My grocer, just down the road, has become inundated with squashes of all shapes and sizes, just waiting to be devoured. Orange, yellow and green, their vivid colours signify the season in which they are most fruitful (if you’ll pardon the pun). The large chunks of sliced fruit atop this Squash and Feta Puff Tart could scarcely be more reminiscent of autumn; their vibrancy almost atoning for shortened evenings and colder weather. Almost.
For those of you who aren’t sure, greengages are a variety of dessert plum with a taste somewhere between bitter and sweet. Green in colour and small in size, greengages are the quintessential cooking plum – though they are also enjoyable in their unadulterated form. Simply roast or reduce them with a sprinkling of sugar and they’ll work equally well in chutney, cake, puddings or a greengage tart.
The amount of love shown for the humble pumpkin, by food bloggers, during the autumn months, is really rather impressive. My eyes have been opened completely to the sheer number of things one is able to do with a pumpkin. In fact, I’d quite happily suggest that, although I’ve played it fairly safe, there really is very little limit imposed upon one’s creative spirit when attempting to make the most of one’s vast orange fruit. Having said that, and in spite of my new found love for the pumpkin, I fear this shall be my final pumpkin based recipe of the year. The main reason for this is that fact that Frugal still doesn’t have a kitchen. By the time the kitchen has been installed Wales shall be firmly in the long, harsh grips of winter, perhaps we already are.
Quiche, which is essentially a savoury tart, has been a staple in my diet for the majority of the past two decades. Almost all of these tarts have included onion, cheese, bacon and mushroom and have been made by my mother. Whilst this variety of quiche is by no means a disappointment, the time has come for a change. So, this week when it was announced that the much cooked quiche would once again feature on the weekly menu, I made the dramatic move of insisting on the injection of a little variety. It was a massive success, though if you prefer an entirely healthy lifestyle it may not be one for you. You may blame BBC GoodFood for this, since that’s where the recipe was discovered.
Here in Britain we are coming to the tail-end of National chocolate Week and I thought it would be rather nice to cap it off with one of my favourite recipes. I love the contrast between the crust and the filling – the crust is very crisp, while the filling is as smooth as truffle. It is also an incredibly simple tart to make since the crust isn’t made of pastry and the filling has very few ingredients. This really is the perfect way to see off such a fantastic, yet underappreciated, week – enjoy!