Baked Lemon Ricotta Tart with Ginger Pastry and Golden Saxifrage

Happy New Year. I know it’s been a very long time since I last updated my blog, apologies. However I will try to keep on top of it starting now.

The main reason I haven’t up-dated my blog is because sadly Sadiq can no longer take my pictures because of other commitments, but I thank him for his skills, efforts and time.

I still get asked for the recipes of the dishes I create at Kaffeine, so I shell up-date redjarcooking without shinny wonderful pictures for now. I still have a few remaining images which I will use from time to time. I'm also looking into investing in a decent camera. Plus my secret Santa bought me an amazing book on food photography, which I'm currently reading.

In the meantime I will be re-editing some of my recipes and work on more recipes cards, which are still available at Kaffeine.

Here is my latest recipe, a savoury baked ricotta tart. It looks very festive on a plate (you'll have to take my word) and I've garnished this ricotta tart with a foraged item Golden Saxifrage. Crisp, textural and ever so slightly bitter leafy green. Best eaten raw and lightly dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. The refreshing taste of golden saxifrage goes well with creamy citrus ricotta, sweet tomato sauce and slightly spiced flaky pastry. You may find this recipe a tad labour intensive to make, none the less the end result is very therapeutic.

PASTRY:

300g plain flour

150g butter

50g grated cheddar

1 egg

3 tablespoons water

11/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch of sea salt

TOMATO SAUCE:

3 plum tomatoes

1 white onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 basil leaves

Dash of dry sherry

Sea salt and ground white pepper

RICOTTA FILLING:

600g good quality full fat ricotta

1 white onion

150g grated gruyere

3 eggs

25g butter

2 lemons

Sea salt and ground white pepper to season

GARNISH:

60g golden saxifrage

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

METHOD:

Start with making the pastry, place flour, cheddar, ginger and salt in large mixing bowl. Cube the butter and add to dry mixture, rub butter into flour until well blended together then add egg and cold water. Lightly knead together until only just combined. Wrap pastry in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

Grease a fluted flan tin with removable base 30cm in diameter and 3cm deep. Once the pastry has rested roll out on a floured surface until about 4-5mm thick and line the tin with pastry, pinch and press down around the edges and refrigerate for a further 30 minutes.

Once pastry has rested using a folk prick the base of pastry 10 times and line with grease proof paper then fill with uncooked rice or dried legumes, bake in oven set at 200ºC for 12 minutes. When the pastry is baked remove parchment paper and legumes and bake the pastry for further 8 minutes until golden brown.

To make the tomato sauce peel and finely dice the onion, crush the garlic and roughly dice the tomatoes. Warm a sauce pan over a medium heat and add olive oil followed by onions and garlic, gently cook until onions have softened. Add the tomatoes, sherry and season with salt and pepper, cook until tomatoes begin to break down. When tomatoes become mushy remove from heat and pour into a food processor with basil, blend into a smooth sauce.

For the ricotta filling peel and finely dice the onion. Add butter into a fry pan and warm over a medium heat until the butter has melted. Add onion to fry pan and cook until onions become translucent then remove from heat. In a large mixing bowl add ricotta, onion, gruyere, eggs, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper, mix together until evenly combined.

Spread the tomato sauce over the base of the pastry then evenly top with ricotta and smooth out, bake in oven on middle shelf set at 180ºC. When the tart has finished baking leave to cool for 30 minutes before cutting into 8 pieces.

To garnish gently mix golden saxifrage, lemon juice and olive oil together and top each slice of tart with the dressed golden saxifrage and serve.

Lamb Mafe

Mafe is a west African stew made with tomatoes, peanuts and meat. Cooked for a couple of hours with root vegetables such as yam and served with fluffy couscous, moorish and never enough to go round.

1kg diced lamb
800g canned chopped tomatoes
250ml tomato juice
300g crunchy peanut butter
300ml water
600g yam
1 large sweet potato
2 carrots
2 parsnips
1 white onion
4 cloves garlic
2 dried red chillies
2 bay leaves
1 small bunch coriander
50ml tablespoon vegetable oil
Sea salt

METHOD:
Peel yam, sweet potato and cut into 5cm cubes, peel carrots and parsnips and slice into 1cm thick rounds. Peel onion and cut in half then slice thinly lengthways, peel garlic and slice thinly.
Place a large heavy based pot over high heat, once the base is hot add half the oil, lamb and season with a good pinch of sea salt. Cook lamb and stir periodically till it starts to brown, remove the lamb from pot and place in a side bowl. Put pot back over a medium heat and add remainder of the vegetable oil pour in the onions and cook till translucent and soft. Add carrot, parsnips, garlic, chilli, bay and cook till vegetables are warmed through then pour in water, tomato, tomato juice, peanut butter, yam, sweet potato and cook till liquid starts to simmer then add lamb. Turn heat down to low and cover, cook for 50 minutes making sure you stir every 10 minutes. After the 50 minuets of cooking remove the cover and cook for another 40-45 minutes till lamb is tender. Once cooked serve with couscous and fresh coriander leaves.

Gelled Bloody Mary Salad

A bit of a retro classic deconstructed and made ultra healthy. And what better way to burn off the weekend hangover than with a hair of the dog in a salad. Very pretty and last weeks best seller in Kaffeine I highly recommend trying something different and going out of one's comfort zone.

2 gem lettuce
2 celery sticks
10 runner beans
Small handful of flat parsley
Sea salt and cracked pepper

TOMATO GEL:
800ml tomato juice
1 white onion
1 carrot
6 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
1 stick celery
1 dried red chilli
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon tobasco
Pinch of sea salt
8 gelatin sheets

DRESSING:
200ml tomato juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
4 dash of tobasco
Pinch of sea salt

METHOD:
First make the tomato gel, peel and cut the onion and carrot in half, slice celery into 4 piece's and place in a large pot with tomato juice, garlic, bay, chilli, worcestershire, tobasco and salt. Put the pot over a medium heat and bring to a simmer, in the mean time pour 2 cups of water in a small bowl and cut the gelatin sheets into smaller pieces and soak in water for 10 minutes.
Once the onion has softened and turned translucent strain liquid and discard the solids, place tomato juice back over a medium heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Squeeze the gelatin sheets of excess water and add to tomato juice, stir for 1 minute and remove from heat. Grease a square plastic container with a little olive oil and pour in the tomato jelly. Leave to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes then place in fridge uncovered for 6-8 hours.

Place a pot of water on to boil, top and tail the runner beans and slice very thinly. Once water is boiling add the runner beans and cook for 5 minutes, drain and blanch under cold water. Thinly slice celery, finely chop parsley and wash lettuce leaves.
For the dressing place all ingredients in a small bottle with lid and shake together to combine.
Now its time to construct salad, you can either make a large platter or individual plates. First turn out the tomato gel onto a chopping board and cut off a 2cm slice and lay flat, then cut into 3 strips length ways and carefully cut each length into cubes. On a platter or smaller plates tear and lay out lettuce followed by scattering over runner beans and celery. Gently distribute the desired amount of tomato gels and season with salt and a good cracking of pepper. Lastly sprinkle over the chopped parsley and and drizzle in dressing and serve as soon as possible.

Tomato and cheese tart:

Not necessarily the healthiest of tarts (you could use low fat cheeses instead), more of a pizza-pie. As most households won't have a pizza oven or stone brick I've crafted a nifty way round the technique for crispy bottom with a soft tasty topping, combining the uses of a fry pan and the oven this is the best home pizza you'll make.

100g Parmesan

100g buffalo mozzarella

100g Blues cheese

100g Gruyere

3 tomatoes

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cracked pepper

3 tablespoon olive oil

6 large basil leaves

Dough:

250g strong flour

2 tablespoon sea salt
2 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoon olive oil
200ml warm water

Method:

Firstly make the dough, place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle sugar and yeast onto the water and leave to ferment for 10 minutes, in a larger bowl add the flour and salt. Once the yeast has started to foam pour into the flour and mix together with your hand for 10 seconds then pour in the oil and start to kneed, if the mixture is still quite dry and not combining add a little extra water. Once the dough forms into a ball cover and leave to stand.

To make the tomato sauce dice the onion and crush the garlic, place the olive oil in a sauce pan and put on a medium heat then add onion and garlic, while the onion and garlic is sautéing roughly dice the tomato. When the onion has turned soft and transparent add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and sugar and leave to simmer for 15 minutes stirring periodically, once the tomato sauce has cooked place in a food processor with basil leaves and pulse till smooth.

On a floured surface roll the dough out roughly round 12inch circle, place and fry pan on a high heat with a dash of olive oil once hot put the dough in pan forming higher edges (like a pie) this will help hold the sauce, cook in pan till the bottom browns, remove from pan onto a baking tray. Spoon the sauce into the base and evenly spread round the tart. Grate the Parmesan and Gruyere, thinly slice and break up the mozzarella and brie, spread the Gruyere and mozzarella evenly over the tart followed by the brie and finally the Parmesan. Place the tart in oven heated at 220oC for 10 minutes, once cooked leave to cool for 2minutes before cutting, makes 6 serves.

Polenta Crumbed Pumpkin

This dish is perfect for winter, a great hearty vegetarian substitute for schnitzel. You can use any type of squash for this dish however I prefer the creamy soft taste of Crown Prince squash usually found from mid autum to late winter. This dish is dedicated to all the harmless farm animals who are being slaughted for for the sake of our unimaginative dinner menu ideas. Go hug some cattle today and tell them 'Your Sorry'.

1 Small Crown Prince Squash 400g coarse polenta
200g cup plain flour
2 eggs
300ml milk
410g can of chopped tomatoes
1 brown onion
2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon sugar
50g butter
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 rosemary stalk
200g feta
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper

Method:
Cut the Pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and skin then slice pumpkin into 1’’ wedges (you should get around 12 wedges) and place aside.
Then your going to need 3 bowls for crumbing the pumpkin in one bowl place the polenta, another bowl the flour and another bowl the egg and milk and beat together till evenly combined then start crumbing the pumpkin wedges. First place a wedge in the flour evenly coating all sides then dip in the egg and lastly coat in the polenta and place aside and repeat with the rest of the pumpkin wedges.
Melt half the butter in a large heave based fry pan on medium heat and evenly distribute several of the crumbed pumpkin wedges round the pan you should be able to fit around 4-5 wedges in the pan, fry each side of the pumpkin for around 3-4 minutes or till golden brown, once cooked place aside in a deep baking tray. Repeat the cooking process with remaining butter. Evenly lay out the pumpkin wedges on baking tray and place in oven on 160oC to finish cooking.

To make the sauce roughly dice the onion and peeled garlic, add olive oil to a sauce pan and bring to the heat over a hot element, add the onion and garlic and cook till the onion starts to lightly brown. Add the tomatoes and bring to the simmer then add the sugar and season with salt and pepper, turn the down the heat and place a lid on the sauce. Remove the rosemary leaves from stalk and finally chop and add to the sauce, cook the sauce for a further 5 minutes.

Once the sauce is cook remove the pumpkin from oven and serve 3 wedges of pumpkin per person with a generous ladle spoon of tomato sauce over the pumpkin and a sprinkle of feta over the sauce and garnish with extra finely chopped rosemary.

Red, White and Green Tart

A tribute to the colours of Italy. Best made in summer with either silver beet or swiss chard depending on which part of the hemisphere your on. What makes this a great tart is the pastry! You nail the pastry casing and the rest of the tart will be a breeze! Best made with tender loving care. xoxo 

500g Silver Beet or Swiss Chard 1 Brown onion

4 cloves Garlic

1 green Jalapeño

4 Italians tomatoes

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

100g goats cheese

Pastry:

150g Butter

300g plain flour

150g grated cheddar

1 egg

200ml cold water

Method:

To make the pastry dice the butter into small cubes and place in a food possessor with flour and cheese, put the lid on possessor and blend together till fine like bread crumbs.

While the processor is running add egg and pour in the water and blend till just combined, wrap the dough in cling film and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to rest.

Once the dough has rested roll out on a floured surface to 5mm think, grease and flour dust a 12" flan dish with removable base and line the dish with pastry, press the pastry edges down and trim edges, refrigerate pastry for a further 30 minutes. Line the pastry with grease proof paper and dried legumes and blind bake in oven at 200oC for 15 minutes then remove grease proof and legumes and bake for another 5 minutes.

Wash and cut the tomatoes into quarters and place on baking tray, sprinkle tomatoes with salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil bake in oven at 180oC for 30 minutes.

To make the filling place 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based pan and bring to a medium heat and add the whole peeled garlic cloves, diced onion and de-seeded and diced jalapeno saute till the onions are translucent, roughly shred the silver beet/swiss chard and add to the pan with a 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

Spoon the cooked silver beet mixture into a food processors and blend till smooth, using a spatchula spread the silver beet mixture into the tart case and evenly spread out the tomato wedges then crumble the goats cheese over the tart, place tart back in oven for for 10 minutes at 200oC

Once cooked slice into 8 slice and serve.