absence makes the heart grow fonder or something
the reasons for my prolonged absence are highly unexpected changes and of course they are tangled and unpleasant. anyway...
our plants are doing reasonably well considering that it's pretty cool (around 10°C) for this time of the year. in tyrol it has even been snowing. i have to water the plants on my balcony although hardly a day passes without a decent shower or two. the tomato plant doesn't seem too pleased with the weather so i will probably put it in front of the living room windows inside where it's warm.
it's really amazing that i found austrian tomatoes, strawberries, eggplants (lots of them this year, they seem to be high in demand for some reason, not that i can complain), green beans, baby red beets and a lot more at the naschmarkt.
also, my mom located a new source for locally (5 minutes from where i live) grown vegetables: it's a horticultural school where vegetables grown by the students are sold every friday morning.
today's recipe was inspired by a recipe for sour cherry tartlets from this cookbook which must be among the first books i've ever read (from cover to cover) and it is still one of my favourite baking books.
cranberry tartlets
- 2 cups of flour
- half a cup of half-melted butter
- a fourth of a cup of powdered sugar
- a pinch of salt
- one egg yolk
- one to two tablespoons of milk
- cranberries, sugar
- half a cup of heavy cream and milk each
- one egg plus one egg yolk
- one generous tablespoon of cornstarch
- two heaping teaspoons of sugar
- a little vanilla to taste
rub together flour, butter, one egg yolk, powdered sugar and salt. add as much milk as needed to form a soft dough. form twelve balls, wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge or freezer until hard enough to roll out with a rolling pin.
mix cranberries with sugar.
preheat oven to 200°C. produce circles big enough for the tins of your choice (i used a muffin tin). press into buttered tins forming a one inch ridge around the edges. prick bottoms with a fork and put into the oven for 10 minutes on one of the lower racks.
spoon cranberries into tartlets.
mix milk, cream, egg plus egg yolk, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and heat stirring constantly until the mixture just starts to boil. take off heat and divide evenly among tartlets (about a tablespoon each).
put back into oven for about 20 minutes or until custard is set and begins to get brown speckles.
other possible fillings include sour cherries, rhubarb and gooseberries.
these tartlets are really tasty both warm and cooled.
