Latest baking result this month - a Blueberry & Almond Tart
the finished tart...
Another easy-peasy recipe from the food section of The Daily Mail - find the recipe here
Let's begin with the pastry - the shortcrust was easy...butter rubbed into flour..blah blah blah. I tried to be traditional by cubing cold butter into the flour but by golly it took ages to get it looking like "fine breadcrumbs" - next time I'm grating frozen butter...my surefire tried 'n tested way.
The resulting ball of dough was rather modest for a supposedly 20cm wide tart. Not that it mattered...'cos I didn't have a 20cm tart tin available...just an 18cm one which meant I was neither here not there for splitting into two tarts. But more of that later...
Anyway, the recipe also asked for lemon curd - I hunted high and low for the stuff but to no avail, and decided to "chance it" and omit it from the recipe...how much difference could it make to the tart?
Well, the baking powers that be must have heard and intervened...and the ensuing near-fatal disaster with the blind-baked pastry earned me some time between blind-baking and tart-baking. Then I heard a voice tell me, "the lemon curd is important...make some!". So I decided to put one and a half zested lemons out of their misery and make the lemon curd with their juice.
And boy was I glad that I listened...it totally surprised me that:
Let's begin with the pastry - the shortcrust was easy...butter rubbed into flour..blah blah blah. I tried to be traditional by cubing cold butter into the flour but by golly it took ages to get it looking like "fine breadcrumbs" - next time I'm grating frozen butter...my surefire tried 'n tested way.
The resulting ball of dough was rather modest for a supposedly 20cm wide tart. Not that it mattered...'cos I didn't have a 20cm tart tin available...just an 18cm one which meant I was neither here not there for splitting into two tarts. But more of that later...
Anyway, the recipe also asked for lemon curd - I hunted high and low for the stuff but to no avail, and decided to "chance it" and omit it from the recipe...how much difference could it make to the tart?
Well, the baking powers that be must have heard and intervened...and the ensuing near-fatal disaster with the blind-baked pastry earned me some time between blind-baking and tart-baking. Then I heard a voice tell me, "the lemon curd is important...make some!". So I decided to put one and a half zested lemons out of their misery and make the lemon curd with their juice.
And boy was I glad that I listened...it totally surprised me that:
- the lemon curd was so easy to make - all you need are 2 eggs, lemon juice, butter & sugar
- it only took 20 minutes of occasional stirring and voila...you get a gloop of thick glossy delicious sunshine yellow lemon curd
And so armed with curd, I proceeded to assemble the tart, smearing a layer of the curd on the part-baked pastry shell which survived after a few patch-ups. In went the blueberry almond batter and into the oven it went.
So what's a baking wombat to do with a small dough ball that is obviously not enough for a second tart. The voice spoke again...so I hatch up another batch of pastry and grated frozen butter into the flour this time...ahh it works soooooo much better that way. Try it folks...and you will get the best shortcrust pastry in town.
So what's a baking wombat to do with a small dough ball that is obviously not enough for a second tart. The voice spoke again...so I hatch up another batch of pastry and grated frozen butter into the flour this time...ahh it works soooooo much better that way. Try it folks...and you will get the best shortcrust pastry in town.
peek closer to spot the layer of lemon curd between pastry and blueberry filling- trust me, it makes all the difference to the flavour
The highlight of the day for me has to be that wonderful homemade lemon curd...utterly simple deliciousness
Watch out folks...jars of the stuff coming to a Christmas tree near you :-)
Recipe for the save-of-the-day lemon curd comes from Delia Smith - look here
Watch out folks...jars of the stuff coming to a Christmas tree near you :-)Recipe for the save-of-the-day lemon curd comes from Delia Smith - look here
1 comment:
hi karen,
M&S do sell lemon curd. however, i think i will try making it myself after reading your blog. hmm...sounds easy.
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