A surfeit of dates

 It's that time of year, isn't it? When we buy dates, nuts, satsumas and Quality Street, regardless of whether anyone in the house likes them or not.

At least one person in the Netherton household will eat and enjoy at least one of the above, so none of it goes to waste.

That being said, we find ourselves with a surfeit of dates (don't ask!).

Inevitably there has been a sticky toffee pudding, with a generous studding of dates, there have been dates stuffed with marzipan to enjoy with coffee, dates stuffed with ricotta, orange zest and thyme, aubergine with saffron, black cardamom and date butter from Diana Henry's From The Oven To The Table

But then I was reading about treacle tarts - if you slip down that rabbit hole on Google you could be lost for days - and an idea took shape.

Treacle tart with dates and nuts.

Start with a basic shortcrust pastry using 110g plain flour to 55g fat (I used butter) with the zest of an orange and water to bind.

Roll out the pastry and line a greased 8½" cake tin (pictured) for a deep pie or a 10" pie dish

Chill the pie case while you make the filling.

100g dates, chopped and soaked for an hour in the juice of the orange you zested for the pastry (waste not, want not)

50g chopped nuts

45g black treacle

120g golden syrup

40g butter

50g double (heavy) cream

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Set the oven to 170ºC 

Place the treacle, syrup and butter in a saucepan - I am lucky, I get to use one of our copper milkpans and warm over a gentle heat until the butter melts.

Stir in all the other ingredients.

Blind bake the pastry case for 15 minutes, then pour in the treacle mixture nad return the tart to the oven.

bake for a further 30 minutes.

Allow to cool before serving with clotted cream or custard.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2021 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

A corned beef pie

 Years ago I worked with a guy whose favourite sandwich was corned beef and pickled beetroot.  A dangerous choice when he wore a white shirt and fancy tie to work every day, but never once did I see him spill a drop of the purple juice.

And although I have no love of cold corned beef, the combination has stuck in my head and I have tried to recreate the flavours in a pie, where, to my mind, heat does such great favours to corned beef.

These quantities are for a 12" pie dish, which is a lot of pie - scale down if you are not feeding a crowd!

Shortcrust pastry made with 450g flour and 225g butter.
Chill in the fridge while you make the filling.

Heat the oven to 200ºC

Grease a 12" pie dish 

1 onion, finely chopped
400g cooked potato, cubed

150g cooked beetroot, cubed (add more if you like and reduce the volume of potato)

2 pickled gherkins, finely chopped

600g corned beef, cubed

Mix all of the filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Roll out half of the pastry to fit the base of the pie dish, then pile the filling on top.

Roll out the rest of the pastry and use to cover the filling, crimping the edges to seal.

Brush generously with beaten egg yolk for a glossy, golden finish.

Pop it in the hot oven and bake for 40 minutes.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2020 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Apple and almond pie

There is nothing to beat an apple pie and with Autumn well established, this is the best time of year for getting your hands on some apples, be they from friends' gluts, scrumped from the wild or overhanging branches or from your local farm shop.
Regular visitors to this blog will already know that we have 3 ancient and prolific apple trees and an annual challenge to use our harvest, ahem, fruitfully.

This is a special apple pie - elevated, to coin a much overused and current culinary adverb, above the ordinary.

This will make 6 - 8 portions.

Short crust pastry

250g plain flour

125g cold butter

1 egg yolk

Cold water

Pie filling

2lb apples

2 tablespoons jam

50g ground almonds

1 egg white

70g sugar

Chop the apples into 8 - 10 chunks and put them in a saucepan with 200ml water.

There is no need to peel or core them.

Cook gently until the apples have completely collapsed.  Push the apples through a sieve and then place the pulp in a muslin bag (use a J cloth or an old pair of clean tights if you haven't got a muslin bag.)

Leave to drain.  Pour off the juice, sweeten to taste, dilute with water to suit your palate and drink!

Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC

Grease a 10" prospector pan or your favourite pie dish.

Make the shortcrust pastry; rub the butter into the flour then add the egg yolk and enough water to bind.

Roll out just over half the pastry and line your pan/pie dish.

Spread the jam over the pastry, I used home made damson but any other tart jam would work, such as a good quality raspberry.  Avoid the sweeter jams like strawberry.

Sprinkle over the ground almonds.

Whisk the egg white until stiff, then whisk in the sugar until glossy.

Fold into the apple purée and then spread this over the pie base.

Top with rest of the pastry and put 3 small cuts into the top.

Place in the hot oven for 30 minutes.

Serve at room temperature with clotted cream.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©