such is the quality of the water in the creek that it happens to have some of the finest British Oysters, home to the Duchy's own oyster farm no less, supplying Muscles, Scallops and of course Oysters, some of which are delivered to the Ferry boat inn just across the river and the rest will mainly go to various London haunts.

Pan fried Scallops with curried deep fried cauliflower. 

What about the food, well I think the photos explain that, the Cornish produce especially the fish is really rather good, if you can find it. Sadly there aren't many fish mongers left in the area, due to the lack of demand, most of what comes off the boats will go either to the restaurants and hotels in the area or up to London. However with a little bit of research and asking a few locals it's not impossible to find places at the right time where you can pick up fresh fish only hours after it's been landed. After spending three years there we have just about managed to find everything we need directly from the source such as the hand dived scallops from the diver, or the small sorting house where the day boats deliver their catch to. If you fancy finding a bit of wild nosh yourself, with a little bit of local knowledge and maybe a few tips from forager John (river cottage hand book), there is plenty of wild bounty to be found, cockles, clams, muscles and sampfire, hand picked within moderation of course, make extremely tasty eating and rewarding for that matter. It's shame there aren't more places that sell the incredible produce from the area but, unfortunately during the winter months the trade simply isn't there to sustain smaller shops. If you do get a chance to visit the area, here's a few recommendations and useful links:
The Ferry Boat Inn
Helford River Cottages
Boat Hire
Fishing Trips

View from the Ferry Boat inn

Baked Dover Sole with Cider and Thyme

serves 2

1 medium sized Dover sole

half an onion finely sliced

3 Bay leaves 

4-5 sprigs of thyme

half a glass of Medium dry cider

Butter

Gut and Clean the fish then dry with a paper towel. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, have a large serving plate warmed ready to transfer the fish to when cooked. In a large baking tray, layer the finely sliced onions in the center of the tray along with the bay leaves, drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 

Place the fish on top of the onions and bay leaves then rub a little butter onto the top side of the fish season with salt and pepper and place the sprigs of time on top. pour the cider in around the fish then securely cover the baking tray with kitchen foil, bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, take the fish out and place on the warm plate, loosely cover with kitchen foil to keep warm. Strain the juice from the pan through a sieve into a small pan. Simmer the sauce over a medium heat, add a generous knob of butter and reduce slightly. To serve, peel the skin off the top side of the fish and pour over the cider sauce. Serve with minted new potatoes and peas.

Wild Mushroom Parpadelle

Serves 2-3

250g Dry Parpadelle. 

60 grams Mixed Dried Mushrooms 

5-6, quality mushrooms such as chestnut or shiitake, sliced.

4 sprigs of fresh thyme, stalks removed.

2 cloves of garlic finely sliced.

250g of good quality Pancetta, the best you can afford, diced into cubes.

Half a glass of dry white wine.

1 Shallot finely sliced.

Butter.

Olive oil.

Splash of Whipping cream.

Small handful of grated parmesan.

Chopped parsley.

In a bowl soak the dried mushrooms in just enough boiled water, cover with cling film and leave for 20 minutes, don't stir during the soaking time, you want any sediment left on the mushrooms to sink to the bottom. Put a large pan of salted water on to boil.

Add two table spoons of olive oil to a heavy bottomed frying pan and gently fry the garlic for 3 minutes, don't let it burn! Next add the chopped shallot, cook for 4-5 minutes before adding the diced pancetta.

spoon off a small cup of the liquid from surface of the soaking mushrooms, then drain them. When the pancetta begins to color, add the parpadelle to the boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions.


Add a healthy amount of butter to the pan and fry the mixed wild mushrooms and fresh mushrooms on a steady heat, cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the thyme to the frying pan along with the white wine and liquid from the dried mushrooms, season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn up the heat and let the sauce reduce slightly, your looking for good pasta sauce consistency, too thin and it wont cover the pasta well. 

Add a splash of the whipping cream to the sauce and take the pan off the heat. Drain the pasta and stir into the creamy mushroom sauce along with the parmesan and parsley. 

Slow Roast Pork with smoked Parika. Black Bean salsa

Recipe

Hedgerow Harvest

It’s that time of year of year again, the nights are drawing in, the mornings are dark and crisp (or just as much dull and damp for that matter) and removing ones head from the comfort of the pillow is increasingly difficult and usually involves repeatedly hitting the snooze button, desperately trying to negotiate with  yourself that "if I can just have 5 more minutes" I can still squeeze in a shower and breakfast before belting out the door.

If recently, you’ve stumbled upon a group of persons bottoms up face first in a bush or half way up a tree with a bright orange Sainsbury’s bag, don’t be alarmed, there’s a good reason…. usually. For the keen forager, now is the prime time for filling the basket with the bounties of the hedgerow. The bushes are bulging with berries, plump yet still firm, saturated with sugar primed for preserving for the darker months of winter. The Damsons are dancing the Rose Hips are hopping and the Sloe’s are well…… slowing?

If you fancy a yomp in the country this autumn, take a bag with you, you might just be lucky enough to stumble upon a cluster of Sloes or even Damsons for the matter, and if you find Sloes, you’re sure not to be far from a Hawthorn. Small and deeply purple with a dusting of white chalk, the Sloe can be easy to miss, yet just as common in the suburbs as it is in the depths of the country. Face shatteringly tart, sloes are just as beautiful and sharp as the shrub they fruit from, covered in pale white cherry blossom in the spring, underneath is a dark bark with an aggressive bite from the long black thorn. The Blackthorn is more a shrub than a tree, native to Europe and north west Africa, growing to about 5m in moderately dense thickets, which is why it’s commonly found in old hedgerows, creating a near impenetrable barrier with the occasional long sharp thorn. The Blackthorn is shrouded in a dark and sinister history in the British isle, commonly referred to in witch’s tales as the increaser and keeper of dark secrets and the coming of the waning moon. The black thorns were supposedly used to pierce the poppet in the witch’s curse, sending the victim into eternal slumber. It’s said that the devil would prick the finger of his followers with thorn, binding them to his service for eternity. From the fourteen to seventeen hundreds the Church of England took a heavy hand on those following the craft, over three hundred men and women were tried and found guilty of which craft, following death by burning at the stake, and what was used to burn them? You guessed it, the Blackthorn.

Witchcraft and devilry aside, the humble slow is the foundation to a delicious, cockle warming tipple, perfect for the winter months. The ideal time to pick Sloes is between the beginning of October and the end of November, preferably after the first frost, just mind you don’t prick your finger, or you may be in for than you bargained for!

Sloe Gin

450 grams of Sloes

450 Cain sugar

700 ml of Gin

Large bottle or Kilner Jar

Clean the Sloes removing any stalks or debris then, prick every berry with a fork. Add the berries along with the sugar and Gin, seal tightly and agitate gently to mix the sugar with the Gin. Shake every day for the first 10 days and then every week for the following 3 months. After 3 months taste, and add more sugar if required, at this point you will need to make the decision on weather you want to leave it for another month or two to intensify the flavor but, don’t leave any more than six months in total as the Sloes will brake down to much making the liquor become cloudy. Strain through muslin then bottle, the longer you leave it bottled, just like a whisky the flavor will become deeper and darker.