Magic Key Lime Pie

'Magic' because it sets without the need for egg yolks and baking, harnessing the power of acid reacting with fat (lots of fat....) to set, like a lemon posset.  There are so many recipes for Key Lime Pie, some using eggs, some with gelatine, some with a meringue topping, but this is my favourite.  It has the added virtue of being suitable for veggies.  Rich and creamy, yes, but also refreshing and tangy with the zest and juice of 6 limes.  A little goes a long way.  Mind you, so does a lot, ha!  To make: crush 200g Hobnob biscuits in a processor, or a plastic bag and a rolling pin.  Stir into 75g melted butter, and press firmly into the base of a loose-bottomed cake or flan tin.  Leave to set in the fridge, while you prepare the filling.  Into a large bowl, put a tin of sweetened condensed milk (you can use the 'Light' version if you want), a medium carton of double cream (about 228ml, usually) and the finely-grated zest of 6 limes.  Stir, and watch the cream turn an amazing green from the zest.  Now, squeeze the juice from the limes (rolling them under your flattened palm or heating them for 5 seconds in the microwave helps release the juice), and stir into the milk/cream mixture.  Like magic (hence the title), the creamy mixture will thicken before your very eyes.  When the juice is well incorporated, turn it onto the chilled biscuit base and spread out evenly.  Lick the bowl.  And spoon.  Dig out a little spoonful from the mix and eat.  Patch up the top again, erasing the evidence. Repeat. Now, leave to set for a good couple of hours or overnight if possible.  Run a knife round the edge and push up the base, to serve.  This is rich, so should serve 8-10 people.  Allegedly.

Persimmon Pudding

I am sorry.  I have been very lazy about both cooking and blogging and a ticking-off from a friend last week made me get back to both.  It isn't that I haven't been cooking, just not doing anything particularly spectacular.  But let's kick off November's entries with a new dessert for me - Persimmon Pudding.  This pud is very popular in the States, where the persimmon tree is often found in people's back yards.  For this pudding, you need the Hachiya Persimmon variety, also known in Europe as kaki - NOT the Fuyu or Sharon fruit, which will never ripen to the correct jellied pulp that is needed for this pud.  Luckily, Riverford have been supplying the Hachiya variety, and careful nurturing to bring them to just the right stage of readiness (borderline suppurating foetidity) meant we were ready to try this dessert, a favourite of the peerless Alice Waters in her Berkeley, CA restaurant, Chez Panisse.  Essentially, you puree the fruit, mix it with flour, milk, eggs, nuts and spices and bake into a sticky pudding, and serve with Cognac-flavoured cream.  The easiest thing is to link to a recipe on the Bojon Gourmet blog.  A really interesting flavour, sweet, honeyed but with a hint of tannin from the fruit - if you like pumpkin pie, you'll like this one, an early nod to Thanksgiving.

Pears Poached in Caramel with Toasted Brioche and Creme Fraiche

This lovely dessert is simpler than it sounds, and is a variation on a rather more elaborate recipe by Raymond Blanc, where he encases the poached pears in a 'charlotte' of brioche and bakes it.  He suggests the simpler version of poaching the pears in caramel sauce and serving it with a slice of toasted brioche with a spoonful of creme fraiche, so this is the route I took.  We had more of the perfect little baby Williams Pears from Riverford this week, so peeled them and poached them in the rich caramel sauce which is made thus: dissolve 5 tablespoons of caster sugar with 2 tablespoons of water in a heavy pan over a low heat.  Turn up the heat, and cook to a good golden caramel, not quite as dark as you would for a creme caramel but a good dark colour all the same.  DON'T stir it whilst this is happening, else the sugar will crystallise and be ruined.  If necessary, just swish the pan occasionally.  When the correct colour is attained, take off the heat and immediately add 100ml of double cream - take care as it will spatter.  When it has all subsided, return to a low heat, add 25g of butter and a tablespoon each of lemon juice and either Calvados, Cognac or Poires William if you have it.  Now submerge 8 small or 4 larger peeled pears in the sauce, cover, and simmer until tender.  This depends on size and ripeness, but our baby pears were done in about 8 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool with the lid on, then transfer the pears with all their delicious caramel sauce to a bowl and refrigerate.  You can eat them as they are with vanilla ice cream, toasted nuts, shortbread, whatever floats your boat.  Or, if you have some brioche knocking about (as you do), toast a small slice per person, and serve the sweet bread with the pear, some sauce and ice cream or creme fraiche.  Perfect.

Red Wine Poached Pears

I love this time of year - with all the fabulous Autumnal fruit and veg, you are spoilt for choice.  In this week's Riverford delivery were 8 perfect baby Williams pears, just crying out to be peeled and poached, so how could I resist?  I use Alice Waters' recipe from the Chez Panisse Fruit book - a source of constant inspiration and reliable classics.  Prepare the poaching base which is an entire bottle of good red wine - nothing vintage but it must be drinkable - with the pared zest and juice of a lemon and a cinnamon stick, with a cup of caster sugar.  Bring to a simmer in a non-reactive pot (i.e. not aluminium or copper), whilst you wash and peel your pears, keeping the stalk on if you can.  Using the tip of your paring knife, dig out a little of the core on the bottom.  Immerse the pears in the simmering wine, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the pears are tender - this will depend on the size and ripeness of your pears so keep testing after 20 minutes.  Turn off the heat and leave the pears to cool in the liquid.  An hour later, they will be buttery-tender and the most amazing colour.  Carefully remove them with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl.  Now, return the poaching liquor to a high heat and boil and reduce to about a cup/250ml, until thick and syrupy.  Your house will smell amazing!  Resist the temptation to drink this straight away and spoon carefully over the pears, leaving them glossy and glorious.  When cool, cover and refrigerate and serve just as they are or with creme fraiche, whipped cream, ice cream, Greek yoghurt, or - in our case - with some chilled creamy vanilla egg custard and sprinkled with toasted slivered almonds.

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.

Peach and Cherry Clafoutis

The English cherry season is late this year, and the fruit isn't the best, to be honest - all the rain made for poor pollination and a rather soft and mushy fruit.  But, they are fine for cooking and a good handful made a lovely clafoutis with chunks of ripe, skinned Italian white peaches.  I use Alice Waters' recipe for the batter from her Chez Panisse Fruit cookbook.  She flavours her batter with the grated zest of half a lemon and the merest knife-tip of ground cinnamon.  To make the batter, whisk together 3 tablespoons each of plain flour and casgter sugar, 2 eggs and 150ml each of whole milk and cream.  Stir through a couple of drops of vanilla extract, the lemon zest and cinnamon.  Spread the prepared fruit (a big handful of cherries with the stones removed and large chunks of skinned peach) in a shallow china or glass dish, pour over the batter and bake at 165C (fan) for 30 minutes until golden brown and set.  Leave until warm, dust with icing sugar, and serve with a dollop of Creme Fraiche and some more fruit, if liked.

Baked Vanilla Custard with Blackcurrant Compote

What an elegant little dessert this is, and it shows that the British Isles can give any country a run for their money in the food stakes, in my humble opinion.  This recipe is all about the best ingredients - the best milk and Jersey cream, and intense little blackcurrants, whose fragrance, as they gently cooked, filled the flat today.  Now, I'm not pretending the baked custards are low fat, but with 200ml of double cream and 400ml of milk between 4 people, they are not as rich as, say, panna cotta or  creme brulee.  However, gently baked and chilled, they deliver a silky smooth texture.  We need to rescue the British baked custard, which has suffered from the popularity of these other two desserts (although, in fact, the English can lay claim to Creme Brulee as their own, Trinity Burn't Cream, from Cambridge). The blackcurrant has also suffered, I think, from the blueberry's sweeter (and, perhaps, slightly bland?) taste, and it is definitely an 'adult' tangy fruit.  How sad that most of the country's crop goes towards making Ribena.  Please use it in this compote and stir into yoghurt, over pancakes and ice cream and stirred into cream as a fool.  Or as one of the components of Summer Pudding (to be made next week, I hope)  Sweetened to taste, and perhaps with some Creme de Cassis, as in this recipe, you'll be rewarded with a burst of intense berry fruitiness, and all the vitamin C and antioxidants you could wish for.  As for the recipe itself for this lovey pud - well, it is from the great Irish chef Richard Corrigan, via Riverford Organic's website - here it is, do try it, your guests and family will thank you profusely.  I made the custards in individual silicone ramekins and baked them for 30 minutes or so, until just set.  The silicone makes them very easy to turn out, but making them in one dish and spooning out would be good too.

Caramel Cardamom Apricot Cake

It has been a weekend of caramelised upside-down food, what with yesterday's beetroot Tarte Tatin and this cake today.  This is a hybrid recipe based on Bill Granger and Rachel Allen versions, and it is delicious served with vanilla ice cream or clotted cream - or possibly both - I won't tell!  You make some caramel in an oven-proof cast iron dish or pan with 30g of butter and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, the zest and juice of half a lemon and the crushed seeds from 3 cardamom pods - heat all together over a medium heat and allow to bubble and turn a deep golden brown.  The smell is amazing.  Halve about 12 ripe apricots (the Riverford apricots from the south of France have been superb this year), and place them, cut-side down, on the caramel.  Now, make a sponge with 75g each of soft butter and caster sugar, 2 egg yolks, 90ml of milk and 160g self-raising flour.  Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold through the sponge batter.  Dollop onto the apricots, spread out, and bake for around 40 minutes at 170C - check after 30 minutes, depending on the depth of your tin.  Leave to sit for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cake stand or platter.  Tidy up any apricots that might have dislodged, and tuck in.  The tart apricots, sweet lemony, buttery caramel and fragrant cardamom are a taste of heaven.

White Chocolate and Strawberry Tiramisu

OK, this isn't a traditional Tiramisu, with no coffee or dark cocoa, but the elements are the same - savoiardi sponge biscuits, liqueur (Creme de Framboise), Mascarpone, Cream and chocolate (White , in this case).  In addition, there are loads of luscious strawberries - yummy!  I prefer not to use raw eggs in my tiramisus - not that we are immuno-challenged, I just prefer the texture without.  You make a sugar syrup with 100ml water and 2 tablespoons of sugar, boiled for 2 minutes, into which 100ml of Creme de Framboise is then stirred.  Line a dish with parchment paper, lay the sponge fingers over the base and drench with the boozy syrup, then a large punnet of strawberries, sliced and tossed with a tablespoon of icing sugar and a tablespoon of Framboise.  Now carefully melt 160g of white chocolate (a good brand please, not Milky Bar).  In a big bowl, beat a 250g tub of Mascarpone with a tablespoon of sugar, the zest of a lemon, and 150ml of double cream.  Now fold in the melted white chocolate and spread over the strawberry/sponge finger base.  Smooth the top and sprinkle with 40g of white chocolate, grated or finely-chopped.  Leave in the fridge for at least 8 hours - overnight if possible.  Then decorate with sliced strawberries, and serve in squares - this will serve 6 people as it is quite rich.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Cake

Garden rhubarb is getting a bit long in the tooth at this point in the season, but this cake makes fine use of it, sliced thinly and partnered with strawberries.  Together, they cook in a buttery caramel with a light sponge on top, and the whole thing is turned out as an 'upside down' cake, delicious slightly warm with ice cream or whipped cream.  I use a classic 'pound cake' recipe, with 130g each of self-raising flour, soft unsalted butter and caster sugar, mixed in a KitchenAid with 2 eggs, 2 slightly heaped tablespoons of Greek yoghurt and a teaspoon of vanilla essence.  For the fruit bit, line a 20cm square or round tin with baking parchment, dollop in 40g of butter and 2 tablespoons of soft brown sugar and put into an oven (180C fan) for 8 minutes until the butter has melted and the sugar is bubbling and starting to caramelise.  Now, take 1 large or 2 medium sticks of trimmed rhubard, cut cross-ways into pieces as thick as a £1 coin, and lay out over the caramelised butter/sugar.  Now top with 2 handfuls of hulled, halved strawberries.  Gently dollop the cake batter over the surface, spread with a spatula (don't worry if bits of fruit peek out a little) and bake at 170C for about 30 minutes or so, until the sponge is set and a skewer comes out clean.  Leave in the tin for 20 minutes or so to cool, then turn out onto a large cake plate or board, peel off the parchment and cut into squares or slices.  Eat with a dollop of vanilla or strawberry ice cream or whipped cream.  Any leftovers (who am I kidding!) are nice eaten cold as a regular cake.

Shortbread Thins

There are so many recipes for shortbread, it really depends on you finding your favourite.  There are some cardinal rules to follow (although I broke one, as you'll see!) - usually, you should use soft butter and cream it with the sugar; and you should handle the dough as little as possible to prevent the gluten in the flour developing and leaving you with tough biscuits instead of crisp shorties.  Well, I agree with the second bit, but I make mine with ice cold cubes of butter mixed in a food processor.  I use 175g of butter (unsalted, but add a good pinch of salt to the mix too), 85g of caster sugar, 200g plain flour and 50g of cornflour.  Tip it all into the processor, with the butter in cubes, and pulse and blend until it comes together into a soft ball of dough.  Stop just when this has happened, and tip it onto a big sheet of cling film.  Use the film to roll it into a long sausage cylinder, wrap well, and leave to firm and settle in the fridge for several hours.  Now, line baking sheets with baking parchment, turn the oven on to 140C (fan) and cut slices off the chilled dough - about 5mm or half a centimetre thick.  Lay out on the parchment and bake for 15-20 minutes or until pale golden.  Keep an eye on them though, they shouldn't be too brown.  Dust with a little more caster sugar and after 5 minutes, carefully lift to a cooling rack.  You can store any leftover dough in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a month or two.  Delicious with the Rhubarb Fool recipe - see previous entry.  The advantage of this method is that you don't have to roll the dough out - it is so buttery, this can be a problem especially in hot weather like today, and this can lead to over-handling and an impaired texture.

Rhubarb Fool

Hubby went to the excellent pick-your-own Rectory Farm in Stanton St. John on Thursday, and picked some wonderful asparagus, which is late this year, but with an intense grassy flavour.  He also got some of their main crop outdoor rhubarb.  Normally, this is fairly green, but the variety they grow here is the most amazing red colour, and is tender and not too tart.  We baked it with sugar, orange zest and juice, and when cool, folded the drained fruit through pillows of softly-whipped double cream and 0% Greek Yoghurt, (about 2:1 ratio) with a tablespoon of icing sugar to sweeten.  Served with shortbread thins (recipe follows) this is a delicious dessert to have in early summer - a perfect blend of tart/sweet fruit, creaminess and crisp biscuitiness. 

Banana Butterscotch Pudding

Well, now that the sun has returned, you may not feel like this pud, but it was lovely a few nights ago when the dreich days of April and May seemed like they were never going to end.  Tuck it away in your memory banks and bring it out when you want a bit of comfort.  It is a Bill Granger recipe and is one of those miraculous puds which go in upside down with liquid poured over the top and then somehow the sponge ends up on top with a yummy sauce underneath.  When you make it, you WILL think "what the....?" as it looks a mess, frankly, but just persevere, it does work.  The simplest thing to do here is to link to Bill's recipe on the Good Food Channel.

Blueberry Clafoutis

I know, blueberries aren't in season, but I have a pile of them in the freezer that need using and this was a perfect Sunday lunch vehicle for them.  I use a recipe from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse 'Fruit' Book and it works every time, no matter what fruit you use (and as well as the traditional cherry, I have used many variations - raspberries, plums, figs, pears, apple and blackberry as well as this blueberry one).  It is so simple to do.  I like to bake it in a parchment-lined 20cm square tin as it seems to be moister and turns out easier.  Take 2 regular punnets of blueberries and toss in a tablespoon of caster sugar, the zest of half a lemon and a tablespoon of plain flour.  Spread the mix across the bottom of the tin, sprinkling the lemony sugar/flour over the top too.  In a bowl, mix together 3 tablespoons each of caster sugar and plain flour, 2 eggs, the zest of the remaining half of lemon and a teaspoon of vanilla essence.  Now, gradually beat in a small tub of single cream, and then fill the empty tub with milk and add that too.  Pour the batter onto the blueberries, then bake at 170 for about 35-40 minutes until puffed and set - the interior should still be a little creamy so don't overbake it.  Best served just warm.  It is rich enough as it is, but you can add a dollop of cream if you like!

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!

'Key' Lemon Pie

We have a surfeit of organic lemons in the house, so it made sense to use them instead of limes in this dish.  I followed Delia's recipe for Key Lime Pie, but used the zest from 3 lemons and 5floz of juice - about 2 and a half lemons.  It produced a wonderfully tart, sharp creamy rich finish to our Sunday dinner with a distinct citrus theme in keeping with the glorious sunny spring weather - Cheese and Chilli Empanadas with Margaritas; Spatchcocked Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon and Rosemary with a most scrumptious Californian Chardonnay; and then this little corker.  The whipped cream is optional, but does add a soothing touch to the tart pudding.

Apple and Cranberry Bread Pudding

We had some hot cross buns lurking around the kitchen (makes them sound like under-cover hostiles!) so I used them in a bread-and-butter pud, but without the butter, so not too naughty.  (we had all that chocolate cake and caramel flapjacks lying about for those purposes).  Anyway, I peeled and chopped a couple of Bramley apples which were lightly cooked with a couple of tablespoons of sugar, and then mixed with a handful of sultanas and dried cranberries (craisins) which had been soaked in Calvados.  This mix was then placed in the bottom of a Pyrex dish, then topped with 3 chopped hot cross buns.  A custard of 3 eggs, 3/4 pint of milk and 2 tablespoons sugar, along with a teaspoon of vanilla essence, was poured over.  Scatter with a few more dried cranberries, cover with foil, and bake in a bain marie at 175C for 45 minutes.  Serve warm with cream if liked, or I had some custard that I poured over - gilding the lily, I know.  Frugal and delicious after a roast leg of pork.

Apple and Rhubarb Crumble

It has been snowing here in Oxford, so a crumble and custard is definitely called for!  I discovered this lovely recipe from Tom Parker-Bowles, and it is a winning combo.  I added a spoonful of flour to the fruit, as the rhubarb makes a lot of sauce, which the flour thickened nicely.  I used Calvados, which is apple brandy, after all, and just a tablespoon of it over the fruit has filled the flat with the most incredible smell as it cooks.  Perfect.

Cranberry Tiffin

Another baking marathon this weekend, in aid of my friend's charity Sea2Sea (check it out, he's cycling from the West to East Coast of the States to raise money for US and UK veterans).  This is an easy one to do and tuck away.  If you can open packs and heat a pan of water, you can make this.  In a bowl over gently simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the bottom), melt 200g of milk chocolate, 100g dark chocolate, 100g butter, 100g of golden syrup until smooth and amalgamated.  Don't rush this stage, keep the heat low, and leave it be, with just a little gentle stirring towards the end.  You don't want it to go grainy - oh no!  Then, add 200g of rich tea biscuits or shortbread biscuits, broken up (either by hand or by bashing in a plastic bag with a rolling pin) and 170g of dried cranberrries.  You can also add around 60g of your choice of nut, such as pistachios, pecans or almonds.  Mix gently until everything is coated and then spread into a 20cm sq baking tin, lined with cling film.  Allow to set, then dredge with cocoa powder and cut into squares - this should yield 16 medium or 12 large pieces - or cut them into small bite-sized pieces and pack into cellophane bags for a yummy home-made Christmas pressie.

The Best Chocolate Sauce

An extravagant claim, I know.  But if you like a chocolate sauce to be as dark, brooding and bitter as Heathcliffe, then this recipe from David Lebovitz is for you.  It is also low in fat - hurrah! (erm....we'll just gloss over the sugar, eh?).  This makes a large quantity, and it will keep for a week or so in the fridge to anoint chocolate pear pudding (as we did tonight), ice cream, pancakes, banana splits - or just spooned from the bowl......!  The recipe calls for corn syrup but I used the much more British ingredient, glorious golden syrup.  "Out of the strong came forth sweetness" and all that.  Anyway, do yourself a favour, make this, and dive in.