Scrumptiously Simple Apple Tart...

There's nothing quite like a good apple tart.

The simpler the better in my book, to really let the apples sing. When it comes to cooking, although I am an ardent fan of spending a day labouring over an everything-made-from-scratch complex recipe, there is also something extremely satisfying about conjuring up something delicious from few ingredients in a short space of time.

This is also a fabulous pudding to have in your repertoire, especially when you're short of time. In this vein it is perfectly acceptable, I think, to use shop bought short crust pastry here, the trick is to roll it out as thin as you can, to ensure a really crisp finish.

I use just a little added depth of flavour with the help of some sugar, butter, cloves &cinnamon, but it's a subtle spice rather than anything too heavy, again letting the apples do the work. You can, ofcourse, add as little or as much as you like to suit personal taste.

Today, I was making a smaller tart, suitable for 4 people and using an 8 inch tart tin, but whatever size you're making, you can simply adapt the recipe accordingly.

If you're making the pastry from scratch:
-Combine 200g plain flour with 80g of unsalted butter, rubbing between your fingertips to the consistency of breadcrumbs. Alternatively, blitz in the food processor.
-Stir through 50g of sugar. Then slowly add in one whisked egg yolk and add ice cold water slowly until the mixture is just wet enough to form a ball.
-Flatten the pastry, so it'll be easier to roll out later, and wrap in cling film, before putting in the fridge for at least an hour.
-Remove the chilled pastry from the fridge and leave to soften a little, before rolling out as thin as possible and lining the tin with it, leave the pastry overhang to fold over the apples later.
-Peel, core and thinly slice 3 apples of your choice, keeping them together in halves (I used Jazz this time, they needn't be cooking apples).
-Place the slice apples into the lined tin in their slice halves and fan them out slightly so the tin is quite tightly packed and then fold the overlapping pastry back into the tin over the apples
-Stir together 1.5 tablespoons of butter, half a teaspoon of ground cloves, and half a teaspoon of cinnamon and drizzle over the tart, and sprinkle over 2 teaspoon of caster sugar and 2 teaspoons of brown sugar.
-Bake in the oven for 40minutes, until the apples are soft the the pastry is golden brown and crisp.
-Delicious served with vanilla ice cream, or creme anglaise.

Elderflower extravaganza

The weather's playing havoc with us at the moment. One minute there's gale force wind and torrential downpour and the next the sun has got its hat on. We were eating outside in our t-shirts in April and lapping up those early rays, and come June the brollies are being held over the barbie whilst we dash inside to escape the chill! One thing the early heat did bring on, which the rainy weather of late can't destroy, was an early glut of elderflowers and there are still plenty around to forage for. The lace of creamy, white blossoms is covering almost every hedgerow around and they make for the perfect culinary ingredient.

So, last weekend I took to the garden, frollicking around the hedgerows plucking as many blossoms as I could find. A little recipe researching reveals an endless list of elderflower-infused creations and ideas of how to use these little floral wonders throughout the year. And even better, although the flowering period is relatively brief (some already starting to brown)- you can pop as many elderflowers as you can forage for in a plastic bag and into the freezer for a constant supply.

The first port of call is, perhaps evidently, elderflower cordial. Satisfyingly simple, deliciously tasty and so versatile:

- Pluck 25 elderflower heads, de-bug and give a good rinse/shake under the tap.
- Meanwhile, in a pan stir 1.5kg of caster sugar into 1.5 litres of water and pop onto a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.
- Slice 3 lemons and place in a suitable container, I use a large tupperware box and add the elderflower heads and 50g of citric acid (available in all chemists).
- Once the sugar syrup has cooled, pour over the lemon and elderflowers.
- Leave this to macerate overnight, before straining through a muslin, into sterilised bottles.

Another elderflower-based culinary venture this weekend came in the form of elderflower lemon curd, which is great used in puddings. I combined the lemon curd with whipped cream for the filling for a pavlova, topped with blueberries and then drizzled the remaining lemon curd over. Yum!
Another elderflower venture this weekend was elderflower vodka- and it couldn't be simpler, 25 plucked elderflower heads, snipped into a large kilner jar and doused in a litre of vodka, leave in a cool dark place for around a month, strain and voila! Next on the list in this elderflower extravaganza is elderflower sorbet, I will keep you posted.