Cherry and Almond Frangipane Bake

Don't those cherries just look so good?  A real taste of summer in the middle of winter. I received them in a parcel of ingredients from the French company, Sabarot.  The company was formed in 1819 by an ancestor of the current manager and Sabarot aim to maintain the traditions and know how passed down through the family. 

Sabarot specialise in red fruits, dried vegetables (including puy lentils), dried mushrooms and snails, and they sent me a selection of their produce.

I haven't tried all the products yet, but I have cooked the mushrooms in some risotto and they were very good quality.  I decided to use the cherries in a Cherry and Almond Frangipane dessert.  These cherries have had the stones removed and presented in a jar with a light juice.  The juice and cherries are not particularly sweet which means you can regulate the sweetness yourself or even use them in savoury dishes.  As I was making a dessert and wanted a slightly thicker and sweeter syrup, I heated the juice gently in a pan and added a teaspoon of cornflour slaked with a little water, once cooked out this created the texture of a cherry pie filling as shown in the first photograph.

Cherry and Almond Frangipane
Serves 6

1 jar Sabarot cherries in juice
100g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour

for the Frangipane
55g butter
55g caster sugar
40g ground almonds
1 large egg
15g plain flour

1. Heat the oven to 180C/170C fan oven
2. Put the juice from the cherries and the sugar in a pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Mix the cornflour with a little water and add to the warm, sweetened cherry juice and bring to a gentle boil.  Cook for 2 minutes,stirring all the time until the starch is cooked out.
4. Add the cherries to the sauce and place in a shallow dish, leave to cool slightly. 
4. Using an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, beat together the frangipane ingredients.
5. Spoon the frangipane mixture over the cherries.
6. Bake at 170C for 20 minutes until risen and golden brown.
7. Serve with cream or greek yogurt.


I was very pleased with how the cherries worked with the frangipane.  I've made a cherry frangipane before with fresh cherries but the bottled cherries had a lovely intensity of flavour and were a good contrast to the soft, almond sponge.


I was supplied with these products by Sabarot for review.  I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Almond, cherries, cherry, dessert, dired mushrooms, frangipane, puy lentils, review, Sabarot, snails

posted by Janice @ 20:46 23 Comments

July Dish of the Month Round Up

The one advantage of having only a few entries to a blog event is that the round up doesn't take as long to write up! I guess the warm weather is responsible for all but the regulars deserting us and who could blame them, I know I haven't entered many challenges myself. Of course, the standard of the entries we have received is, as usual, exceptionally high, a tribute to Mr Nigel Slater and his lovely recipes.

Let's start with this month's 'hostess with the mostess' my friend and co-conspirator, Sue at A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate with a delicious plate of Pistachio and Lemon Cookies This recipe is a little extra provided by Nigel in the inside of the slip cover of The Kitchen Diaries II.

Rachel Kelly of Marmaduke Scarlet is making a bit of a name for herself appearing almost weekly in the Guardian Cook Magazine on a Saturday, I always look out for her contributions to Felicity Cloake's themed reader recipe pages. Rachel is also a regular here at Dish of the Month and this month brings us these glowing Baked Tomatoes with Fragrant Spices and Coconut In true Dish of the Month style, Rachel didn't stick rigidly to the recipe making a few subtle changes, they don't seem to have had any negative effect on this rather unusal recipe of tomatoes stuffed with tomatoes.

I also took a few liberties, this time with Nigel's recipe for Plum (or greengage) and Almond Tart in the Kitchen Diaries II. I didn't have plums or greengages and I didn't have time to make pastry. I did have cherries, ground almonds and eggs though and the result was these Cherry Frangipane Ramekins which I served warm with some lovely vanilla ice cream.

Camilla at Fab Food 4 All has gone preserving mad, especially after winning her local show with her Peach and Apricot Jam. Congratulations Camilla! This Mixed Tomato Chutney was inpsired by some lovely multi-coloured cherry tomatoes and based on Nigel's recipe for Mixed Tomato Chutney.

Many thanks for entering July Dish of the Month and we hope to see you again in August when I will be hosting. The link and details of a GIVEAWAY will be posted on 1st August.

See all the dishes on our Pinterest Board or have a look at the round ups on the Dish of the Month page here at Farmersgirl Kitchen.

 

Labels: A little bit of Heaven on a Plate, cherries, cookies, Dish of the Month, Fab Food 4 All, frangipane, Marmaduke Scarlet, Nigel Slater, Round Up, The kitchen diaries II, tomatoes

posted by Janice @ 20:43 7 Comments

Rhubarb Frangipane Tart from Belleau Kitchen to Farmersgirl Kitchen

As soon as I saw the Rhubarb Frangipane Tart that Dom had made at Belleau Kitchen as his entry for Dish of the Month (Cooking Nigel Slater recipes) I knew I had to make it.

These are the first stalks of rhubarb I have pulled in my garden.  It was slow to start this year as it's been really cold, but as soon as it started to rain and warmed up slightly, the rhubarb just burst through and now it's gone slightly mad!

Dom poached his rhubarb in red wine, but I decide to do mine in orange juice with the zest of the orange too.

Here is the rhubarb after it had been poached, I slightly under poached it as it has to go back into the oven on top of the frangipane.

I served the tart with Madagasgar Vanilla Icecream and the juices from the poached rhubarb reduced and poured over the tart.

As I bookmarked this recipe from Belleau Kitchen I am entering it for Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jac at Tinned Tomatoes.

Labels: Belleau Kitchen, Bookmarked Recipes, Dish of the Month, frangipane, Nigel Slater, rhubarb

posted by Janice @ 21:00 10 Comments

Pear and Blackberry Frangipane Tart

It was a rather wet start on Sunday, but when it dried up after lunch, I went out and noticed that there were a lot of 'brambles' which were ripe.  I started to pick them, but once my hands were full, had to come back to the house for a bowl!

I put most of the blackberries in the freezer but decided to keep some back to make a dessert.

Pear and Blackberry Frangipane Tart

1 traybake tin  approx 30 x 23 x 4cm (12" x 9" x 1 ½")
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
3 tbsp raspberry jam
1 or 2 poached pears, quartered
100g blackberries (or a couple of handfuls)

for the Frangipane
55g butter
55g caster sugar
40g ground almonds
1 large egg
15g plain flour

1. Heat the oven to 180C/170C fan oven
2. Line the tin with the pastry and trim to fit
3. Spread the raspberry jam on the base of the pastry
4. Using an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, beat together the frangipane ingredients
5. Add peached pears and sprinkle over the blackberries, push them down into the frangipane mix.
6. Bake at 170C for 20 minutes until risen and golden brown.

I served the tart warm with icecream, but you can also eat it cold.  If I was going to make this again I would make shortcrust pastry for the base as the puff pastry wasn't so good underneath especially when cold.


I had some company when I was out picking brambles, the horses in the next door field were very interested in what I was doing!

Labels: blackberries, dessert, frangipane, ground almonds, Pears, puff pastry, tart

posted by Janice @ 20:49 12 Comments