Just a bowl of cherries

According to an old song and an even older saying, that is what life is - just a bowl of cherries. At the moment  it  could well represent the amount of fruit that  the birds in our garden have been foiled from gobbling before it is properly ripe.

 

The cherries are a variety called Stella, a lusciously large, dark and juicy variety; at their sweetest and most delicious when picked fully ripe from the the tree. Well, that's how I like them. The pigeons are quite happy to harvest them when they are tiny, rock hard and bright green and the blackbirds only wait for the first hint of red. With the tree having the botanical name, Prunus Avium (translates from Latin as bird cherry) I suppose they feel entitled. As the person who carefully selected, planted and nurtured the tree, I feel entitled too. It is now too tall to net and the birds around here seem  as happy when surrounded by old CDs as any nineties DJ, so in order to salvage some fruit for us, I have resorted to covering some of the clusters with the legs of old tights as soon as the cherries start to turn colour. For several weeks it looks hideous on a tree that is almost in the middle of the garden but with even only a dozen or so branches weirdly clad in hosiery, we at least get some fruit to harvest. In fairness, more than the bowl above but not really enough to consider making jam. Just enough to enjoy fresh with a few to enjoy later. Making some tarts for the freezer seems a good idea. During the days when we used to be able to 'pick your own' in the cherry orchard up the road,  I copied out a recipe for a pudding that I have made and modified several times.  Never mind the posh name it had for the original recipe, it is really a Cherry and Almond Tart. If you don't care for the flavour of almonds then it can be adapted. See the notes below. Here then is its current incarnation.

Cherry and Almond Tart

You will need:

 For the pastry:

230g plain flour

half teaspoon salt

half teaspoon caster sugar

100g cold  unsalted butter cut into small pieces

45g lard or vegetable shortening

 50 ml (approx) of ice cold water.

For the filling:

250 g cherries

120g butter 

120g caster sugar 

120g ground almonds

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 eggs 

a few drops almond essence or almond liqueur (optional)

For the glaze:

120g icing sugar

2 teaspoons of water.

You will need to:

Make up the pastry by putting the flour ( mixed with the salt and sugar), butter and lard or shortening in a food processor and whizz till the mix resembles bread crumbs. No food processor? Then put the flour and fats into a large bowl and rub the mix between your thumbs and fingertips until it is thoroughly mixed and again, it looks like breadcrumbs when this has happened. Try to keep the mixture away from the warmth of the palms of your hands as much as possible. Now add the chilled water a small amount at time until there is just enough to hold the mix together. With a food processor, you can trickle the water in through the lid as the blade is running and you can see and switch off as soon as it makes one large lump. Without the processor you can use a table knife to cut the water little by little into the mix. Either way, quickly pat the finished dough into a thick circle, place in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth and pop it into the fridge for an hour. 

Prepare the filling. Mix together the butter and castor sugar until light and fluffy. Beat and add the eggs and almond essence. Mix well. Gradually add the flour and ground almonds. Set this batter aside and then wash, halve and stone the cherries.

Assemble the tart(s). Prehat the oven to 200 deg C. Put cookie sheets into heat as well.  Roll out the pastry to about half a cm thick. I had enough pastry and filling to make one 22cm tart and four smaller ones about 10 cm for which I used a Yorkshire pudding tray. Line the flan tins or pie plates with the pastry and let it rest for ten minutes. Then place the cherries cut side down over the base of the tarts. Pour the filling batter over the fruit and tap the tins sharply to encourage it to level out.  Place them on the heated cookie sheets in the oven. This helps the base to crisp. Bake for approx 30 minutes - slightly less for smaller tarts - until the filling has risen slightly and browned and the pastry is cooked. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. 

 To glaze: Sift the icing sugar and mix with the water to make a stiff paste. Spoon onto the tart while it is still hot from the oven and gently swirl with the back of the spoon or a pallette knife so that the icing spreads evenly over the top of the filling. Allow to set and cool. Enjoy!

 Freezer notes; Any surplus pastry dough will freeze well. I find it best to roll and cut out useful sized circles before freezing. Not only can you take out just what you need, but it thaws much faster and saves all the hassle of rolling and clearing up yet another time. 

 The baked tarts also freeze well but leave the glazing off  as it tends to go soggy when thawing and you loose the crisp sweet bite.  You could use boiling water to make the glaze to put on the thawed tarts. I like to freeze the 10cm size as they are ideal for a 'lazy' dessert and it is a comforting thought to have something reasonably impressive and practically table-ready for pudding. 

Don't like almond flavours? Well you can always leave out the essence or liqueur and substitute dessicated coconut for the ground almonds. Any devotee of the Cherry Ripe bar (and these head my Most Missed Oz Food list now that Vegemite is readily available here) will tell you that cherries and coconut are an inspired combination. And with that in mind you will probably want to figure a way to add an element of dark chocolate to the dessert. Perhaps an artistic drizzle of chocolate sauce, chocolate pastry base or some chocolate dipped cherries on the side.

Does this dessert deserve to be entitled Flan Danois? Mm, possibly.