New recipes

One of the things I have really enjoyed about our new diet is exploring recipes that use oil instead of butter. This time it was pastry. I have found a recipe for a really wholegrain oily one:

- 250 grams whole grain bread flour
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup cold water

which makes a lovely crust for a quiche (enough for two small ones) - although it does stick to the dish. But Him Outdoors was hankering for something less good for him!

Yesterday whilst wandering around the internet (thank you Joanna's Food) I found this one which is the weirdest way of making pastry I have come across but it is brilliant:

Butter-less pastry - & a fruit tart


This pastry is a revelation ... and, for those of you who think pastry can only be made with butter: this is a French recipe, a proper recipe. There are egg yolks and oil, so it's still not something to eat every day, but this is a real breakthrough for those who can no longer eat butter. And for those people who think that our low-cholesterol way of eating is somehow second best - this is really delicious and worth a try in its own right. Also, if you're not a natural pastry chef - and I never was - this is quick and easy, a definite improvement on bought shortcrust. All the virtues, then.

225g flour
1 tbsp caster sugar (leave it out if you're making something savoury)
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
4 tbsp mild salad oil
1/2 beaten egg
3 tbsp hot water

Put all the ingredients into a lidded plastic box and shake it for at least a minute. When you take off the lid, you will find a lumpy mixture; form it into a ball with your hands, and roll it out on a floured surface. Original writer says this is enough for a 24cm tin, but I have made this a number of times, and find that it is enough for a larger tin, and rather too much for a 24cm tin, because the pastry is better when it is very thin. You can use this straight away, no need to rest it.

Plum tart

If you are making a fruit tart, here's another trick: mix 20g flour with 20g sugar and sprinkle it over the pastry base. Then add the stoned fruit halves (raw). The flour and sugar mix will effortlessly thicken the fruit juices to make a delicious sauce. (I put some of our plums straight out of the freezer and had to pour off some of the liquid when it came out of the oven but it didn't seem to effect the finished product.)

This tart needs 30-35 minutes in a moderate oven, 190C.

And mine looked just like the original picture, yay and it was really crispy and delicious: