Berry Custard Tart

I'm currently on a long holiday, waiting to begin my next adventure in the new year. And so for the first time in a very long time, I feel absolutely no sense of urgency; I can sit on the front porch and watch the rain drip off the leaves of our Weeping Willow tree if I want to; I don't absolutely need to make every single second count.

It's liberating, honestly quite exhilarating, but I'm also a bit scared. What if I get used to this? What if I get bored? What if I forget what it's like to rush and push for deadlines? So I have devised a way to keep my stress levels slightly up: I must try to post a new recipe or blog post up at least twice each week that I'm off.

I say that now, but wait 'til I start being able to sleep in again. You lot must think I'm crazy, to be afraid of enjoying my holiday. Oh well, I'm sure the initial shock of it will wear off by the end of week 2. Last week though, I made 3 tarts (blueberry, raspberry, strawberry). Just cos. I experimented with custards, to get slightly runny custard or thicker custards to set, as well as infusing the cream with different flavours (tea, lemongrass, orange). At some point during this holiday, I also want to experiment with different types of yeast (active dry, instant, etc). 

Today I'm sharing my favourite tart from last week, and obviously it was the one with my favourite berry: raspberries! Recipe under the jump.

Mixed Berries on an Orange Custard tart

Persimmon, Plum & Blueberry Pie

Little Jack Horner,
Sat in the corner, 
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
and pulled out a plum,
and said, "What a good boy am I!" 

I love nursery rhymes, and I especially love finding out the stories (or rather, theories) behind them. Apparently this particular nursery rhyme is about opportunism. Here's an excerpt from the ever trusty wealth of general, and oftentimes doubtful, information - Wikipedia:

"In the nineteenth century the story began to gain currency that the rhyme is actually about Thomas Horner, who was steward to Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury before the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII of England. The story is reported that, prior to the abbey's destruction, the abbot sent Horner to London with a huge Christmas pie which had the deeds to a dozen manors hidden within it as a gift to try to convince the King not to nationalize Church lands. During the journey Horner opened the pie and extracted the deeds of the manor of Mells in Somerset, which he kept for himself. It is further suggested that, since the manor properties included lead mines in the Mendip Hills, the plum is a pun on the Latin plumbum, for lead. While records do indicate that Thomas Horner became the owner of the manor, paying for the title, both his descendants and subsequent owners of Mells Manor have asserted that the legend is untrue and that Wells purchased the deed from the abbey."

Now before I get started on other nursery rhyme origins, or - God forbid - the Tudor era random trivia that nobody but my closest (and weirdest) friends seems to care about (you know who you are)... I'm gonna slap the recipe down. This was my first time making a double crust pie, so I kept it simple and patchworked together 3 or 4 recipes for the filling (cos I didn't have enough plums). It turned out pretty darn well, and I will definitely improvise the filling for next time (too sweet), but the crust is a winner.

Persimmon, plum & blueberry pie 

• 1 double crust pie dough (recipe below)
• 6 medium sized plums
• 3 persimmons 
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup cornflour
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp milk
• Extra caster sugar for sprinkling on top of the crust

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C 
2. Dice the plums and persimmons and mix with the blueberries, sugar, cornflour, vanilla, and milk in a large bowl
3. Roll out the prepared pie crust: turn each disc onto a lightly floured surface, roll out to a circle slightly larger than the size of the pie dish so you have a bit of overhang.
4. Pour the filling into the prepared crust and roll out the second disc of dough over the top, prick the crust to create air vents, then brush with milk and sprinkle the extra sugar
5. Bake the pie for 60 - 75 minutes 

Double crust pie dough 

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 180g chilled butter, cut into cubes
• 6 - 8 tbsp cold water

1. If you don't suffer from having too warm hands like I do: whisk the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture is very coarse and stir in cold water with a fork until the dough almost comes together into a bowl. Don't dump all the water in at one go cos you may not need all of it
2. But for less mess and ease, use a food processor: Pulse the flour, sugar and salt for a few seconds then pulse in all the butter at once until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly trickle in the water, a tablespoon at a time until it begins to form a ball then remove the dough
3. Divide the dough in two, form into discs with your hands and wrap each disc in cling wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight and pull it out to thaw for a bit before rolling out

Fruit Trifle

If I had to choose one pudding to be my mother's signature, it would probably be her fruit trifle. It's her favourite to eat, and also to make, and for as long as I can remember whenever we have dinner parties, there would be a trifle waiting in the fridge.

Last Sunday, we had a group of close family friends over at the house for dinner (coincidentally, one of whom happens to be my personal Martha Stewart - Aunty Rosa), and in addition to the strawberry cakes (Yes, plural!) I had baked the previous night, mum wanted me to take a shot at preparing the fruit trifle.

Now, you have no idea what kind of pressure this put on me. This is her special dish! The fruit trifle is the one dessert that she loves above all else! And yet, me being me, I couldn't leave a recipe well enough alone, and had to switch things up.

So I set out to make a fruit trifle, only with completely different components. The only thing I maintained was mum's custard recipe (which is lush), which is daunting as hell, because not only have I never built a trifle before, but it was also my first time making a custard. GARH.

Contrary to the picture of our cast of characters posted above, I didn't use all-purpose flour (it's only there for how cute the package looks). The recipe calls for cornflour instead. Read on, my friends!

Mum's Custard

• 4 cups of milk
• 5 heaped tbsp cornflour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• pinch of salt (optional)

1. Heat up 3 1/2 cup of milk in a saucepan and bring slowly almost to the boil
2. While milk is heating, add remaining 1/2 cup milk gradualy to the cornflour, then stir in the beaten eggs
3. When milk is hot, pour a dash into the cornflour mixture to temper the eggs, stir constantly
4. Pour the entire mixture into the saucepan and cook slowly, stirring constantly to avoid lumps, until the mixture thickens (this should take 3-5 minutes)
5. Add sugar and vanilla (I prefer to add the vanilla with the eggs in step 2), cook a moment longer
6. Pour over the sponge cake, biscuits, or whatever you wish to pour your custard on

*If you wish to use the custard as a pouring sauce to accompany another dish, halve the quantities given above, and use only 2 level tablespoons of cornflour

So I layered finger biscuits at the bottom of my bowls (I made 2 trifles). In the first bowl, I poured the custard directly over the biscuits, and in the second set I layered my sliced fruits over the biscuits and then poured the custard over. This is entirely up to you. For this round, I chose to include strawberries, blueberries and mango. Mum usually prefers peaches, pineapples and mango.

In addition to the fruits, biscuits and custard, I also prepared raspberry jelly. I just used some instant gelatin for this, follow the instructions on the box and then pour it at any stage of the trifle layering process. Mum prefers to use cherry flavoured jelly, but I've got a weakness for raspberry (not only does it taste beautiful, the colour is also so much more attractive).

When you're done with the layering, let the trifles cool to room temperate for about 10 minutes before popping them in the fridge. When it's ready to serve, you may add a final layer of whipped cream on top if you so desire (I definitely do desire).

Great pudding for hot weather, and is ridiculously easy to assemble, so this is definitely one for the fridge door.

x Nabs