1 lb of pastry.........

With what I had in the fridge and what needed using up I decided to make up a pound of pastry on Sunday and make a quiche, egg custard tart and some jam tarts.

To make the pastry you need 1lb all purpose/plain flour, 4 ounces each of margarine and lard/vegetable shortening, pinch salt and some ice cold water.

Mix flour and salt together, rub in margarine and lard until it looks like breadcrumbs (?) add enough water to bind it together and then let it "rest" for half an hour or so.

Super simple and straight forward.

Here is the recipe for the Egg Custard Tart:

Ingredients:



6 oz/150g all purpose/plain flour


Pinch of salt


3 oz/ 80g butter or an equal mix of butter and lard, cubed


2 - 3 tbsp cold water


3 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten


2 oz (50 g) super fine /caster sugar


1 pint (570 ml) light / single cream


½ teaspoon vanilla extract


½ whole nutmeg, freshly grated


Preparation:


Heat the oven to 425°F/220°C/Gas 7






Make the Pastry


Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, working as quickly as possible to prevent the dough becoming warm. Add the water to the mixture and using a cold knife stir until the dough binds together, add more cold water a teaspoon at a time if the mixture is too dry. Wrap the dough in Saran wrap/Clingfilm and chill for a minimum of 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes.

The Filling


Gently roll the pastry and line a 1½"/4 cm deep, x 7"/18 cm base tart tin. Be careful not to over stretch the pastry whilst rolling or the it may crack in the oven. Brush the pastry all over with a little of the beaten egg. This will help seal the pastry during cooking.


In a large bowl beat the eggs and egg yolks lightly with the sugar.


Warm the cream to a gentle simmer, then pour slowly over the beaten eggs, stirring constantly. Be careful not to overheat the cream or it will curdle the eggs. Add the vanilla extract.


Pour the egg and milk mixture through a sieve into the pastry case. Sprinkle over the grated nutmeg.


Place the tart onto a baking sheet and bake in the center of the preheated oven for 10 minutes to brown the pastry. Lower the temperature to 350°F/180°C/Gas 4 and continue cooking for a further 20 minutes or until the custard is set. 

Not sure what I did or didn't do, but I ended up with too much liquid, so I put the extra into two small bowls and set them in a dish and poured boiling water half way up the sides and cooked for 20 minutes.  So egg custards without the pastry.

To make sure I had the oven full I also baked some potatoes at the same time, to go with the quiche and salad we were having for supper.

Oh and I had enough pastry left to make dh's favourite jam tarts!!

I put bacon, onion, mushrooms and cheese in the quiche with four eggs and enough half and half to make around 3/4 pint/ 1 1/2 cups of liquid.

Everything was baked at the same time other than the custard cups.  I didn't have room in the oven for them originally, so had to cook them when all the rest of the things were done.