Pear & chocolate Tart

This time of year always makes me think of Apples, Pears & Pumpkin. The Houseboy is not fond of Pumpkin (or orange food in general really) so i thought i would have a crack at some Apple & Pear dishes over the coming weeks. They are amazingly versatile either in sweet or savoury dishes & are great cooked quickly or slowly. They also go well with Chocolate, but then again everything goes well with Chocolate. Last week we had the Philips' & their amazing new addition - Wee Angus (great Scottish name!) over for a midweek dinner. In line with my attempt at trying to spend a little less time in the kitchen - especially when people are over, i made Fish Pie with a Herb Breadcrumb topping which was mainly prepared the night before. It's one of my favourite dishes, it reminds me of mealtimes growing up, Mrs Rhodes makes a very good Fish Pie. Although i'm hoping she will be whipping up some spicy curries over Christmas after her recent jaunt to Sri Lanka (she does get around)

We celebrated Bonfire Night with the ever hospitable Miss Shannon who made a delicious Cottage Pie (nothing better on bonfire weekend i reckon) served with fresh Veg & lots of red wine. Living at the top of a lovely building in South Kensington she has access to an amazing roof space which has roof tops views over London. The local square were having a fireworks party & we decided to head up, red wine in hand to see if we could get a good view. It was definitely a good idea because as we were so high up the fireworks were literally going off at face height (although on the other side of the street so not too dangerous) A very fun evening had by all.   

Sunday afternoon was spent at The Rose in Fulham having lunch with friends while The Houseboy cheered on Fulham FC (to no avail) I've eaten there a few times & it's always good pub food, the roasts are always a winner. The pudding menu was woefully small (only two choices!) but the Pistachio Ice Cream was delicious, (thank you Mr Philips for recommending it) they always have a few good homemade Ice Cream choices. After a lovely lunch it was a short waddle home to spend a couple of hours pottering in the kitchen making Soup for the week ahead. I seem to be making a lot of Soup lately, my next flavour venture will be Beetroot & Horseradish.

This is originally a recipe by The Telegraph food writer Diana Henry which i have adapted slightly. It's incredibly rich & delicious. Try & find decent pears as the flavour is important. It's a great time of year for this dish as British pears are at their best, i used ground Almonds i already had them in the cupboard. 

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of ready to roll short crust pastry
• 125g butter, softened
• 100g soft dark-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 125g ground hazelnuts
• 185g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 4 ripe pears
• 3 tsp caster sugar
• icing sugar, for sifting (optional) 

Method:

Roll out the pastry on a surface dusted lightly with icing sugar and use it to line a 25cm (10in) loose-bottomed tart tin. Put it in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up. This helps to stop the pastry shrinking during cooking.

Put crumpled greaseproof paper into the tin and fill with baking beans. Put in an oven preheated to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and leave to cool. Turn down the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. 

 

To make the filling beat the butter and brown sugar until soft. Gradually add the eggs, then stir in the hazelnuts. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool a little then stir into the egg and nut mixture. Fill the part-cooked pastry case with this. 

Peel, halve and core the pears, then set them on top of the filling with the small end in the middle (you may find you only have room for seven rather than eight halves). Sprinkle some caster sugar on the pears so that they glaze a little during cooking. Bake in the oven for 40 for 45 minutes. The tart is ready when you can feel with your finger that the centre is just set. 

Leave the tart to cool a little before removing it from the tin. It's nice warm or at room temperature. You can leave it as it is or sift a light dusting of icing sugar over it. Serve with cream or crème fraîche.

Smoked Salmon & Leek Tart

It’s been a fairly relaxed week flavoured with a fascinating walk round Highgate Cemetery, meals out & catching up with friends. On Wednesday i read an interesting online article predicting food trends for 2011, it discussed various topics from taste trends (apparently it’s going to be all about clashing flavours & textures) to cooking via iphone applications-something i find myself turning to more & more. It also discussed men in the kitchen. Apparently due to the credit crunch affecting more men than women, it’s given many men more of an opportunity to get busy in the kitchen while women become the breadwinner (those of you know the houseboy & i know it's highly unlikely this would happen in our household..) This leads me on to my next topic-the houseboy...Who stepped up to give me some serious competition this week, producing a fantastic Beef Wellington. Perfectly cooked & utterly melt in the mouth is was a resounding success with our Tuesday evening guests. This was brilliantly followed up with friend Liz’s TimTam Desert, a delicious mix of TimTams (a popular Australian biscuit) vanilla ice cream, raspberries, hazelnuts & chocolate sauce. Heart stoppingly good!

So I thought I would hand over this weeks victory to the houseboy & Liz and choose a humble savoury tart as this weeks pick.

Ingredients:
• 175g Shortcrust Pastry (see recipe below)
• 100g Smoked salmon
• 400g Leeks
• 100mls Single Cream
• 50mls Milk
• 4 Eggs
• Cheese
• Seasoning

Set your oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
Make your pastry using the recipe below remembering to leave it to rest. Slice the leeks thinly & cook them gently in butter making sure they don't colour-you want them stay nice and pale. While they are cooking, whisk together the eggs, cream & milk. Season with pepper (you shouldn't need any salt as there is plenty in the smoked salmon) Take the leeks off the heat and let them cool while you deal with the pastry. Roll out your pastry on a light floured surface % line a 20cm well-buttered flan dish. Line the base of the pastry with baking parchment & then fill it with baking beans (or rice) & place on a baking tray-bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the beans & parchment, return to the oven for another five minutes to cook the base. Roughly shred the salmon & mix well with the cooled leeks, add to the pastry case making sure you cover the base evenly. Pour over the egg mixture, sprinkle over a handful of freshly grated cheese-like a nice mild chedder or parmesan. Bake until set with a slight wobble in the middle. Usually 20-25 minutes.

*Shortcrust Pastry recipe:

• 110g plain flour
• 25g softened lard
• 25g softened butter
• pinch of salt

Sift together the flour & salt-keeping the sieve high over the bowl to incorporate lots of air. Cut the lard & butter in small cubes & gently begin to rub in the butter until you have a soft breadcrumb texture. Add enough cold water (roughly 1-2tbsps) to make the crumb mixture come together to form a firm dough, & then rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes.