PASTRY LORES

They always say good pastry making is an art. My mother used to make good pastry. She never weighed her ingredients and always made it by hand. But her best plus was she always had cold hands! As someone who nearly always has warm hands, I always make it in my food processor, weigh all the ingredients out and it comes out OK but if I used Mum's way, it would be a disaster. In the 80's and 90's, Sainsbury's produced a series of cookery books by Josceline Dimbleby. I think I bought them all. She was amazingly ahead of her time with her inspiring recipes. One of the many things I liked was her idiotproof way of making pastry in a completely novel way. With her method, warm hands do not matter and there is no rolling out! I have selected two of her tarts, one savoury and one sweet.

SHALLOT & SPRING ONION TART

For the pastry
125g plain flour
125g fine semolina
1 tsp salt
125g butter
1 tbsp water
1 egg white

For the filling
750g shallots
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch spring onions
1 large egg
2 egg yolks
150ml double cream
2 tsp caster sugar
salt and pepper

Mix flour, semolina and salt in a bowl. Gently melt the butter with the water in a saucepan then pour on to flour, stirring until you have a soft dough. Press pieces of the dough over the bottom and sides of a 25cm loose bottomed flan tin, bringing the edge slightly up above the rim. Brush the pastry all over with egg white and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
Peel the shallots and slice into thin rings. Put olive oil into a frying pan and cook shallots gently for about 15 mins , stirring often until really soft. Leave to cool a bit. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Peel and slice the spring onions into 5mm pieces. Whisk egg and egg whites then whisk in cream. Stir the shallots and onion into cream mixture. Pour into pastry case levelling the top. Sprinkle with the sugar. Cook for about 25 mins until filling is just set and small speckles of black have appeared on surface. Take care on removing from tart tin as pastry is very crumbly. It is better to leave on base. Serves 6.

TARTE MONTMARTRE

For the pastry
175g S.R.Flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
75g icing sugar
100g butter
1 tbsp water

For the filling
3 eggs separated
1 tbsp caster sugar
juice of 2 lemons and finely grated rind of 1
4 tbsp cream
25g cornflour

For the icing
75g plain chocolate
4 tsp caster sugar
coarsely grated lemon rind or julienne strips of lemon rind

Sift the flour, cocoa and icing sugar. Melt butter with water then mix into the flour thoroughly with a spoon. Press the warm dough as evenly as you can over the base and sides of a 24cm loose bottomed flan tin. Neaten the edges with a rolling pin and press any scraps over pastry lining the base of the tin. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale and thickened. Gradually whisk in lemon juice and then cream. Whisk in cornflour and stir in lemon rind. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks then fold gently into lemon batter. Pour into pastry case and bake in preheated oen 180 degree C for about 20-25 mins until golden brown.
Melt the chocolate and sugar with 1 1/2 tbs water over a very low heat. Stir until smooth then stir in another 2 tsp water. Pour over tart using a spoon to spread out to edges. Decorate with rind or julienne strips (perhaps blanched for several minutes in hot water). Serve cold but not straight from fridge. Serves 8.