Farmers Market Treasures

We're pretty lucky here, because we have access to some very decent farmers markets within a thirty minute drive. The first Thursday of every month is market day in Wokingham, a small village about ten minutes away and is my favourite of all because of the range of local meat and game that's always available.

I usually try not to spend more than about £20 on these market trips, because in the end, it is all part of the grocery budget and I only have so much fridge/freezer space.
The veggie growers often sell some tasty looking seasonal treats and the pies and breads on offer always tempt but I tend to spend the majority of my money on meat and fish. Our organic and free-range producers need all the support they can get in this age of two-for-a-fiver intensively reared supermarket chicken and when it comes down to it, I can grow my own veg and bake bread (ish) at home.

So this week, for my £20, I was able to get a lovely big slab of Hereford skirt steak, an oak smoked trout, a nice piece of Old Spot pork belly, some oak-smoked back bacon, a few chipolatas, two pheasants and two rabbits. Top top it all off, I found a gently used copy of Larousse Pratique in the Cancer Research shop in the market square!

I got home feeling triumphant, with ideas swirling through my head and spread all my treasures out on the kitchen worktop, like Richie Rich counting his stacks of coins. I stopped short of rolling around on my bed in a pile of meat though, I thought that might put the guys off their food...

I put most of my haul in the freezer but kept the trout back to make this lovely quiche. I Am undecided as yet about what I am going to do with the pheasants and bunnies, but I think I might try my hand at making some bacon with the pork belly, although Drew is anxious for me to have another go at the pork I cured and cooked slowly in olive oil. Despite the slight saltiness, he really loved that dish, which says a lot, because there isn't much food he gets excited about (grr!)

This quiche is lovely for a light lunch or after-school snack and was even elicited a few moans from the same husband who doesn't like fish or egg dishes (go figure..) It would be handy for a pot luck because it's best served at room temperature and is quite simple to make. I would say that the most important thing would be to get as much moisture as possible out of the spinach and tomatoes, to avoid getting a soggy crust. Try to buy un-dyed fish (which is sustainably sourced), as it will definitely effect the colour and flavour of the final product.


Rustic Smoked Trout, Spinach and Tomato Quiche
Serves 8, takes approx 2 hours+ cooling time

For the pastry:
300g (10.5oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 tsp salt
150g unsalted butter, very cold, cut into cubes
<1 egg
ice cold water

For the filling:
1 medium smoked trout, skinned and boned (take care to look for any hair-thin bones)
7 eggs
400g (14oz) washed baby spinach
2 ripe, red tomoates
150ml double (heavy whipping) cream
100ml whole milk
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
1/2 tsp white pepper

To make the pastry, put the flour, salt and butter into the bowl of a food processor and pulse for a maybe 20-30 seconds, until you have the consistency of fresh breadcrumbs- the coarser, the better.
Beat the egg together with a couple of tbsp of ice cold water and pour about half of this mixture into the processor. Pulse again for a few more seconds, until the moisture is well distributed then lift the lid and see if the mixture will hold together when pressed with the tips of your fingers. If it does, remove the mixture and form a loose ball. If the mixture is still a little dry, add more of the egg mixture a few drops at a time while pulsing the dough until it JUST holds together, then wrap this in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

While the pastry is resting, prepare the veggies. Blanch the spinach for 30 seconds in salted boiling water and then plunge into ice cold water to stop the cooking. Drain well, squeezing out as much moisture as you can; a tea towel can be really helpful here, just heap the squeezed spinach into a ball in the centre, then bring the corners of the towel together and twist hard to wring out any last bits of moisture.
Slice the tomatoes about 1/4" thick and sprinkle with a little salt. Lay the slices on a double layer of kitchen towel with another double layer on top and press gently to absorb as much water as possible. Leave the tomatoes within the layers of towel until you're ready to use them.

Beat the eggs together well with the cream, milk, some salt and the white pepper, then preheat your oven to 190C (375F) and roll out your pastry.
Put your ball of pastry between two layers of cling film and roll into a circle just larger than a 25cm (10") quiche tin, including the sides. Use one of the layers of cling film to move the pastry to your quiche tin, pressing well into the corners and the scalloped edge, then, with the clingfilm still in, fill with dried beans or rice (I have a bag of rice that I keep for this purpose, as it's useless after you blind-bake with it once) and blind bake the shell for twenty minutes.
Remove the shell from the oven, turn the heat down to 160C (320F) and use the cling film to lift the rice/beans out of the shell.
Lay the tomato slices over the base in one snug layer and then scatter with the drained spinach leaves. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and black pepper and grate the nutmeg over the top in an even little shower.
Pour the egg mixture evenly over the lot and then flake the smoked trout over the top, jiggling the pan a little to settle it all into the custard. Grate the parmesan over the top and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the edges are beginning to brown and the centre is set.
Remove from the oven and gently break off the excess pastry around the edges (I did say 'rustic') then allow to cool completely before serving. Simply dressed rocket (arugula) leaves are a particularly lovely accompaniment.

Maple Walnut Tart

Every so often - actually, fairly often- my husband will pipe up with something along the lines of "You know what sounds GOOD right now?? Chocolate Chip Cookies!" Usually, I'll do a quick mental inventory of my cupboards and if I can, I'll make what he's fancying. Today, we were watching a Thanksgiving episode of Gossip Girl (Shut up) and he said "Ooooh, I want pie!" A quick sort through the supplies closet later and I decided to make this Maple-Walnut tart. It has a teeny tiny hint of orange, which adds a lovely background flavour.

Maple Walnut Tart
Takes 1 hour 15 mins, serves 8
For the Pastry:
200g chilled flour
50g golden caster sugar
125g cold butter, cut into 1 cm cubes
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp grated orange peel
pinch, cinnamon
3 tbsp ice-cold water

For the filling:
200g walnut halves
150ml golden syrup
130ml real maple syrup
50 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
4 eggs
55g butter, melted
120g light brown sugar

Method:
In the bowl of a food processor, mix together the cold flour, salt and sugar together and add the cold chunks of butter. Pulse this lot together for a few seconds, until you have the texture of fresh breadcrumbs, don't over-work. Tip this mixture into a cold bowl and add the orange peel and cinnamon, stirring through with a cold butter knife. Dribble the first two tbsp of the cold water over the flour mixture and use the knife to stir it through. Use your fingertips to bring the dough together, adding a few more drops of the cold water through if you need to. When you can just bring the mixture together into a tender ball, wrap with cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C/375F
Roll the pastry out between two layers of cling film until a little larger than a 25cm tart tin.
keeping one layer of clingfilm on the pastry, gently place it into the tart tin. Press the pastry into the edges carefully and use the edge of the tin to cut the excess off (See Below) but keep the cling film on top of the pastry.
Fill with rice, beans or pie weights and bake for ten minutes, then remove the clingfilm, carrying the weights with it, brush the bottom of the pastry case with beaten egg and bake for a further 5 minutes. Put the tart tin on a baking sheet before filling it.Whisk together the eggs, sugar, syrups and orange juice. Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave (careful!) and pour into the sugary mixture, whisking all the while.
Stir the walnuts through and pour the whole mixture carefully into the pie shell. Make sure you spread the walnuts out evenly and be careful not to over-fill the pastry shell.

Bake for 30-35 minutes in the middle of the oven, checking after 20 minutes to check that the tart is browning evenly, rotate it if you need to.
Cool for 15+ minutes before serving. If you're not at all worried about calories, go ahead and serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

** The filling minus the walnuts is gorgeous if baked in ramekins a bain marie for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the teeniest pinch of clove and nutmeg before baking, then chill and serve with vanilla custard. Mmmmmmmmm Silky Autumn loveliness.

Walnut Tart

Traditional cornish pasties

So there were several days there when I didn't post a recipe, rant or review. Largely because I have been glued to this woman's blog into the wee hours, but also because on Thursday, I hacked the end off my pinkie finger with my brand new Oxo Good Grips  (love them!) peeler. The 'Return' and 'Shift' buttons are ouchie and hard to find with my huge club of a bandaged finger, so I've been more of a web spectator these past few days.
I was making a dozen mini Cornish Pasties, which require a lot of peeling, as they are like 80% root veg and when I reached into the drawer for my shiny new Porsche of a peeler, it attacked me. Long story short- Lots of blood, paper towels, Jesus Band Aids and one latex glove later, I was back in the game with my (sterilized) peeler. The result was roundly appreciated and enthusiastically received by all, including the Cornish friend (Aces!) so I have the recipe here for you.
This recipe is sliiightly different from the traditional, but only in as much as I cook the filling most of the way through before I fill the pasties and bake them because I think that browning the meat adds richness and you can make sure it's lovely and tender before you crimp.

Traditional Cornish Pasties
(makes 12 small or 6 reg)

300g (10 oz) braising steak (I used feather steak)
1 large, floury potato
2 small turnips
1 medium swede (rutabaga)
1 large onion
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp-ish freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp salt (or to taste)
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp veg oil

For the pastry:
400g (15 oz) COLD* plain (all purpose) flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g (3.5oz) cold butter, cut into 1cm cubes
100g (3.5oz) cold lard (or veg shortening if you must), cut into 1cm cubes
1/2tsp fine sea salt
1 egg
200ml cold* water
1 more egg, beaten

First, make the pastry. *If you have time before, put the flour and water in the fridge, and you don't want to take the lard or butter out of the fridge until you need to use it. The point is to keep the fat from melting at all until you bake the pastry. This keeps it super super flaky and light instead of crunchy and hard. You can either do this in a bowl with a couple of cold butter knives or in a food processor. Either way, try to keep your hands out of the mix, as it will warm up the fat and melt it (which is bad!) I used the food processor this time.
In the food processor bowl, tip in all the flour, the salt baking powder, the butter and the lard.
Pulse several times for 15-20 seconds to cut the fat into the flour until you have mixture about the texture of fresh breadcrumbs. Tip this lot into a chilled bowl.
Beat your egg and water together, pour about half of it into the mix and stir with a knife. Add more of the water mixture as needed until you can just about bring the pastry together into a ball without it totally crumbling. DON'T over mix as it will toughen the flour, and use as little water as you can get away with. This again will give you a very light, flaky 'short' pastry. (by the way, I ALWAYS type 'pastry' wrong. I always have to go back and fix it.)
Wrap your ball of pastry (I did it again!) in cling film and pop it in the fridge for at least half an hour, or however long it takes you to make your filling.

Dice the steak into 1cm (1/2") cubes, then peel and dice all of the other veg the same size.
In a large, deep-sided pan, heat the oil over a high heat and add the pieces of steak. You want to brown the steak in one thin layer, rather than stew it, so you might want to do this in a couple of batches. When the steak is browned all over, remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and bring in the onions. Sautee the onions for a few minutes until beginning to go golden, then bring the swede, turnip, potato, salt, pepper and thyme. Stir to combine and cook for a few minutes, turning from time to time to ensure even cooking. Sprinkle over the flour, stir through and then add about 200ml water to the pot. Lower the temperature and cover for 5 minutes or so, until there is no liquid left and the root veg are almost tender but still intact. Add the steak back to the pot, stir through, taste to check for seasoning and turn the heat off.
Turn your oven on to 180C/375F
To assemble, weigh your pastry -should be about 732g (26oz)- and divide by 12, or 6, depending on the size of your intended finished pasty, in my case, each piece of dough weighed 62 grams.
Rather than rolling out your pastry on a floured surface, roll out your little balls ;-) between two layers of cling film. This doesn't introduce more flour to your pastry and make the dough tougher. You want to roll it out to as close to a perfect round as you can, then spoon the filling mixture into the centre of the pastry, I used an ice cream scoop to keep it even. Then brush one half of the perimeter with the beaten egg, then bring the edges up together like a purse. Pinch together to seal and then fold and twist around the edge to make sure the filling doesn't burst out while baking. Here's a handy video if you want to see it done by someone far more adept than me. Don't worry too much about how pretty the edge is, as long as you have a good seal on it, they'll be fine and will look better after they're baked.
Lay them out as you go on a baking sheet and brush with the egg mixture. Prick the top with the pint of a knife to allow steam to escape and bake for 35-40 minutes for small ones, or a little longer for larger ones. When lovely and golden, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before moving from the baking sheet. Serve hot with brown sauce, Branston pickle, ketchup etc. Still super tasty at room temperature and they freeze well, so if you make 12 but don't have 12 people to serve them to, let them cool, freeze on the baking sheet, then when frozen, move them to an air-tight container.
Cornish Pasties