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Organic Produce News And Christmas Apple And Almond Tart

Mattby Matt, 1 yr, 6 m ago in Blog
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In the boxes we're using the purple skinned ‘Arran Victory’ potatoes; one of the finest varieties for roasting being quite floury with a good strong flavour. Steam or parboil them just long enough to loosen the flesh on the outside of the pieces, then drain well in a colander, shaking a little to roughen the cut surfaces. Preheat a baking tray with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil, tip the potatoes onto it, and roast in a hot oven for about 40 minutes. The red cabbage, parsnips and most of the sprouts we’re using are Yorkshire grown, with sprouts from Lancashire. The celery in the no potatoes boxes is Spanish, and the larger boxes have French ‘Batavia’ lettuce.

GOLD RUSH APPLES Few people have a good word to say about Golden Delicious apples these days, but arguably they don't deserve their bad press. Grown and cared for properly they can be quite tasty, and they keep well: qualities that have made the variety useful in breeding new varieties. Gold Rush is bred from Golden Delicious, but has a harder flesh and a superb sharp acid flavour. We think it's a fantastic Christmas variety, great as a dessert apple but also really useful in salads. We have a few boxes in stock now and if we can get enough you'll be seeing plenty in the fruit boxes in the New Year. They are grown in Kent.

POTATOES BY THE SACK    If you have a favourite variety we sell sacks of potatoes at a discount. We usually have in stock the waxy textured 'Nicola' (good for boiling), the very tasty and slightly waxy general purpose 'Desiree' and the slightly floury 'Sante' (good for roasting, baking and mashing). These are all grown for us in Yorkshire. The Arran Victory are from Lancashire. A full 25kg sack costs £15 and a half sack £8.

OPENING HOURS. We’re at 8am Christmas Eve, but closing at 4pm. After a three day break we’re open Wednesday 28th- Saturday 31st, 10am-4pm, with fresh bread from the bakery and fresh milk and organic produce from Thursday. We’re closed on the 1st and 2nd of January. Please remember there are no box deliveries between Christmas and New Year. To add extra groceries to your box delivery, please have a look at the list of produce on our website http://www.beanieswholefoods.co.uk and call or email the day before your delivery.

CHRISTMAS APPLE AND ALMOND TART ... This isn’t a difficult recipe, but there are quite a few steps. It’s a good one for when you’ve other bits and bobs to do in the kitchen and house.

For the pastry

  • 200g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar
  • 125g lightly salted butter
  • 40g ground almonds
  • For the filling ... 2 dessert apples, peeled, cored, halved lengthways and thinly sliced
  • 50g butter
  • 50g sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 100g ground almonds
  •  a few drops of almond essence
  •  4 tbsp mincemeat
  • 2 tablespoons apricot or plum jam.

For the pastry rub the flour and butter together, stir in the icing sugar. Add of tablespoons or two of cold water; just enough to allow you to quickly knead the mixture into a dough. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Then knead again, roll out and line a buttered 22cm metal tart tin; preferably one with a removable base. Press the pastry into the sides, trim and refrigerate again (or freeze briefly) for 15 minutes. Press foil into the tin, pour in some baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes, removing the lining after 10. Beat together the sugar and butter until pale. Beat in the eggs, almonds, and almond essence bit by bit. Spread the mincemeat across the base. Carefully spread the almond mixture over the top and cover with the apple slices in concentric rings. Bake for 30 minutes. Add a tablespoon of boiling water to the jam, stir, and brush on as a glaze. Delicious warm or cold.


 

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