With a gift of a pumpkin under my arm, riding the train back into Essex was difficult that evening. I was spurred on by the thought of what to do with it by Spud Jr. sending me a link to a video recipe for pumpkin pie. I’m not sure I’d ever had it before so it seemed like a good idea as any.
I used a couple of tricks from the Heston lemon tart to make it as good as I could; particularly using a temperature probe to set it perfectly.
I can’t say I was blown away by it. The flavour was definitely pumpkin but I couldn’t help thinking something was missing. It needs perhaps a layer of chocolate icing to offset the smooth, uniform flavour. And I added lemon zest to the pastry but I think orange would be a better choice. Maybe I’m just not darn American enough.
1kilogrampumpkinMy 1.8kg pumpkin yielded about 1kg flesh when roasted
1can pumpkin puree15 ounce
1large egg
3egg yolks
1can sweetened condensed milk
1/4teaspoongrated nutmeg
1teaspoonground cinnamon
1/2teaspoonground ginger
PinchChinese five spice
Pinchsalt
For the pastry:
120gicing sugar
3large egg yolks
300gplain flour
150gunsalted butter
1/2teaspoonsalt
1/2lemon zestgrated
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 150C. Carve the pumpkin into even fist-sized chunks and roast in the oven for 3 - 4 hours, until a knife sinks into it with no resistance. Cover with foil and leave to cool.
To make the pastry, whisk the egg yolks with icing sugar until frothy. Rub the butter into the flour, lemon and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs. Combine the yolk mix with this until you get a smooth pastry and then wrap in the fridge to rest for 30 mins.
Roll out the pastry to 3mm thick. Press into a pie dish, prick all over and blind bake for 30 mins until browned.
When the pumpkin is cool peel away from the skin and pulse in a food processor. When smooth whisk with the remaining filling ingredients and pour into the pastry case. Bake for 20 mins or until the centre of the pie reaches 70C when checked with a temperature probe. Leave to cool and serve with whipped cream.
That’s a hell of a list. The odd one out in this list is the Kitchen Wizz Pro, a beast of a food processor, but more on that in a future post. I’ve also used my trusty chef’s knife, easily the best knife I’ve ever used. Most of them are Salter’s / HoMedics to celebrate the launch of their new range of Heston gadgets. It’s fair to say they’re a mixed bag.
The initial range of Heston By Salter tools are all solid: the probe thermometer, kitchen timer, fridge thermometer, oven thermometer, measuring jug, scales; all good. Some of the newer items feel superfluous. First up the adjustable rolling pin. It comes with discs that adjust the height of the pin from the surface. Genius! I was looking forward to this. As someone who is mostly terrible at pastry the ability to roll out to a consistent thickness really appealed to me. Unfortunately the pastry stuck immediately to the pin and made a complete mess. After prodding it for a while I transferred it to the pastry dish for baking and rolled it up loosely around the pin. Again it all stuck to the pin and essentially turned my smooth-plasticine dough to a patchwork quilt. Just look at the pastry in the picture, that’s supposed to be 3mm but it’s more like a centimetre! Very disappointing.
The whisk is much better, being well-balanced, sturdy and comfortable to hold when whisking an egg custard over a bain marie. The measuring spoons are a cute gimmick, in that you slide the compartment to the right measurement (e.g. 1 teaspoon, ½ tablespoon) and then drag a little lid over the powder to level it off. But a couple of things bothered me: my fingers were a little greasy from handling butter and I just couldn’t work it without putting everything down, washing hands and re-measuring. And I can’t get past the price: £17.99 RRP for two spoons when the same thing is achieved with a £1 (or less) set of plastic measuring spoons available anywhere, with the help of any knife for levelling.
Rounding out the collection are the spatulas which are quickly becoming two of my favourite things in the kitchen: with one curved end for sculpting and smoothing, and a firmer end for flipping and scraping. I use a lot of non-stick bakeware, frying pans and saucepans so having something to poke at the edges of something to flip it over is really handy. Again though I have to wince at the price: £17.99 for two spatulas isn’t great value.
All the equipment in the range is well made and thoughtfully designed, but these items are just not as “must have” as the original kitchen gadgets. They’d make great gifts though.
I used all these tools and more in making Heston’s lemon tart. There’s an awful lot of Heston in this; he spent years at the Fat Duck perfecting the ‘wobble’ in his cakes. It comes down to temperature – a tart at 70°C is perfectly set. And of course, he’s right. It’s a brilliant dessert, and the probe thermometer is the most essential gadget of them all. Just one niggle: serving with creme fraiche is a complete waste of time. Totally gets lost against the lemon flavour – don’t bother.
Start with the pastry: blitz the icing sugar and yolks together and set aside. In a mixer mix the flour, butter and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the vanilla, lemon and yolk mixture and continue to mix until you have a smooth, soft dough. Mould into a rectangle and allow to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. After resting, roll the pastry to 3mm (ha ha) and line it in your 20cm tart tin. Prick with a fork all over and freeze for 30 minutes. Blind bake the base for 40 minutes and trim off the excess pastry. Drop the oven to 120°C.
Place the eggs and egg yolks in a bain marie and whisk together until it reaches 62°C (mine took about 10 minutes). At this point strain through a sieve, remove the bubbles from the surface with a metal spoon and pour into the pastry case. Bake until the filling reaches 70°C. Allow to cool to room temperature.
When ready to serve, sprinkle over the caster sugar and caramelise with a blow torch. Serve with creme fraiche if you like.
I’d had a big lunch and didn’t fancy dinner. I know, I’ll make pain au raisin.
Not that I had much of an idea where to start; digging through some old magazines I found a great article on making your own danish pastries. Turns out it’s a lot like making croissants: tons of butter rolled into puff pastry. Roll, fold, rest, roll, fold, rest… lots of interim rolling stages.
But was it worth it? Sure they were tasty (anything with that much butter and sugar has to) but given the relative cost of buying them from a baker’s versus the time and effort you put in, they were significantly better than what you can buy. An interesting experiment, but not one I think I’ll be repeating.
Pain au raisin (makes about 16):
For the dough:
7g sachet yeast
3 teaspoons caster sugar
110ml milk at room temperature
1 egg
125g flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
110g butter
For the filling:
75g butter
75g caster sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
60g raisins
1 egg, beaten
Whisk the yeast, sugar, egg and milk together and cover loosely. After ten minutes it should be quite heady.
Sift the flour, sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt together and stir in the milky yeast. Combine to a soft dough and knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Chill and rest in the fridge for 30 mins.
Roll into a rectangle and dot the top two-thirds with butter. Fold both ends into the middle and roll into a rectangle again. Cover and chill for another 30 minutes. Repeat that process 3 more times, before leaving the pastry to rest overnight.
Preheat the oven to 200C. Beat the butter, sugar and cinnamon together. Roll out the pastry to a rectangle again and spread the mixture all over it. Scatter with raisins and roll up into a sausage. Use a sharp knife to cut into 1cm thick slices and move to a baking tray. Brush with egg and bake for 20 mins until golden brown and puffy. As you get it out of the oven to cool sprinkle with sugar.
Raymond Blanc has recently trotted around France cooking for locals. In A Very Hungry Frenchman Raymond acted as part guide, part tourist in a manner similar to Two Greedy Italians. I couldn’t quite figure out whether Raymond was well known in his home country or not – sure he has a spot in Paul Bocuse’s Les Halles de Lyon but little clues other than that. The program was very entertaining if a little long, with Raymond giggling his way through the food and showing his affable passion. Each programme showcased a different region.
In his Alsace episode this recipe for an onion tart stopped me dead. I thought it looked the business so I had to give it a go. Not content to leave it alone, I added cheese to the pastry to add another layer to the flavours. I was recently sent some Old Amsterdam cheese, not a brand I’d previously heard of. Trying it raw out of the packet I was knocked out by it’s punchy flavour, like a soft, tangy parmesan with a cheddar-like texture. I’ll definitely be picking some more of this up.
The tart itself is quiche-like, set with eggs and packed with sweet onion flavour. I didn’t have the deluxe variety Raymond was celebrating so used a mixture of regular brown and red onions. It’s a dense and tasty tart, and I was very pleased to have the cheesy pastry as an accompaniment; cheese and onion is a classic combination for good reason and the saltiness crumbled beautifully next to the onions.
It’s a lovely recipe for a Sunday lunch or cold as a part of a picnic. I served mine with salad and a lemony avocado dressing (the dressing from this one).
70g Old Amsterdam cheddar, grated (a strong cheddar would also work)
30g unsalted butter, diced
1 egg
For the filling:
100g bacon lardons
450g mix of red and brown onions, peeled and finely sliced
50g butter
Nutmeg
1 tablespoon flour
100ml milk
100ml creme fraiche
3 eggs, beaten
First prepare the pastry. Pulse the flour, cheese and butter with a pinch of salt in a food processor until you get breadcrumbs. Add the egg and maybe a splash of milk to bring it all together. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least half an hour before using.
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and gently fry the onions for 15 minutes until soft and golden.
Roll out the pastry (Raymond recommends rolling it between two sheets of cling film, great tip!) and lay into a baking dish. Prick all over with a fork and blind-bake for 15 minutes until golden. Brush with a little of the beaten egg to glaze and bake for a further 2 minutes.
Add the lardons to the onions and fry for a couple more minutes. Tip in the flour and stir well for 2 more minutes. Add the milk and stir vigorously to make a thick oniony paste. Add the creme fraiche and stir a little longer, then remove from the heat. Add the eggs to incorporate, season well then pour into the pastry case. Bake for 30 minutes until golden, then allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving in thick wedges.
