TASTE: Make the most of the last of the summer fruits with these two scrumptious desserts

THERE ARE SOME recipes you look at and think, “No way!” A first glance, the recipe for this cranberry and strawberry tart elicited just this reaction from my sister who was horrified when I told her we were making it.

Like most American recipes, it had to be converted into weight measurements for us European metric-centrics. The convertme.com website is brilliant for this as the weight of a cup of dried cranberries, for instance, is not the same as a cup of flour, so each individual item has to be converted, which, although time consuming and deathly dull, is very accurate with this handy website.

Once that particular bit of mathematical heartache was over, there was a lot of hemming and hawing about whether or not the whole thing would be too sickly sweet: dried cranberries, strawberries, sugar and a sticky corn-flake/granola topping. It sounded like a hideous prospect but the colour looked so great, and I am fond of the other recipes in this book I've been exploiting – Laurent Tourondel's Fresh from the Market– that I felt we should give it a whirl.

The resulting tart was really unusual, and delicious. Served at room temperature with a good dollop of whipped cream or Greek yoghurt, it surpassed all expectations and looked seriously impressive. Once you get over the initial hump of there being several parts to it, you’ll find it is actually very do-able.

The other recipe this week comes from the mother of one of our chefs, Rachel Brennan. Her mum reminds me of a modern-day, glamorous Mary Poppins, as everything she turns her hands to seems to work out perfectly. Recipes that are personal favourites of friends and family always have a special resonance with me. So I was delighted to make this dish and report back to the creator that it was another “keeper”.

I made this dish in exactly eight minutes. It is one of those "Holy-Moly! I need to make a dessert, now"type of things to have up your sleeve. It would also be nice with a punnet of blackberries tipped into it. Don't overcook the egg topping though; it still needs a bit of a wobble as the residual heat will keep on cooking it.

When it went into the oven, it looked like something Nigel Slater would feature in one of his books. But Mrs Brennan gets to take a bow here.

Cranberry, strawberry and crunchy granola tart

You’ll need a 23cm tart tin with a removable base

1 kg strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped

100g sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

300g dried cranberries

Zest of two oranges

Cook the strawberries in a non-stick saucepan with 100ml of water and the sugar. After about 15 minutes, strain the fruit into a clean bowl and push out the juice using a wooden spoon. Try to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the pulp and put the strawberry juice back into the saucepan (which you may need to rinse) and place it over a gentle heat . Mix the cornstarch in a cup with a small bit of cold water and when it is smooth, whisk it into the strawberry juice. After a few minutes, you will feel the mixture starting to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the cranberries and zest. Set it aside to cool down to room temperature.

Pastry

200g flour

2 tsp sugar

120g butter

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees Celsius/gas mark six. In a food processor, mix all the ingredients on pulse, then put on full, until the pastry just comes together. Sometimes you’ll need to add a splash of cream to help this to happen. Wrap the dough in a ball of cling film and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll it out, line the tart tin, and chill it again if you can. If you don’t have time, prick the base then line the pastry with some scrunched up parchment paper or cling film and top with rice or dried beans, to stop it rising when you bake it. Bake for about 15 minutes then carefully remove the layer of paper and cling film/beans and return it to the oven for another few minutes until the pastry is really dry and golden brown. Set the base aside while you make the granola topping.

Granola

70g cornflakes

100g oats

30g sliced almonds

Pinch of ground cinnamon

1-2 tbsp sunflower oil

1-2 tbsp honey

50ml maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1 orange

Turn the oven down to 140 degrees Celsius/gas mark one. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix together the cornflakes, oats and almonds. Sprinkle the cinnamon on top and mix everything together. In a small saucepan bring the oil, honey and maple syrup to the boil. Add the vanilla extract and orange zest. Then pour this over the dry ingredients and mix as best you can with a spatula. Spread out on to the parchment paper when it’s cool enough to handle and bake for about 15 minutes. Allow this to cool down and then break it up to use on top of the tart.

Assemble the tart by pouring the strawberry and cranberry compote into the tart shell, topping with a layer of granola and serving it at room temperature. You can also put it in the oven until it is bubbling, about 15 minutes at 160 degrees/gas mark three, but keep an eye on the granola topping so it doesn’t burn.

Regina’s peach kunchen

Regina’s tip is to use half wholemeal flour and half plain flour for a nuttier taste. You’ll need a gratin dish approximately 25cm, long. Serves six

170g flour, see above

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

110g butter, diced

4 peaches

110g soft brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

250ml double cream

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp Demerara sugar

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees Celsius/gas mark four. Pulse the flour, baking powder, two tablespoons of brown sugar and the butter in a food processor until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Press this into the gratin dish.

Cut the peaches in half, remove the stone and then slice each half into four moon-shaped slices. Toss with the 110grams of soft brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread the peaches on to the pastry and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until they start to caramelise. Whisk together the cream, eggs and vanilla essence. When the peaches have started to crisp at the edges, pour the topping over them, sprinkle with the Demerara sugar and bake for another 15-20 minutes. It should be set, but not rubbery and still with a little wobble. This is gorgeous served warm with cream or yoghurt.

Domini recommends

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to go to the Sheridans 50-Mile Harvest Festival, in its Virginia Road Station headquarters in Co Meath. It's a free event, (and that means free parking, too) from 10am-6pm, with more than 60 Irish food
producers, kids' activities, music and lots of workshops including bread-making, pizza classes for kids, butter
making, grow your own veg, and beer tasting

See also itsa.ie