Food and Drink - Recipes from Clare Latimer - Mirabelle tart and cakes
Published: 26 August 2010
by CLARE LATIMER
THE mirabelle is a small, oval-shaped juicy plum-type fruit with a dark yellow skin that becomes flecked when it ripens.
They are very sweet and full of scrummy flavour and well worth a munch. I had not had them before but found them in Yeoman’s greengrocers in Primrose Hill.
They so often have new ingredients and Phil always rushes out to show me such delights as white beetroots, white sweetcorn (which is delicious) and many more interesting goodies.
So impressed am I by these delicious little plums that I am giving you two recipes this week to make the best of them as their season is very short.
Just remember, if you do not have time for cooking this week, buy some and indulge straight from the bag.
MIRABELLE TART
This is a lovely French-style tart and best served with cream, crème fraiche or ice-cream.
Although the fruits are small, de-stoning them is not difficult as they come away from the flesh very easily.
Ingredients • Serves 6
For the pastry:
225g plain flour
125g butter
75g caster sugar
1 free-range egg
Little milk
For the filling:
500g mirabelles, destalked
3 fl oz double cream
25g self-raising flour
50g soft brown sugar
1 free-range egg
Little butter.
Method
Preheat the oven 180C/350F/gas 4.
To make the pastry, put the flour into a large bowl and add the butter in small knobs.
Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar and one egg and stir well.
Add a little milk just to make the mixture bind together.
Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes and then roll out on a floured board and place in a 20cm baking tin.
Trim the edges and then bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, wash the mirabelles, cut them in half and remove the stones and then arrange them in a decorative way on top of the half-cooked pastry.
In a bowl, beat the egg and flour together and then add the sugar and double cream and beat again.
Pour this mixture over the fruits in the pastry case and even off.
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until it is golden brown on top.
Serve warm.
MIRABELLE CAKES
These are lovely moist cakes and would be delicious served slightly warmed with a spoon of crème fraiche on the top as a pudding or just on their own at tea time.
Ingredients • Makes about 12
For the pastry:
200g unsalted butter
200g soured cream
350g plain flour
Pinch salt
Little ground cinnamon
For the filling:
500g mirabelles
50g soft brown sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 small free-range egg
50g caster sugar.
Method
Melt the butter in a small pan.
Put the sour cream into a bowl and then pour in the butter and mix with the flour, salt and cinnamon.
Cover the bowl with cling-film and chill in the fridge for one hour.
Meanwhile, halve the mirabelles and remove the stones.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6.
Roll out the pastry on a floured board into a large square about 40cm.
Cut it in half and carefully put one piece on a flat baking tray.
Arrange the mirabelles over the top of the pastry on the baking sheet and then sprinkle with the brown sugar.
Carefully lift and lay the other piece of pastry over the fruits and press the edges down to hold in the fruit while cooking.
Mix the milk and egg in a cup and then brush over the top of the pastry. Sprinkle over the caster sugar.
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the cake is golden brown on the top.
Leave to cool and then cut into squares.