Super for holiday entertaining - Wholemeal Lemon and Strawberry Tarts

Nothing heralds the beginning of summer like an abundance of strawberries, and at no time in the season are they as delicious as they are now. It's the taste of the promise of summer, and treats not seen since last year, that makes them so much of an early season treat. Ask me in January and I'll tell you that raspberries are the star, but for this early part of summer it's all about the strawberry. Here's my little early season contribution to summer entertaining. 

For this recipe I used wholemeal flour to add a bit more bite and a nutty flavour to the tart cases. The pastry is super easy to make in the food processor and the lemon curd will keep in the fridge for about a week. If you have all the components ready it only takes minutes to assemble before the guests arrive. 

Wholemeal Lemon and Strawberry Tarts

For the lemon curd:
the zest and juice of 4 lemons
165g caster sugar
80g butter - softened
2 large eggs - well beaten

Find a large heat proof bowl that will fit neatly into a saucepan to form a water bath. 

Put the pot on to boil while you prepare the ingredients. In the heat proof bowl, combine the lemon zest and sugar. Stir them around to crush the zest into the sugar. Add the lemon juice and butter. 

Place the bowl over the boiling water in the sauce pan. Stir the mixture until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. 

Take the bowl from the heat and stir in the well beaten eggs. Take care to keep the mixture moving as you don't want the egg to cook on the bottom or sides of the bowl. I use a rubber spatula for this. 

Return the bowl to the saucepan, continue to stir constantly and cook slowly until the mixture thickens to a creamy consistency. 

If you think it's cooking too quickly, just remove from the heat for a few minutes, stir, then return again once you're happy its not overcooking. Don't overcook or the mixture will curdle. 

Set aside to cool stirring from time to time, then place in the fridge to chill. 












For the pastry:
300g wholemeal flour
200g cold butter
100g caster sugar
4 tablespoons cold water













Place the flour, butter and sugar in the food processor and blend until it looks like crumbs. 

With the motor running, add the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough forms into a ball.  

Press into a lump and cover with cling wrap. Chill for at least half an hour in the fridge. 



Once chilled, preheat the oven to 180deg. C

Take half the mixture and roll it in between two sheets of baking paper until about 4 to 5mm thick.
The remaining half can be chilled for later or frozen for up to 3 months.

Use the old trick of lifting the top sheet, sprinkling the dough with flour, then replacing the paper and flipping the whole lot over. Remove the top sheet and the dough will be easy to remove from the bottom layer of paper. 

Using a fluted circular cutter, cut out as many circles as will fit. Gather up the off cuts and repeat the process. 

Place the pastry circles into shallow tart tins and bake for 15 minutes at 180deg. C.

Once baked, remove them to a cooling tray so they don't sweat in the tin. 

Leave to cool. 










Assembly:
half the pastry will make about 22 cases 
cooled lemon curd
a punnet of strawberries or any other summer fruit. 

Place a teaspoon of lemon curd into each case, then top with sliced strawberries. 




If you would like a creamier tart. Mix the curd with an equal quantity of mascapone cheese. 
These tarts are best assembled close to serving as you want the wholemeal cases to remain crispy. The cases will keep quite happily in an air tight container for a few days. 

Foragers Fruit Pie with Sweet Walnut Pastry

Most people associate a holiday with not having to do terribly much in the kitchen. But I aways find that one of the greatest joys of the holiday season is having the time to enjoy doing some cooking without all the usual working week pressures. Today's offering came about after a few afternoon hours spent foraging in my mother's garden. I found some of the best of summer's bounty: raspberries, black currants, gooseberries and red currants all fell into my bowl. I've made this particular pie before and it adapts to whatever fruit is available at the time of year.

Foragers Fruit Pie with Sweet Walnut Pastry

Pastry:
4 oz butter

4 oz caster sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg. Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder, along with the chopped walnuts. Wrap in food wrap and chill in the fridge while preparing the filling.

Fruit Filling:

5 cups of prepared fruit: I used a mix of raspberries, red and black currents and gooseberries.

3 heaped tablespoons cornflour

4 heaped tablespoons caster sugar

Prepare the fruit by stripping the red and black currents from their stalks. Don't worry about the little tuft on the bottoms of the blackcurrants; they wont be noticed once its cooked. Cut the gooseberries in half.

Reserve some raspberries to sprinkle onto the top of the pie as the ones that are incorporated into the fruit mix will break up. Gently fold the sugar and cornflour into the fruit.

Construction:
On a large chopping board, roll the pastry into a large circle between two sheets of plastic food wrap. It's a very delicate pastry and will break up easily.

The trick is to peel the top sheet of wrap away and place the upside down baking tray over the top - flip the whole lot, board and all, over and remove the second sheet of plastic wrap so the pastry is sitting on the baking sheet. Pile the fruit mixture onto the pastry, leaving a gap around the outside. Sprinkle the extra raspberries on top. Gently flip the extra pastry from around the outside over the edges of the pie.

If any leaks develop, putty them shut with a little extra pastry. Bake at 180 deg. C. until the filling had thickened and the pastry is golden brown. With quite a wet filling its important to ensure the pie is baked enough for the bottom to be sufficiently cooked.

Leave it to sit and cool before attempting to cut. It's best served either warm or at room temperature. Because its so large and delicate, its best served as is on the baking tray. You can make two smaller pies instead of one enormous one.

Sprinkle with icing sugar, pour some cream into a jug and call the family. Nothing could be better on a bright sunny summer's evening.