Apricot custard flan

Who remembers holidays, travel, being elsewhere, being carefree?
Whilst we are returning to some kind of normal, some of the things we used to take for granted are not going to be back on the agenda for a while.
And whilst we DID take our holiday travels for granted, we do acknowledge that this is a privilege and one that not everyone shares.

One of my most potent memories is of a hotel in Saas-Fé in Switzerland, sadly no longer family owned, where we enjoyed fresh apricot jam for breakfast each morning.  Small batches were made on an almost daily basis, and wherever we roamed in the region there were roadside stalls selling punnets of sunset coloured fruit.
Apricots are one of our favourite fruits, but they need a bit of coaxing to bring out their best, a bit of heat and they sing, when they are so often a woolly, dry disappointment eaten raw.

Memories were evoked and imagination stirred when I picked up a couple of punnets from our local farm shop and this custard flan was demolished in a flash.

20 apricots (plums would work well too)
2 lavender heads (optional)
Sugar to taste (we used 40g)

1 egg
60g butter
60g sugar
60g self raising flour

30g cornflour
45g sugar
350ml full fat milk
50 ml double cream
2 egg yolks

Start by cooking the apricots; halve and stone them and put them in a single layer, if possible,in an ovenproof dish (I used a prospector pan). Sprinkle over the sugar and finely chopped lavender heads.  Bake in a moderate oven, around 180ºC for about 20 minutes, until soft, but still just about holding their shape - think tipsy, but still able to stand :-)

Once they are in the oven, make the cake base.  Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then incorporate the egg and beat again.  Fold in the flour and spread the mix into a cake tin (Our cake tin has a diameter of 8½" or 22cm).  Pop into the oven with the apricots nad cook for 15 minutes.

Now tackle the custard layer.
Place most of the milk and the cream into a saucepan, extravanagant, I know, but our copper pans are wonderful for custard making and heat gently to just boiling.
Mix the cornflour and sugar t a paste with the rest of the milk.  Pour the hot milk over the cornflour slurry and mix thoroughly.  Returnto the pan and cook until the sauce is nice and thick. Lower the heat and add the beaten egg yolks, stirring vigourously.
Remove from the heat and transfer the custard to a jug or bowl to cool.
Spread the cooled custard over the sponge base - it should be thick enough to uphold the fruit - the ncarefully arrange the apricot halves over the top.
Chill for a couple of hours, but remove from the fridge about half an hour before serving.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2020 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Toffee and dried fruit custard tart

Baking in lockdown has been a challenge and a balm; ingredients have not always been readily available, but the joy of immersing oneself in the tactile joy of making pastry, the olfactory bliss of toffee and the sheer concentration in note taking, blocking out interference in the brain from the clamour of coronavirus news is unrivalled.
It has also been a time for seeing what we have in the cupboard and working out ways to use up stored ingredients.
This is an elaboration, a variation, dare I say, an improvement of a recipe my mother used to make when I was a child.  It is, without a shadow of a doubt, an indulgence, but it is easy to make and right now, we all deserve a treat.

Pastry
150g plain flour
60g cold butter, cubed
Cold water

Filling
30g butter
120g brown sugar
2 eggs
200ml double cream
120g dried fruit*

Preheat the oven to 175ºC

Make the pastry; rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Bind together with just enough water to make a stiff dough.
Roll out on a floured board to fit either a 10" prospector pan, which is all I had to hand in lockdown, or a 10" pie dish, I should be getting one of these back in the Netherton kitchen any day now.  
Place in the fridge while you make the filling.


* I keep a jam jar full of dried fruit; raisins, currants, sultanas, dried citrus peel, soaking in sherry in the cupboard and used some of these for this dish, but booze free fruit is quite acceptable.

Put the butter into a saucepan (our copper pans are perfect for this) or a milk pan and melt over a gentle heat.  Stir in the brown sugar and the fruit.  Beat the eggs and cream together and add to the fruit mix.  Pour all of this into the pastry case and pop it into the oven.
Cook for 30 minutes until the filling has just set - a little wibble is a good thing, it will firm up as it cools.

Cool and serve in small slices; it is pretty rich and you can easily get 8-10 slices from this size of pie.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2020 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk