MooMooFoodie

FT: Swiss roll

Swish roll

By Rowley Leigh

Published: June 3 2011 22:11 | Last updated: June 3 2011 22:11

It is often maintained that fruit and chocolate combinations are a bad idea. Of course, white chocolate does not count because it tends to go well with fruit, it is not really chocolate at all and you can eat it with marmalade for all I care. But chocolate and orange can also work quite well – we all like Jaffa Cakes, and then there are “Pamelas”, little strips of candied grapefruit peel dipped in dark chocolate and served with coffee.

Rules are made to be broken and the fruit and chocolate one begins to look decidedly fragile. There are too many exceptions. Black Forest gâteau, when made properly and laden with cherries and Kirschwasser, can be sublime but the best exception of all is the Roulé Marquise, a chocolate Swiss roll filled with cream and raspberries. I can remember telling one chef about it and his recoiling in horror: an understandable response. Somebody must like chocolates filled with “raspberry cream”, but I could never understand such a bizarre taste.

Part of the secret of the Roulé Marquise is that it is made with no flour apart from a tiny amount of fécule – potato flour and thus gluten-free – to keep the thing together. It relies only on cocoa powder for its chocolate content. The result is an exceptionally light sponge which is then rolled up with whipped cream studded with raspberries. The lightness of the cake is a brilliant foil to the raspberries. I learnt to make it 30 years ago when I worked at Le Gavroche. Since Albert Roux would never sell a cake that was a day old, the staff got to know the cake well.

Whatever Albert’s precepts, I always thought the cake improved on the second day and would recommend making it in advance for a dinner party, as long as it is kept in the fridge.

Rowley Leigh is the chef at Le Café Anglais

rowley.leigh@ft.com

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Rowley’s drinking choice

High sugar levels are required to cope with both fruit and chocolate but complexity is not required. A Muscat de Beaumes de Venise or a Muscat de Rivesaltes would be perfect.

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Roulé Marquise

Not difficult to make but a certain deft touch is required when turning and rolling the sponge. It is important to take it out of the oven when it is just cooked and not a moment after. Serves at least eight.

Ingredients

View the slideshow

4 egg whites

4 egg yolks

125g icing sugar

50g cocoa powder

15g fécule (potato flour)

250ml double cream

3 punnets raspberries

150g redcurrant jelly or raspberry jam

Framboise eau de vie or Grand Marnier (optional)

● Preheat the oven to 190C (375 F, Mark 5). Line a large flat baking tray (approximately 350mm x 250mm) with buttered greaseproof paper. Sieve the icing sugar and put half in the bowl of an electric mixer with the egg yolks. Whisk these until they puff up and become very pale. Pour this mixture into another bowl and proceed to whisk the egg whites to a stiff meringue. Fold the two mixtures together. Sieve the fécule and the cocoa powder and sprinkle over and then fold into the mixture.

● Spread the mixture on the baking sheet, using a spatula to make sure it is evenly covered. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cake is just set. It should be just firm to the touch but not springy and a skewer should come out still slightly moist. Remove from the oven and here comes the tricky bit: the cautious should cover the cake with a clean dishcloth, cover this with another baking tray and turn the two over: you then simply lift away the tray and then peel off the greaseproof paper. The more ambitious simply lift up the baking sheet at the corners and, with a deft flick, upturn the cake on to the cloth. Take your pick: you should end up with a great rectangle of perfectly moist chocolate sponge.

● Melt the jelly or jam with a little water. Add the eau de vie and proceed to brush this mixture all over the surface of the sponge. Whip the cream so it will just hold in firm peaks and spread this mixture over the cake leaving a 3cm border all the way round. Spread three-quarters of the raspberries throughout the cream, trying to distribute them evenly. Tricky bit part two: with the long edge of the cake nearest to you, roll up the cake away from you into a Swiss roll. This is best done by folding over the first little bit and then pulling tight the two ends of the cloth and then lifting them up and away from you until the roll is completed.

● Refrigerate the cake for at least an hour, cut in slices and serve with the remaining raspberries and some Melba sauce.

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Melba sauce

There are more complicated ways of making Melba sauce but I find this simple system works well.

1 punnet of raspberries

2 tablespoons of sugar

Juice of a lemon

● Put the raspberries in a bowl, toss them in the sugar and add the lemon juice.

● Leave the mixture for half an hour or more and push the result through a sieve.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011.

NY Times: Pear and Red Wine Sorbet

 

April 4, 2011

Pear and Red Wine Sorbet

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

This has a beguiling flavor and a wonderful ruby color. You’ll simmer away most of the alcohol in the red wine, but the phytonutrients in the red pigments will still be present.

2 1/2 pounds ripe pears (4 medium to large pears, like Bartlett pears)

1/2 cup sugar, preferably organic fair-trade

1 1/2 cups red wine

1 1/2 cups water

1 2- or 3-inch cinnamon stick

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Peel, core and quarter the pears. Place them in a medium saucepan with the sugar, red wine, water, cinnamon stick and vanilla extract. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the pears are soft and translucent. This will take 15 to 20 minutes if the pears are ripe and soft to begin with, or about 30 minutes if they’re somewhat hard. Add the pepper.

2. Using tongs, remove the pears to a bowl. Remove the cinnamon stick from the poaching liquid, and discard. Turn up the heat, and reduce until the mixture has the consistency of a thin syrup. (This step may be unnecessary, depending on how long you cooked the pears and how juicy they were.)

3. Place the pears, in batches, in a blender, or place all of them in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Purée until smooth. Slowly add the poaching liquid and the lemon juice, and blend together. Transfer to a bowl, and chill. Meanwhile, place a 1-quart container in the freezer.

4. Freeze in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to the chilled container, and freeze for at least two hours before serving. If frozen solid, allow to soften in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes.

Yield: One quart, serving six.

Advance preparation: This will keep for a couple of weeks in the freezer.

Nutritional information per serving: 218 calories; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 46 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 6 milligrams sodium; 1 gram protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of "The Very Best of Recipes for Health."

ST: Forget peaches, have a peacherine

News

Home > News > Home > Story

Oct 10, 2010

Forget peaches, have a peacherine

Supermarkets are bringing in more exotic hybrid fruit to meet rising demand

By Jessica Lim

The hybrid pluot is sold at FairPrice Finest outlets. -- ST PHOTO: WANG HUIFEN

View more photos

 

They are doing it to fruits now. Cross-breeding them, that is.

So, how about an aprium (75 per cent apricot, 25 per cent plum), pluot (75 per cent plum, 25 per cent apricot), or a peacherine (half peach, half nectarine)?

These imported exotic hybrids are gaining in popularity here.

Higher-end supermarkets, like Cold Storage and Jasons Market Place, say the demand for such fruit has gone up by 80 per cent compared with three years ago.

FairPrice supermarket, which introduced hybrids in 2007 at its gourmet FairPrice Finest outlets, says interest has increased too.

Heartland chains like Giant and Shop N Save are harvesting a similar trend, albeit to a smaller degree, with sales up by 20 per cent compared with three years ago.

Given such consumer response, more supplies will be brought in, mostly from the United States and Australia, where the fruit tinkering mostly happens.

FairPrice has stocked more than 10 varieties of hybrid fruit on its shelves so far this year, a 50 per cent increase from the whole of last year.

Cold Storage and Jasons Market Place had only two to three types of hybrid fruit three years ago. Now they have more than 15 types.

Such fruits, say importers, are about three times more expensive than regular varieties.

Mr Tan Chin Hian, vice-chairman of the Singapore Fruits and Vegetables Importers and Exporters Association, said pluots cost about US$5 (S$6.50) per kg, more than three times the price of regular plums, which cost about US$1.50 per kg.

Hybrids, he said, are grown in smaller quantities and are tedious to produce.

The cross-breeding requires painstaking effort. Pollen from one fruit plant has to be hand-brushed onto the pistil and stigma of another to induce pollination.

This is repeated on a mass scale, and goes through many generations of harvesting and blending.

Still, the proof is in the eating, despite the higher prices. Best-sellers include the aprium, pluot and peacherine.

The popularity of these fruits, said Dr Patrick Loh, an agri-business adviser to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore, is due to these varieties usually being bigger and sweeter.

'Cross-pollination over many years leads to bigger and better fruit,' he said, adding that currently, only species of the same family can be cross-bred.

'The trend is that people are now trying all sorts of things overseas with fruits. We started importing them in small amounts about 10 years ago, and popularity is really picking up now,' he added.

One customer, IT consultant Greg Lim, 45, buys pluots at least once in two weeks. He first tried them last year when he was on holiday in the US.

'They are sweeter and are not as mushy as plums,' he said, adding that the higher price is worth it.

Others, like part-time teacher Wang Peiqi, 27, tried one for the first time last week.

'It's just fun trying new things, and they taste good too. I will probably buy them again,' she said.

limjess@sph.com.sg

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BITE INTO THESE HYBRIDS

THE PLUOT

What is it: A cross-breed between a plum and an apricot (75 per cent plum, 25 per cent apricot).

Characteristics: Closely resembling a plum, the fruit has smooth skin and is known for sweetness, intense flavour and a juicy pulp.

Price: About $2 each

THE PEACHERINE

What is it: A cross-breed between a peach and a nectarine (50 per cent peach, 50 per cent nectarine).

Characteristics: The fruit has fuzzy hair on its skin and is sweet and juicy.

Price: About $2 each.

THE APRIUM

What is it: A cross-breed between an apricot and a plum (75 per cent apricot, 25 per cent plum).

Characteristics: The fruit resembles an apricot on the outside, and is usually dense. It is noted for its sweet taste and has a flavour that is a mix of apricot and plum aromas.

Price: About $2 each

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DON'T JUDGE A FRUIT BY ITS APPEARANCE

The next time you pass by the wet market in Tekka Centre in Serangoon, look out for the apple-guava.

It looks like an apple but it is not. And it is not a hybrid fruit too.

The apple-guava is actually a variety of Thai guava sold with its skin already peeled off, and shaped to resemble an apple.

Chee Boon & Son Fruits Paradise, located on the first storey of Tekka Centre, is one of two stalls there that stock this particular fruit.

The owner, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, 48, has been selling this variety for about a year now.

Packaged in threes in a plastic bag with Thai words printed on it, the fruit is best kept in the refrigerator or, as Mr Tan said, 'it has to be chilled'.

A pack of three costs $4.50.

Mr Tan said: 'Though we sell only a small quantity at a time, there are a few regular buyers, mostly Malays or Indians.'

'The Chinese don't really like it as it looks artificial,' he added.

As sold, the apple-guava's outer layer is a glowing shade of bright green.

On the packaging are the words 'Guava mixed Chinese plum with Honey'. They also say that there is 'no colouring' added. It is said to be low in calories too.

The fruit is firm to the bite and tastes artificially sweet. But a hint of guava is present.

Kon Xin Hua

NY Times: How to Choose a Watermelon

August 17, 2010

How to Choose a Watermelon

By KIM SEVERSON

LIKE relationships, watermelons offer no guarantees. But a little wisdom from the experts can help you choose a good one at the store.

First, find a melon that’s dull, not shiny, and uniform in shape. Odd bumps and curves can mean it was grown with irregular runs of water or sun.

Then look for a creamy patch. It’s called the field spot — the place where the watermelon rested on the ground. The deeper in color, the longer the fully grown melon was on the vine getting sweet. Yellow is better than white, but white is better than no patch at all.

Pick it up. Your watermelon should feel heavy for its size. Compare its weight with one of similar size.

Then there is the controversial thump. Some watermelon farmers swear by it. Other say it’s hooey, with too many subtle variables to make it useful.

But believers say to hold the melon away from your body and give it a few good raps with your knuckles. (There are slappers, but that’s an even tougher sound to decipher.)

Listen for a melon that sounds full and more like a tenor than a bass. A deeper sound can mean it’s not ripe and full of water. It can mean the center of the fruit is separated into chunks, a condition caused either by pollination problems or by farmers trying to hurry things along with too much nitrogen fertilizer and water. Whatever the cause, the condition is called hollow heart, and it’s a sad one indeed.

Boing Boing: Watermelons in the shape of cubes, hearts and pyramids

The Japanese never fails to amaze me with their quirkiness!

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Source: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/23/watermelons-in-the-s.html

Watermelons in the shape of cubes, hearts, and pyramids

Mark Frauenfelder at 3:07 PM Friday, Jul 23, 2010

There's nothing like the food emporiums in the basements of Japanese department stores. They are huge, free samples are offered, and the products are beautifully packaged and displayed. Many of the items are expensive (like $200 cantaloupes) but not everything is unaffordable.

On our recent vacation to Japan, we visited a few food emporiums for lunch and for snacks. I was eager to see first-hand a heart shaped watermelon (as posted on Boing Boing last year), and sure enough, I found one. What a beauty! And the price has gone down -- last year they cost $150, but this year you can steal one for about $100.

See my photos of watermelons shaped like cubes and pyramids after the jump.

FT: Perfectly peachy

Perfectly peachy

By Rowley Leigh

Published: June 12 2010 00:49 | Last updated: June 12 2010 00:49

A good peach does not need much doing to it, apart from some careful handling and good timing. A bowl of perfect white peaches and a dessert knife make an eloquent dessert, just as long as they are ripe but unbruised. They should be peeled – a perfectly ripe fruit can be peeled without blanching – and that can be enough. However, more often than not, I drop them into boiling water, rinse them in cold and remove the skins and then, with a small knife, cut segments into a bowl.

Just supposing we don’t stop there – or add the segments to a glass of wine – I often make a salad with tomatoes (peeled and segmented in the same fashion), basil and olive oil or a different sort of salad with strawberries and fresh mint. Or, I might just put the segments in a blender and add prosecco to that purée to make a bellini.

Perfect white peaches – in Britain at least – are not so easily found. Even in France and Italy, the fragile but fragrant white peach is vastly outnumbered by its more robust yellow-fleshed cousin. Some would say the yellow was not worth bothering with and one should stick to the best. In many things I believe that holds true. There is no point in eating a second-rate steak or a battery chicken any more than eating a not perfectly fresh mackerel or a tasteless tomato. A fat squab pigeon is undoubtedly “better” than a wood pigeon, an English partridge is more interesting and flavoursome than the French variety and a fat early season spear of English asparagus is more succulent and exciting than the thin “sprues” that shoot up at the end of the season. The superior luxury does not necessarily invalidate its inferior counterpart, even if one may be for every day and the other for Sunday best.

Since a yellow peach can use a little help, there are many recipes which are better suited to the yellow peach. A cobbler or crumble, for example, with a generous hint of almond in the crumble, are generally better with yellow peaches, as are these stuffed peaches, redolent of rum (you can leave it out if you want) and almond.

Rowley Leigh is the chef at Le Café Anglais

rowley.leigh@ft.com

More columns at www.ft.com/leigh

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Stuffed peaches and Moscato zabaglione

There are many variations of this Piedmontese classic: I’ve served it cold with a chilled zabaglione made with Moscato Spumante, which was fabulous, but ice-cream or cream will do very well. Serves four to six.

Stuffed peaches

Ingredients

6 peaches

50g butter

A measure of rum

6 amaretti biscuits, or macaroons

2 egg yolks

30g sugar

Method

● Split the peaches in half and remove the stones. Scoop out a little of the flesh with a spoon to enlarge the cavities left by the stones. Chop this pulp and stew it in a saucepan in the butter before adding the rum. Remove from the stove.

● Crush the amaretti biscuits to a coarse powder in a mortar and pestle and then add to the pulp.

● Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together and add to the peach pulp and amaretti biscuit mix.

● Put the peaches skin-side down in an ovenproof dish. Spoon in the stuffing mixture. Bake in a medium oven (375°F, 180°C) for about 20 minutes.

Moscato zabaglione

Ingredients

3 egg yolks

85g caster sugar

125ml glass of Moscato d’Asti

Method

● Whisk together the ingredients in a large bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and proceed to whisk with a steady beat until the mixture slowly starts to thicken and increase in volume. Keep going until the mixture holds its shape and there is no liquid at the bottom of the bowl.

● Serve immediately or cool slightly, fold in 125ml whipped cream and chill.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010.

ST: New-style preserves - preserved fruit snacks

Lifestyle

Home > Lifestyle > Taste > Story

May 30, 2010

New-style preserves

Preserved fruit snacks have been revamped with new flavours to attract young buyers

By Veronica Koh and Kezia Toh

Adding variety is the way to draw customers jaded with the old flavours of preserved fruit snacks, say retailers such as East Ocean. --ST PHOTOS: LAU FOOK KONG, BENJAMIN NG

Preserved fruit snacks have been popular with Singaporeans of all ages.

But the kiam sng ti (literally salty, sour, sweet in Hokkien) tidbits of yore have been made over with an explosion of new flavours.

On the shelves of the supermarket snack sections, among the usual raisins and nuts are snazzy packets of preserved fruit with exotic flavours such as green tea and mint. And these new-fangled flavours are proving to be a hit with consumers.

Said accountant Linda Wong, 28: 'I've been eating preserved fruit since I was very young and I love the new flavours that are available now, especially the mint ones. They add variety to the usual products.'

For 62-year-old taxi driver Lim Hock An, the new flavours add spice to a traditional snack. He said: 'I'm quite used to the traditional flavours that have been around for a long time but the new flavours in the market are just as good, if not better.'

Food retail company Umeya, which specialises in preserved fruit snacks, has expanded to 14 outlets since it first opened at Liang Court in 1999. The chain offers about 20 different types of flavours of preserved fruit snacks at its outlets, from more common ones such as shredded plum strips to unusual ones such as licorice lemon.

To keep customers coming back, new products are frequently brought in. Said co-founder of Umeya, Mr Peter Tan: 'We try to source for interesting and tasty new flavours and introduce them at our outlets when we find them.'

Some of the new flavours the company has recently introduced include Dried Phillipine Green Mango and Hot Guava.

Its competitor, snacks retail outlet East Ocean, brings in 10 new flavours every three months.

Said co-founder of East Ocean, Mr Alan Loh, 53, who runs the business with his wife: 'Even though preserved fruit is a traditional snack more popular with the older generation, it can be revamped to attract younger customers by packaging it nicely or by bringing in new flavours for added variety.'

His products are mostly imported from Taiwan.

He added: 'While it used to be mainly aunties who patronised my shop, I see more youngsters buying preserved fruit now, including boys. They enjoy very sour and salty flavours, so I try to bring in what I think they would like.'

Some consumers like these snacks because they believe that they aid digestion and relieve nausea.

Said housewife Alison Wee, 39: 'It is good for dispelling bloatedness. And when I was pregnant, I ate them frequently to relieve nausea.'

However, according to nutritionists, there is no scientific evidence that preserved fruit snacks have any medicinal effect.

And while Singaporeans are fond of their preserved fruit, eating too much of it may be bad for health.

Nutritionist Teo Kiok Seng of private nutrition consultancy Nutrition Network Services explained: 'Preserved fruit is usually high in salt, sweeteners and other food additives such as sulphites. And during food processing, much of the fruit's nutrients is destroyed.'

Those with high blood pressure should also steer clear of it, as the high salt content can cause a rise in blood pressure, added Ms Teo.

Instead, preserved fruit lovers may want to consider the healthier Japanese pickled plum, umeboshi.

It is typically prepared using less salt and steeped in seasoned liquid or vinegar.

But this makes no difference to those who enjoy their pickled nibbles.

Student Kelvin Ho, 19, said: 'I care more about whether it tastes good than whether it has health benefits. So many snacks out there are bad for you anyway, one more won't make a difference.'

keziatoh@sph.com.sg

vkoh@sph.com.sg

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Bestsellers

LICORICE LEMON

What: Whole dried lemons with a tough powdery texture and intense sourness, mixed with the woody sweetness of licorice.

Where: Umeya stores

Price: $3.60 per 100g

SEEDLESS COOL PLUM

What: Velvety flat folds of preserved plum with a subtle mint flavour.

Where: Umeya stores

Price: $6.80 per 100g

TAMARIND MANGO

What: Thin tough strips of dried mango dotted with candied tamarind.

Where: Umeya stores

Price: $2.40 per 100g

GREEN TEA DRIED SEEDLESS PRUNE

What: Conveniently packaged in nifty resealable packs, these finger-sized pieces of dried prunes combine an intensely sour flavour with the bitter piquancy of green tea.

Where: Cold Storage supermarkets

Price: $2 for a packet of 30g

BAN MEI (Mandarin for half plum)

What: Neatly sliced halves of crisp preserved plum with the seed intact. Sweet and pleasantly tangy.

Where: East Ocean Foodstuff, B1-03B Bugis Junction

Price: $2.80 per 100g

BLUEBERRY PRESERVED PLUM

What: Bite-sized cuts of preserved plum dusted with blueberry powder. Tart and sweet.

Where: Most medicinal shops, such as Goodtrust Marine Product Trading, Block 269 Queen Street, 01-245, tel: 6336-8385

Price: $2 for a packet of 200g, three packets for $5

RYUJIN ORGANIC UMEBOSHI

What: Organic salt-pickled plums from Japan, which are said to be a healthier option. Smooth and velvety texture, laced with a salty and sour aftertaste.

Where: Essential Living at Far East Shopping Centre, 15-08. Also available at Paragon Market Place and ThreeSixty Market Place at Ion Orchard

Price: $19.90 per 150g

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Where to buy

Umeya

14 branches island-wide, including outlets at:

Raffles City Shopping Centre B1-47, open: 10am to 10pm daily

Junction 8 Shopping Centre B1-02, open: 10.30 am to 10pm daily

Yue Hwa Chinese Products

Two branches island-wide at:

70 Eu Tong Sen Street, open: 11am to 9pm (Sundays to Fridays), 11am to 10pm (Saturdays)

Jurong Point Shopping Centre, 03-05/06/07, open: 10am to 10pm daily

East Ocean Foodstuff

Bugis Junction B1-03B, open: 10am to 10pm daily

Boing Boing: Taste Test - Passion fruit

Taste Test: Passion fruit

Lisa Katayama at 8:00 AM Friday, May 21, 2010

Passion fruit has quickly made its way up to the top of my favorite-fruits-to-eat-raw list. Inside the semi-hard yellow shell is a swarm of gooey seeds reminiscent of tadpole eggs; the best way to eat it is to cut it in half and spoon out the insides. When ripe, it's incredibly sweet and tropical and refreshing. I wish somebody would hand me a giant jar of it so I could devour it like apple sauce.

The name "passion fruit" actually comes from Catholic missionaries in South America who believed the fruit was a symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is, however, a fruit with many names — its official name is passiflora edulis, but it's also known as maracuja, grenadilla, and liliko'i, depending on what part of the world you're in.

Passion fruit has tons of Vitamin C, potassium, and fiber, and is consumed in many different countries for its health benefits. Some believe it lowers blood pressure; others use it as a mild sedative. There's a purple varietal, too, which is usually smaller than its yellow cousin. I'm not sure how different they taste — has anyone tried both and compared the two?

I don't have a recipe for you today, but my aunt Linda in Hawaii makes a killer liliko'i jam. I'll ask her for it next time I see her and post an update.

Every installment of Taste Test will explore recipes, the science, and some history behind a specific food item. Image via Vic Lic's Flickr

FT: Eyes on the pies

Eyes on the pies

By Rowley Leigh

Published: May 8 2010 01:49 | Last updated: May 8 2010 01:49

I heard her, under her breath, murmuring something about school food. Though not exactly idolatrous, my wife is, generally speaking, appreciative of my culinary endeavours but on this occasion there was a distinct holding back.

The trouble was that it had the ring of truth and highlighted the awkward fact that there is a part of me that has always liked school food. However, I don’t ever remember being given strawberry and rhubarb pie at my school – certainly not one as fragrant and delectable as the one I placed before my wife last weekend, and I am sceptical that it featured much on the menu at the Convent School of St Mary in Shaftesbury, which she attended.

A pie at my own school meant a large aluminium catering tray of indeterminate matter with pastry on top. A fruit pie meant stewed plums or apples and, in conjunction with copious quantities of rather suspicious-looking custard, was highly enjoyable. Real aficionados seeking variety on the pie front would buy Lyons Individual Fruit Pies, available in no less than 14 different flavours (apple, apricot, raspberry, rhubarb, gooseberry, mince, blackberry and apple, blackcurrant, cherry, orange, peach, pineapple, mixberry, and lemon curd – according to its faithful website, which reports that production ceased in 1968). The only fruit conspicuously absent is the strawberry.

I shared this aversion to the idea of cooked strawberries until Simon Hopkinson gave me a hot strawberry pie. He wrote about it, too, (in Gammon and Spinach, a 2001 collection of brilliant newspaper pieces) and few could not warm to the idea of the hot strawberry pie waiting on the stove when the young Hopkinson came home from school for the holidays. Since that moment I too have salivated at the sight of warm strawberry liquor oozing out of the sides of a pie. This is not high-toned food but it is deeply homely and comforting.

I confess to being slightly alarmed, however: it is bad enough pining for the food of one’s boyhood but to pine for that of somebody else’s is really rather disturbing.

Rowley Leigh is the chef at Le Café Anglais

rowley.leigh@ft.com

More columns at www.ft.com/leigh

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Strawberry and rhubarb pie

The bottom layer of pastry has to be quite robust in view of the liquor produced by the strawberries so prolonged cooking is necessary to prevent it being a soggy, doughy and rather leaky mess. The rhubarb can be dispensed with but provides a nice foil to the sweetness of the strawberries.

Ingredients

400g self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

250g butter, cold but chopped into small cubes

3-5 tbs very cold water

500g rhubarb

400g strawberries

1 egg

1 tbs of milk

100g light brown caster sugar

Method

● Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and add the butter. Either using the tips of the fingers, the paddle of an electric mixer or the pulse function of a food processor, very lightly rub the flour and butter together until you achieve a fine sandy texture. Add the water, not too much at first, and slowly gather together the pastry, working it gently with the hands until it just forms a malleable dough. Divide into two parts, one slightly larger than the other, and form them into balls that you then slightly flatten into fat discs. Place them in a plastic bag and allow to rest for two hours in the fridge.

● Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Top and tail the rhubarb, pulling the skin off in the process if it is stringy and fibrous. Cut into 2cm lengths and place on an oven tray with two tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of water. Bake until tender, say 10 minutes, and then drain in a colander and allow to cool. Hull and wash the strawberries and lay on a cloth to dry.

● Roll out the larger piece of pastry dough into a circle 3mm thick (just over the thickness of a pound coin). Collect the pastry on the rolling pin and unroll out into a 9in (23cm) pie dish with sloping sides. Beat the egg with a tablespoon of milk and brush the pastry all over with this mixture and then sprinkle over two tablespoons of sugar, shaking the dish to distribute it evenly. In a bowl, mix together the drained rhubarb, the strawberries and another two tablespoons of sugar. Tip the fruit into the pie dish, mounding it up slightly in the centre.

● Roll out the remaining, smaller piece of pastry slightly thinner than the bottom piece. Roll this piece over the pie and crimp together the two edges of the pie and make a pattern with the tines of a fork before trimming off the excess dough with a small knife. Brush the surface with some of the egg and milk mixture and sprinkle over one last tablespoon of sugar.

● Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes at 180°C and then cook for a further 30 minutes at 150°C. Allow to settle for 20 minutes and serve warm with thick running cream.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010.

FT: Don't upset the apple tart

Don’t upset the apple tart

By Rowley Leigh

Published: October 17 2009 00:53 | Last updated: October 17 2009 00:53

I have just walked into my nearest supermarket and looked at the apples. In the height of the English apple season we are offered apples from Australia (two varieties), New Zealand (one), South Africa (one), France (three) and England (two). It is hard to understand the bewildering economics that can make an apple from the other side of the world commercially competitive but one can only assume that this is the case. Most of these imported apples are sweet, brightly coloured and simple in flavour. We know that supermarkets work on the lowest common denominator and generally have a low opinion of their customers’ tastes but can it really be true that they cannot sell a Blenheim Orange, a Laxton’s Supreme or a Lord Lambourne as well as a Cox’s Orange Pippin? Do they really have to peddle the likes of the Gala, the Golden Delicious and the Jazz?

It depends, I suppose, what the apple is for. If you keep your apples in the fridge and want something simple and refreshing, for the children when they come home from school, one can understand the point of the Pink Lady or the Granny Smith. They are juicy and fit, as they say, for purpose. If you consider an apple as something more interesting than this, however, as something with a richness of flavour that can be savoured, then you will be disappointed by these imported varieties. That is not necessarily to denigrate apples from countries other than Britain: the French, for instance, have some superb varieties such as the beautiful Calville – but they do not come here.

One of our best apples is the Cox’s Orange Pippin, and that, happily, does grace the supermarket shelves even though it is occasionally imported from New Zealand. But the Egremont Russet – related to the French reinette – may need seeking out. Its dull brown colour and soft skin does not make it especially alluring and it has to be conceded that the flesh is less crisp than most. What distinguishes it is the flavour. Its rich wine-like taste, slightly nutty, slightly creamy and very long in the finish makes it not only a beautiful dessert apple – try it peeled and quartered with an alternate nibble of fine cheddar – but very good cooked. An old fashioned “apple dumpling” – a cored apple filled with sugar, butter and dried fruit and wrapped and baked in pastry – is best made with a russet and the tart below also demonstrates their superior flavour.

Rowley Leigh is the chef at Le Café Anglais
rowley.leigh@ft.com
More columns at www.ft.com/leigh

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Russet tart with pinenuts

Any good dessert apple can be substituted if the Russet is unavailable. The tart will serve up to eight.

The pastry
125g flour
120g butter
50g sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg

Method
● Cream the butter and sugar with the beater of a food mixer or in a bowl with a wooden spoon. When they are perfectly smooth add the beaten egg and incorporate them into the mass to form a wet paste. Sieve the flour and add to the mixture, folding it in very gently without working the dough. Collect together into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate.
● Butter a 26cm tart ring. Roll out the dough into a large enough disc and, collecting it on the rolling pin, drop it into the ring. Push the dough well into the corners and ensure that there is a 1cm overlap all around the ring. Cover with cling film and refrigerate.

The almond cream
75g butter
75g sugar
1 egg
50g ground almonds
10g flour
1 dsp dark rum (if available)

Method
● Cream the butter and sugar together very well. Add the egg to make a smooth paste and the rum if you happen to have it. Fold in the ground almonds and mix into a smooth dough. Sieve in the flour and stir into the mix gently.

The tart
5 russet apples
1 lemon
50g pinenuts
2 tbs icing sugar

Method
● Fill the tart case with a half-centimetre layer of almond cream. Peel, halve and core the apples and roll them in the juice of the lemon diluted with four tablespoons of cold water. Place them close together, cut side down, on to the almond cream. Bake in a medium hot oven (400ºF, Mark 6, 200ºC) for 25 minutes, turn down to 350ºF (Mark 4, 180ºC), scatter the pine nuts over the surface and cook for another 20 minutes. Five minutes from the end, sprinkle the icing sugar through a sieve over the surface of the tart and return to the oven.
● Once cooked, remove the tart from the oven and leave to cool. It is best served tepid an hour or so after cooking with some thick cream or crème fraîche.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.