Cherry and Peach Crostata

I have blogged various versions of the crostata before, including Fig and Raspberry, Rhubarb and Strawberry amongst others.  We enjoyed last week's combination of cherries and peaches in a clafoutis so much that I thought I'd put them in a crostata with some frangipane on the base.  It was delicious again, with cream or creme fraiche, whichever you prefer.  Make some rich shortcrust by blitzing together 150g of plain flour with 75g of chilled, diced unsalted butter and a tablespoon of caster sugar.  Now mix an egg yolk and a tablespoon of chilled water, and pour over the dry mix in the processor.  Blitz again until just coming togther into a ball, adding a tiny bit of water if necessary.  Tip onto a sheet of cling film, flatten into a disk, wrap and chill for at least an hour.  Bring out of the fridge for about 20 minutes on a warm day to soften, then roll into a rough disk about 14 inches in diameter.  I do this on the clingfilm to make lifting easy.  Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment.  Now cream 50g of soft unsalted butter and 50g of caster sugar until pale and creamy.  Add an egg, 100g of ground almonds and a dash of vanilla essence.  Quickly mix then spread on the pastry base, leaving a 2 inch border all round.  Pile 3 skinned and chopped white peaches on top of the frangipane, and a big handful of stoned cherries.  Bring the edges of the pastry up around the side - it should be ragged and rustic looking.  Sprinkle with a teaspoon or so of sugar and bake at 170C (fan) for half an hour until browned.  Best served just warm rather than hot from the oven.

Rhubarb Frangipane Tart

Frangipane is very adaptable - it can be spread in a shortcrust pastry base, as here, or in a galette or jalousie of puff pastry.  Most fruits go well with it, and I have made variations with plum, apple, apricots, figs, and more.  Today's version has the shortcrust pastry case spread with rhubarb jam and chunks of rhubarb baked in orange zest and sugar, then topped with the frangipane mixture, which is simplicity itself to make: 100g each of soft unsalted butter, ground almonds and caster sugar, 2 eggs and the zest of an orange.  Mix for a minute or two in an electric mixer until creamy and well combined.  If it is very loose, add up to 25g of flour, but no more - you want it to be moist and almondy rather than too 'cakey'.  Carefully dollop and spread over the jam and rhubarb, sprinkle with flaked almonds, and bake at 170C (fan) or the equivalent for 40 mins until golden brown and the pastry is golden and crisp.  Serve just warm with cream or, in our case, custard.  Enjoy!

Courgette Koftas with Tomato and Almond Sauce

A great recipe for those of you with courgette plants taking over your homes like a Stephen King horror novel.  Mildly spiced, or perkily hot, depending on how much chilli you use, this is a recipe from the superb 'Crank's Bible' by Nadine Abensur.  She deep-fries the koftas, but I never did that, even before the low-fat purge.  Instead, I made small koftas and browned them in shallow oil, draining well on kitchen paper, before reheating in the lovely, grainy sauce.  I have linked to the recipe as reproduced in Yumski's blog.

A Wonderfully Moist, Fresh Plum Cake [#146]

Wonderfully moist indeed, rich with ground almonds, chopped walnuts and butter, with loads of sliced plums pressed into the surface before baking. I also sprinkled the fruit with a little sugar and cinnamon, as there was a tinge of Autumn in the air today. There is loads of this, so we will be eating it the rest of the week, and possibly will freeze some. A nice, seasonal pud.

Fruit and Almond Crumble [#86]

In the book, Nigel uses greengages, but these won't be in season for several months (around July/August) so I substituted rhubarb and strawberries, which are a lovely combination. We have been spoiled this year by fantastic outdoor rhubarb (Raspberry Red variety) from the Rectory Farm Pick-your-own, who also do brilliant asparagus, sprouting broccoli etc. Will re-visit this recipe in the greengage/plum season. Good crumbly topping with ground almonds adding richness to the recipe.

Chocolate Almond Cake

This was a pleasant recipe to put together on a sunny Sunday morning. It rose beautifully, and didn't sink as much as I thought it would on cooling. We will have thin slices of it after our Sunday dinner of trout pate to start and marvellous sirloin steaks from the excellent Donald Russell online butchers. This is a big cake and way too much for the two of us, even over the next couple of days, so my colleagues at work are in for a treat for their morning coffee tomorrow!