Intriguing recipes arrive in the post

Press, 27 July 1988, Page 13

Intriguing recipes arrive in the post

I get all sorts of little packages in the mail. I often open a thicklooking letter to find that crumbs fall out. The letter inside usually tells me that the writer wants to make biscuits like the one enclosed, and would like me to formulate, then send her back the recipe. Recently I received a neat little package, with a note to tell me that the writer had been making this while she was listening to me on the radio. She said that she had never seen a recipe for it, but the idea had been given to her by a Yorkshire woman who told her to make filling for a pastry square by mixing equal volumes of currants, brown sugar and mint leaves.

I ate and enjoyed the’ piece enclosed, thinking that I had never heard of, or tasted anything with this flavour.

Only the next week, when I was sorting through a pile of papers, I came across a similar recipe, for Yorkshire fruit square! This version is somewhere between the two. I think it is well worth trying. You should cut it in small squares, since it is very rich. It has a distinctive mint flavour, but if you ask your friends what the flavour is, you may well find that they do not recognise it, because they do not expect it to be mint.

I imagine that it keeps for several weeks, but I have never managed to have it in any sort of container for longer than two or three days!

Yorkshire fruit square About 200 g flakey pastry 1 cup currants or Californian raisins 1 cup mixed fruit t/ 2 cup brown sugar 1 cup mint leaves i/ 2 teaspoon mixed spice 25 grams soft butter Roll the pastry out thinly to form two squares, one of 24cm the other 20cm. Prick all over with a fork, and leave to stand while you mix the filling. Chop the fruit, sugar and mint leaves together, using either a large knife on a large wooden board, or a food processor. If using the food processor, take care not to process the mixture so much that it loses all its texture and becomes a dark paste. Add the butter and the spice, and mix them evenly through the rest of the filling ingredients. Put the bigger sheet of pastry in a paper-lined, 20cm square tin, so that it comes 2cm up the sides, all round, then spread the filling on it. Cover with the smaller sheet of pas-

Alison Holst’s Food Facts

try, pinching the two together. Bake at 190 C for 25 to 35 minutes until the pastry is evenly brown. Press the pastry down it if has risen unevenly, then leave it to cool completely, before cutting it into small squares with a sharp, serrated knife. Margaret’s flakey pastry This recipe arrived, one day last year, in a letter from Si lady in Nelson. It is an old recipe, passed on through several generations, from Southland and Westland. Every time I make it I think about the differences in the kitchens and lifestyles of the women who made it so many years ago, and of ours, today. The sender wrote, “This pastry is so easy, good, and economical that I never buy pastry, not even when I am in a hurry.”

I agree with these sentiments;. This pastry has pushed aside the pastry that I have made faithfully for thirty years. It is butterier and flakier than

my old pastry recipe, and has a nicer, more golden appearance, without the use of any glazes. It is more like “rough puff pastry,” but is nicer, and not as rich.

I hope that you will try it. You can then work out how much it costs you to make it, compare the cost and result with commercially made pastry, and work out what you could buy with the money you would save if you made this every time you wanted pastry for a year! (Even if you never actually do squander this saved money, it should make you feel good thinking about it!) This amount of pastry is enough to make a double crust pie, 20cm across, if you don’t roll it too thinly, or 23cm across if you do. This amount of pastry weighs 400 gms.

iy 4 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 125 grams cold butter ¥2 cup milk 1 teaspoon wine vinegar or 2 teaspoons lemon juice Sift or toss well to-

gether the flour and baking powder.

Cut the butter into 16 or 25 small cubes. Chop or rub it into the flour. Use a food processor if available, but do not chop it too finely. If using a bowl, consider grating the butter into the flour, using the coarsest blade available. Sour the milk with the vinegar or lemon juice, then add most of it to the flour. Mix it in, using enough to make a dough which is a little moister than normal short pastry, but is firm enough to roll out using a small amount of flour on the board. If using the food processor, take great care not to over-mix. Add the milk in a steady stream, using the pulse button in short bursts. Stop mixing as soon as all the flour is moistened. If you are using the pastry to make a doublecrusted pie, cut it into two circles before rolling it out. Roll out thinly, using just enough flour to stop it sticking. From the start of the operation until the time you put the pastry in the oven, keep everything as cold as possible. When the pastry is rolled out, you should be able to see small, flattened circles of butter in it. Bake the pie (or other pastry product) at 200 C, lowering the temperature after the pastry is brown if the filling requires more cooking.