leek camembert tart

Leek and Camembert Tart

This is a really easy and quick to make tart that will really impress your visitors. Lovely with a simple salad and new potatoes. This is a Sarah Whitaker recipe.

(For more recipes by Sarah Whitaker: Sarah Whitaker Recipes)

Ingredients

For the Pastry

1) Cheat and buy some ready rolled shortcrust. If Mary Berry does it then why can’t you!
2) If you don’t want to cheat, then…

6 oz (175g) plain flour
3 oz (85g) butter
1tbsp Parmesan cheese
2-3 tbsp water
1 tsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp mixed drives herbs
Up to 3 tbsp water

For the Filling

1 oz (25g) butter
12 oz (350g) leeks
3 eggs
1/2 pint (300ml) cream
Salt and Pepper
5 oz (150g) camembert

Oven

Simmering Oven, 130C, 250F, Gas 1 and floor of roasting oven

Method

  1. If you are making the pastry, put the flour, butter, poppy seeds, herbs and Parmesan into a processor and whizz until it becomes the texture of breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add the water a spoonful at a time until it comes together as dough. Rollout the pastry and line a 9″(23 cm) flan dish. Chill until required.
  2. Trim and slice the leeks.
  3. Melt the butter in a pan on the boiling plate and add the leeks. Put the lid on the pan and when the lid is too hot to rest your hand on, there will be enough steam in the pan in order to move the pan into the simmering oven for 15 minutes until they are soft.
  4. Mix together the cream, eggs and seasoning. Add this to the leek mixture then pour into the pastry case.
  5. Slice the cheese thinly and arrange the slices on top of the leeks in the pastry.

In the Oven

  • Put the dish on the floor of the roasting oven and bake for about 25 minutes until the cheese has melted and puffed up a bit.
  • Garnish with a bit of parsley.
  • Serve with salad, new potatoes and sunshine!

Tips

Forget loose-base tins. A pyrex dish is perfect for this.
No need to worry about blind-baking the pastry first. In the AGA, it will cook from underneath!
As the dish is on the floor of the oven the pastry bottom will be lovely and crispy.

Enjoy!

sarah whitaker aga lady recipe

Pear and Ginger Brioche Pudding

This is a really yummy pudding that is very simple to make on the AGA. Lovely with a dollop of natural yoghurt or cream. This is a Sarah Whitaker recipe.

(For more recipes by Sarah Whitaker: Sarah Whitaker Recipes)

Ingredients

1/2 oz (10g) butter
4 large ripe pears
1 tin condensed caramel (saves you boiling and possibly exploding those condensed milk cans!)
3/4 pint (450 ml) milk
2 balls of stem ginger from a jar and 1 tbsp of the syrup
3 eggs
1 brioche sliced loaf
4 oz (100g) sultanas
2 tbsp demerara sugar

Oven

Baking Oven, 180C, 375F, Gas 5

Method

  1. Set the butter onto the back of the Aga to melt. Brush an Aga deep baking dish with the butter.
  2. Peel, core and quarter the pears and cut them into slices. Grate the stem ginger.
  3. Beat the eggs and milk together in a jug and stir in the ginger and syrup. Mix in the caramel.
  4. Lay slices of the brioche into the dish. Add a layer of pears and half of the sultanas, then another layer of brioche, another layer of pears and finish with a final layer of brioche.
  5. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the pudding and leave to soak for at least half an hour, or overnight.
  6. Scatter the demerara sugar over the top of the pudding and bake

Baking

  • In a 3,4 or 5 oven Aga: Hang the dish from the 3rd runners in the baking oven.
  • In a 2 oven Aga: Set the dish into the large roasting tin and hang the tin from the 4th lowest runners in the roading oven. Slide the cold shelf onto the 2nd runners above.
  • Bake the pudding for about half an hour until it is golden and crunchy on top.

Enjoy!