Emily's peach and almond tart

One of the things I love about social media is that it's just that: social. You make friends with people through exchanging tweets and 'liking' their images on Instagram.

Emily is an Instagram friend where she posts as emilyscotthk. She's the very talented chef at the St Tudy Inn near Bodmin in Cornwall and uploads beautiful pictures of her restaurant, her food and the surrounding Cornish countryside and coast. I asked her for a seasonal recipe and she came up with this delicious tart.

Emily writes: "Peaches evoke memories for me sitting outside for breakfast on my grandparents’ terrace in the South of France with the wonderful scent of lavender and rosemary and the sound of the busy crickets.

A peach and almond tart is a lovely end to any meal, a perfect summer fruit. Substitute other fruit such as raspberries, apricots, blackberries or plums instead of peaches depending on the season. A household favourite, especially with my children.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the peaches:

4-6 peaches, washed, skinned and sliced.

For the pastry:

250g /8oz plain flour

20g/1oz caster sugar

1 whole free-range egg

1 free-range egg yolk

125g/4oz unsalted butter

A little cold water

For the almond filling:

200g/7oz ground almonds

200g/7oz unsalted butter at room temperature

200g/7oz caster sugar

2 whole eggs

grated zest of 1 lemon

You will also need a 23cm round tin about 2.5cm deep or 6 individual 12x7.5cm/3in fluted mini tartlet tins (as pictured)

Method:

Pastry:

Place the flour in a food processor along with the sugar, whole egg and yolk. Dice the butter into small cubes and add to the bowl. Blitz. Add a tablespoon of cold water and continue to process, the dough will begin to come together into a smooth ball. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes while you make the filling.

Filling:

Place the softened butter with the sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Fold in the ground almonds. When finished you should have a soft paste that quite easily drops from a spoon. Remove from the bowl and stir in the lemon zest.

When ready to use. Generously flour your work surface. Roll out the pastry and line your tart case or cases with it, pressing firmly into the sides with your thumb. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas5. Remove the tart case/s from the fridge. Pour in the almond filling and arrange the peaches decoratively – and return to the middle shelf of the oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes more or until the surface is golden brown and the top is firm to the touch. (Individual tarts will only take 15 -20 mins.)

Cool and serve with a jug of pouring cream or a dollop of crème fraîche.

What to drink: This is exactly the sort of dessert that shows off a good dessert wine like a young Sauternes or similar style sweet wine from Bordeaux or the Bordeaux region. (Monbazillac is good value.)

Emily cooks at the St Tudy Inn, near Bodmin. Tel: 01208 850656

Recipe photograph © David Griffen

Apricot brandy pancakes

A simple and impressive recipe to serve for pancake day. Although apricots are obviously at their best in the summer you should be able to find imported ones from countries such as South Africa and Chile.

They tend to be a touch unripe which is where the apricot brandy comes in handy!

Serves 3-4

For the pancakes
110g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 large fresh free-range eggs
275ml semi-skimmed milk
25g cooled melted butter + another 25g butter for greasing the pan and brushing the pancakes
Icing sugar

For the apricot filling
500g fresh apricots
3 heaped tbsp soft set apricot jam, preferably unsweetened
4 tbsp apricot brandy + extra to serve
Lemon juice to taste (optional)

You will also need a medium sized pancake pan

First make the batter. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a hollow in the centre. Beat the eggs lightly with the milk then add 25g cool melted butter. Gradually pour into the flour stirring all the time and beat well with a wooden spoon. (Or make the batter in a food processor or blender) Set the batter aside for half an hour while you make the filling.

Halve and stone the apricots and cut into small chunks. Put in a saucepan with the apricot jam and apricot brandy, cover with a lid and cook until the apricots are soft but still holding their shape. Check for sweetness adding a little lemon juice if you want them sharper or a splash more apricot brandy if they need sweetening and set aside.

Beat the pancake batter again. Heat a pancake pan until hot, add a small chunk of butter and rub it round the pan with some scrunched up kitchen towel. Scoop out a small cup or ladleful of batter and tip it into the pan swirling it round quickly so the whole base of the pan is covered with batter.Cook for about 30 seconds till the edges begin to brown then flip over with a palette knife or spatula and cook the other side. Stack the pancakes on a plate as you make them interleaved with sheets of greaseproof paper so they don’t stick.

Heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Butter a shallow ovenproof dish. Fill each pancake with a tablespoon of the apricot filling and roll up or fold into four. Arrange the filled pancakes in the dish and brush with the remaining melted butter. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the pancakes are hot through and the tops crispy. Sift over a little icing sugar. You could serve the pancakes with an extra splash of apricot brandy and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Suggested match: I created these to go with an apricot or peach-flavoured beer but you could also serve a dessert wine such as a southern French muscat or a Jurançon with them.

For other wine matching suggestions read What's the best pairing for pancakes?

Image © Natasha Breen - Fotolia.com though is not of the actual recipe - just like it!

How to make a really healthy smoothie

If your new year's resolution is to get fit you may be planning to start the day with a smoothie. But how good for you are they and could you make them healthier?

Monica Shaw, the author of Smarter Fitter Smoothies, gives us her 5 top tips:

"Just because a smoothie is a smoothie doesn’t automatically make it healthy. Many smoothies, especially pre-bottled smoothies, are full of as much sugar as a can of Coke. Even if it’s not refined cane sugar, fruit sugar is still sugar and all that energy (energy = calories) can add up to a real sugar crash not long after you’ve had your last straw-ful (or spoonful if you drink your smoothies like I do).

So what makes a smoothie “healthy” versus a sugar bomb? It’s all about balance. A healthy smoothie should be a whole lot more than fruit alone. Vegetables, nuts and seeds all contribute to make a smoothie that’s a healthy balance of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats.

Now that you know that, here are the 5 ingredients you need to put it all together and turn it into a delicious healthy smoothie.

1. Fruit AND Vegetables

A smoothie should contain both fruits and vegetables in the blend to maximise nutrient potential and balance the flavour, too. I aim for one fruit portion in a smoothie, and let the rest come from vegetables. Use about two big handfuls of any combination of fruit and vegetables. Aim for at least a 2-1 ratio of vegetables to fruit. You can choose from whatever suits your tastes or what’s available in your area. In my kitchen, these are my core fruit and vegetables:

* Fruit: apples, pears, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple

* Vegetables: Beetroot, cucumber, carrot, celery, kale, spinach

2. Something creamy

Avocado is my go-to for making a smoothie creamy. Other favourites are whole nuts, flax seeds and sometimes even cooked grains. These same ingredients also add healthy fat and fiber to my smoothies, thus making them all the more satisfying. Add enough of these ingredients with a bit of ice and you’ll feel like you’re drinking a milkshake!

• Avocado (~1/2 avocado)
• Whole nuts, especially cashews and almonds (a small handful, ~10-15g)
• Cooked grains such as millet or quinoa (1/4 − 1/2 cup)
• Flax seeds (a couple teaspoons)

3. Something sweet

This is one of those “to taste” sort of things. I rarely add sweetener to my smoothies; the fruit is plenty sweet enough. If I do add “sweetener”, it’s almost always dried fruit. Here are a few more natural ways to make your smoothies sweeter:

• Dried fruit: Dates, prunes, mulberries
• Naturally sweet fruit: bananas, pineapple
• Date Paste
• Coconut Nectar
• Yacon Syrup
• Stevia

Still not sweet enough for you? You could add agave nectar, maple syrup, date syrup or honey but this is basically adding pure sugar to your smoothie which I try to avoid.

Here’s a trick: if you think your smoothie isn’t sweet enough, try adding a small pinch of salt. It sounds counterintuitive but salt help brings out the sweetness and flavour in foods - I almost always add a small pinch of salt to my smoothies.

4. Liquid

I like a thick and creamy smoothie so tend to add just enough liquid to get the blender going. But you can add as much liquid as you like to achieve the consistency you’re after.

• Water (my favourite)
• Fresh pressed fruit and vegetable juice (my second favourite)
• Iced tea (tea you’ve brewed yourself and then chilled, not that Lipton junk)
• Nut or seed milk
• Coconut water

5. Optional add-ins

A few extras can help lift a good smoothie to a whole new dimension of awesomeness. Here are a few add-ins I like:

• Fresh herbs, especially mint
• Lemon or lime
• Dried spices, especially cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and even turmeric (not too much!)
• Fresh ginger
• “Fragrances” like orange flower water and rose water
• Psyllium husk - a source of fiber and also thickens the smoothie
• Powders such as hemp protein, acai, spirulina and chlorella - tasty and highly nutritious. I’m a big fan of the powder line-up from naturya.com.

Putting it all together

Once you've got your ingredients, there isn't much more to making a smoothie than blending. But there are a few tricks that can make it easier.

• Put high-moisture ingredients into the blender first. They'll blend easily and release a lot of their fluid to help make blending everything else easier.
• Add a little bit of liquid to start, then add more as your blender needs it to really get everything blitzing and to the consistency you desire. I like a really thick smoothie so try to minimize the liquid as much as possible.
• Add your ice at the end. This is especially true if you've added leafy greens to the blend. I like to make sure everything is blended up nice and smooth, and then blend the ice at the end to chill it down.
• It’s worth saying: use the best blender that you can afford. I recommend the Froothie Optimum 9400 which is cheaper than a Vitamix and blends even tough vegetables like raw carrots and beetroot like a dream.

Serve your smoothie in a nice glass and add some garnish (cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut flakes, chopped nuts, seeds, granola... I could go on). Take time with your smoothie. Sip it slowly. "Chew" it. There's good stuff in there - it deserves to be savored!

For me, one of these smoothies - with garnishes - is a meal in itself. One smoothie, prepared as described above, typically has about 250-350 calories. Add a bit of garnish and the result is immensely satisfying - you don’t need toast, bagels or cereal, and you won’t want it either. This what I have for breakfast every day and I’ve never felt better.

During autumn and winter months I like to take advantage of seasonal pears and kale and make the smoothie below.

Pear and Avocado Smoothie

Fresh pear and avocado go really well together. The avocado, combined with the flaxseed, make this smoothie super thick and creamy. You can substitute the flaxseed with other nuts or seeds, or omit completely if you don’t have it to hand.

What I like about this smoothie is that you know the avocado is there, and the pear gives it just a little sweetness (if you like it even sweeter, you can add a few dates, but I prefer the less sweet version; it allows more of the avocado and pear flavours to come through).

Taste aside, the smoothie is full of all of the good stuff that makes it balanced and wholesome. It’s got loads of fiber from the pear, flax seed and leafy greens, plus lemon which aids digestion and avocado for healthy fats and delicious creaminess.

Ingredients

320 Cals, 21g Fat, 29g Carbs, 5g Protein, 13g Fibre

• 1 large pear (~150g)
• ½ avocado (~50g)
• ¼ small lemon, peel removed
• 1 handful of kale or spinach (~1 cup)
• 1 heaped tsp flaxseed (~5g)
• 1-2 dates (optional)
• A few ice cubes
• Small pinch of salt

Method

Combine everything in the blender and add a little bit of water. Start blending and add more water as needed (the less water, the thicker the smoothie!).

If you'd like more of Monica's delicious smoothie recipes you can order her book Smarter Fitter Smoothies via her blog, Smarter Fitter. All the recipes are vegan and dairy-, soy- and gluten-free. Text and photographs © Monica Shaw.

New York sweet cranberry mustard

A delicious relish to serve with the Thanksgiving leftovers or to bookmark for Christmas from Diana Henry's Salt, Sugar, Smoke. It keeps for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

"This is inspired by a mustard served at New York’s Home restaurant, a fabulously comforting place. I have made it slightly sweeter. It’s perfect at Christmas when you’re making all those turkey and ham sarnies and want cranberries with a kick."

Fills 1 x 225g (8oz) jar

100g (3½oz) dried cranberries

150ml (5fl oz) apple or orange juice

200g (7oz) fresh cranberries

3 tbsp granulated sugar

4 tbsp runny honey

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp grain mustard

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 Put the dried cranberries in a pan and add enough apple or orange juice to cover. Bring to a boil then remove from the heat and leave to plump up for 30 minutes.

2 Put 200ml (7fl oz) of water and the fresh cranberries in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries have popped (about five minutes), then add the sugar and honey and stir until dissolved.

3 Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and sauté the onion until soft and golden. Add the vinegar and mustard and cook gently for another five minutes. Mix this with both types of cranberries and any remaining soaking liquid from the dried cranberries, and season to taste.

4 Whizz in a food processor using the pulse button (if you want it really smooth you can then press the mixture through a nylon sieve, but I leave it chunky). Pot in a sterilized jar, cover with a waxed paper disc, then seal with a vinegar-proof lid. Cool, and keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

How to use

This is obviously a good thing to have around at Christmas, and it’s good with cold ham too. Russians eat cranberries with red meat, so don’t rule it out with cold rare roast beef. Its USP is that it is both hot and sweet.

Wine tip: You're obviously not going to match your wine specifically to a relish but its sweet-sharp character will affect any pairing you're contemplating. I'd suggest a good quality Beaujolais or other bright, fruity red. A medium dry cider would be good too.

Salt, Sugar, Smoke by Diana Henry is published by Mitchell Beazley at £20. I'm also a big fan of her new book Simple.