Rustic style fruit tart with thyme and rosemary

Considering the amount of fresh, ripe fruit you can now easily find everywhere, the end of summer is one of my favourite seasons! I mixed everything I had in my kitchen: pears, apples, raspberries flavoured with thyme and rosemary. This combination also works well with peach desserts – you have to try – herbs beautifully enhance the desserts taste.

Ingredients
Dough
4,5 oz (125 g) room temperature butter
3 oz (90 g) powdered sugar
1 egg
9 oz (250 g) wheat flour
pinch of salt
Filling
1 apple
1 pear
1 cup raspberries
lemon juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 sings of thyme
4 leaves of rosemary
2 tbsp almonds


Method
Dough: mix butter and sugar in a food processor, until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and whisk for about 30 sec. Add flour and mix until combined (not too long as the batter can’t become too hard). Wrap the dough in a cling film and for 30 min. keep it in the refrigerator. After 30 min. roll it out at about 5 mm. in thickness. Place it on the baking paper.
Peel the fruit and cut them cores. Cut into small pieces, drizzle with lemon juice – to preserve them from getting dark. Apple, pear and raspberries place in a bowl and mix with sugar and cornstarch, add chopped herbs. Place the fruit mixture in the middle of rolled dough, sprinkle with almonds. Fold the edges of the dough but leave the space in the centre. Bake it in preheated oven to 180 oC until golden brown. Serve slightly warm with i.e. ice creams or whipped cream.

Date tart

The Easter is almost here, so it’s a high time to practice baking some tarts! Pie crust with a delicious sweet additions! This recipe I’ve created because of my love to the date sweetness! This one is the best a day after being baked.

Ingredients
4,5 0z (125 g) soft butter
3 oz (80 g) powder sugar
1 egg
9 oz (250 g) wheat flour
pinch salt
7 0z (200 g) dates
1 tbsp whiskey
dry fruit and nuts, i.e. dry apricots, walnuts, etc.


Method
Mix butter with powder sugar, add an egg. Add flour and quickly knead, shape the dough into a ball. Place the dough wrapped in a plastic foil in a fridge, keep it in the fridge for about 3 min. In a greased tart pan place the rolled out to 3-5 mm dough. Poke a bunch of small holes into the crust with a fork. Bake until golden brown at 360 F/ 180 oC. Cool down.
In a saucepan on a low heat cook chopped dates with water, until dates get soft. Puree the dates with a blender until smooth, add whiskey. Spread the date mixture in a crust, decorate with apricots, walnuts, etc.

Cardamom cream tart

I must admit I was expecting a lot after this recipe. On a photo in a cookbook I saw beautiful tart with a smooth cream and immediately I wanted to try it. The visual effect is amazing but the taste...well, this tart is missing something... it is delicate and this delicateness is a weak point, the tart is without the character. I think that forest fruit mousse could save the situation or maybe some fresh raspberries but I need to wait until Summer to try such a variation...

It is a warning recipe, a chance to experiment with additions because the filling mixture is easy to make. The big advantage is the shortbread base – I’m sure I’ll bake it once again. It’s elastic and easy to roll out. Anyway maybe you will like this tart...

Ingredients
base:
4,5 oz (125 g) room temp. butter
3 oz (90 g) powder sugar
1 large egg
9 oz (250 g) wheat flour
pinch salt
filling:
21 fl oz (600 ml) full fat milk
8 crushed cardamom seeds
1 cinnamon stick
3,5 oz (100 g) powder sugar
1,5 tbsp cornstarch
4 eggs (separate whites and yolks)
beans (to bake)


Method
Mix butter and sugar in a food processor until well combine. Add an egg, mix for about 30 sec. Add flour, mix again until smooth (not too long as the dough shouldn’t get too hard). Slightly knead the dough, put in a plastic bag, keep in a fridge for about 30 min. Roll out the dough and fit it into the tart pan (9 inch/ 23 cm).Place again in a fridge.

Bring to boil a milk with cardamom and cinnamon. Put aside for 15 min. to cool down.

In a meantime take the tart dough from the fridge. With a fork, make holes in the tart dough to prevent it from rising, place parchment over the shell and place a pile of beans on it as added weight while baking. Bake in preheated oven to400F/ 200 oC for 15 min. Take the parchment off the shells, bake for another 5 min. until golden brown. Decrease the temp. to 360F/ 180 oC. In a big bowl mix powder sugar with egg yolks and cornstarch. Stir in the milk. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Gently combine both mixtures. Spoon the filling mixture onto the shell. Bake for about 20 min, until golden, next for about 1 hour at 220F/ 110 oC. Serve cooled down.

Spinach tart

It is said that all stories about how healthy spinach is are a lie as there is not too much iron in it. Doesn’t matter how much iron spinach consists of, I eat it because I just love it! Today the recipe for the spinach tart. I made so much that we ate it with a blue cheese sauce

two days in a row.


Ingredients
dough:
9 oz (250 g) wheat flour
3,5 oz (100 g) butter
2 teaspoons powder sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 oz (25 g) fresh yeast
¼ cup thick, sour cream
2 egg yolks+1 egg
filling:
35 oz (1000 k0g) spinach ( I weight it after short cooking)
2 eggs (yolks separate with whites)
about 250 g cottage cheese
salt, pepper, nutmeg
1 big garlic glove
1 small onion
2 tbsp butter (oil) to fry
( you can add about 1 cup béchamel sauce)


Method
Melt yeast in a cream with powder sugar. Chop flour with butter, add remaining ingredients and yeast, knead the dough, you can put it in a fridge. Heat the oil in a pan, sauté chopped onion. Add spinach (fresh or frozen, drain the water from the spinach), simmer on a medium heat until the water evaporates from spinach. To a slightly cooled mixture add cottage cheese and egg yolks. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Beat the egg whites and gently combine with spinach. Put the roll out dough in a greased tart pan. Spoon the spinach mixture into the pan, you can cover the top with the remaining dough. Bake at 360 F/ 180 oC for about 1 hour.

Onion (and spinach) tart - perfect for a picnic

I can hardly imagine how it’s going to be with a sun outside the window. But there it is! Almost holidays, so nice and warm...
The dish I will show you today, brings the Winter not the Summer to my mind, but it’s perfect as a cold appetizer for a picnic.

The yeast dough I used is just great! Fast, not soaking the filling and it rises perfectly (even its bottom). Recommending it to you from the bottom of my heart!



Ingredients
dough:
5,3 oz (150 g) milk
0,5 0z (15 g) fresh yeast
½ teaspoon sugar
7 oz (200 g) wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
40 g oil
filling:
35 oz (500 g) onion
3 tbp oil
7 oz (200 g) smoked beacon or sausage
2 eggs
5,5 oz (150 g) sour cream 18-22 %
3,5 oz (100 g) hard cheese
½ teaspoon dry thymes
tbsp chopped parsley and chives
salt and pepper
(on top I put tomato slices)


Method
Whisk the milk with yeast and sugar, put aside for 10 min. In a bowl mix flour with salt, add yeast mixture, egg yolk and oil, knead until smooth. Cover and put aside to rise for 30 min. Thin slice onions, simmer on a low heat with thymes, until soft and clear (you may add some water). Add chopped beacon/sausage and simmer for another 5 min. In a bowl whisk eggs with sour cream and cheese. Season with salt and pepper, well combine.

Put the dough in a lined round cake pan (26 cm), evenly spoon the onion mixture. Bake for 35-40 min. at 360 F/180 oC. Before serving cool it down.

In another version I added 35 oz (500g) spinach, 2/3 garlic glove and nutmeg.