I don’t watch Jamie Oliver’s Naked Chef cooking series for a few reasons.
One, I cringe at his lisping. Or else, he’s got a damn huge tongue that won’t fit his mouth.
Two, Nic hates his guts – says Jamie disrespects food. More specifically, Jamie disrespects his ingredients by simply whacking them to tatters. Which is abominably true when you look at how Jamie throws, yes, literally throws ingredients into a pot or a pan.
Third, the cameraman makes me dizzy with the quick shots – from food, to Jamie, from Jamie to food again. So pening!
But one night while channelsurfing Astro, I chanced upon Jamie Oliver.
Oh, we all do that, don’t we (the channel-surfing)? Admit it that there’s really nothing new on Astro anymore. I’ve watched the same Oprah reruns so frequently that it’s getting downright ridiculous.
Which is also why I’m terribly tempted to disconnect our Astro subscription when we move to our new apartment. Why spend good money on reruns when I can turn off the idiot box and spend time reading? Hear that, Astro?
OK, back to Jamie. He taught a recipe called Pine Nut and Honey Tart. It caught my interest because I’m a big pine nut fan. Oh heck, I’m mad about nuts and you’ll always find a variety of nuts if you raid my fridge (walnuts, pine nuts, peanuts, almonds etc). They’re for cooking and snacking.
His recipe was really fast and simple. And if you look at this recipe and this other recipe, you know I am all for simplicity! The simpler the better!
The beauty of the online world is that you can find anything you want. And I’m really good at searching/sniffing out stuff online ever since I used it extensively when I was conducting my Masters’ research back in 2004.
The big disclaimer is this: I have not tried out this tart recipe yet. I’m going to pack stuff for the Big Move these 2 weeks so I don’t have much time for cooking but I will try it once I’m cosily settled in at the new place.
You try it and let me know the results? As with all tarts, it has 2 sections. The pastry section and the filling section. It looked luscious on TV. I might even start liking Jamie a bit, if this tart turns out incredible.
Pine nut and Honey Tart
By: Jamie Oliver
Ingredients:
Pastry
4 oz butter
3 1/2 oz icing sugar
1 pinch salt
8 oz plain flour
2 egg, yolks
2 tbsp cold milk or 2 tbsp cold water
Pine nut and Honey Filling
9 oz pine nuts
9 oz butter
9 oz caster sugar
3 large eggs, preferably, organic
4 tbsp Greek fig tree honey
4 oz plain flour
1 orange, zested
lemon thyme, picked
1 pinch salt
Method:
Pastry
1. You can make the pastry by hand or in the food processor – cream together the butter, sugar and salt and then rub or pulse in the flour and egg yolks. When the mixture has come together, looking like coarse breadcrumbs, add the milk or water. Gently pat together to form a small ball of dough. Wrap and leave to rest for an hour.
2. Carefully cut thin slices of your pastry (or you can roll out if you prefer) and place in and around the bottom and sides of your 12 inch (30 centimeter) tin. Push the pastry together and level out and tidy up the sides. Cover and leave to rest in the freezer for about 1 hour.
3. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C), and bake the pastry for around 15minutes until lightly golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).
Pine nut and Honey Filling
1. While the pastry is in the oven, toast the pinenuts under the grill.
2. Using a spatula, or a food processor, whip the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in your pinenuts, add the eggs one at a time, then fold in the honey, flour, thyme, orange zest and salt. Spoon in to the tart shell and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
4. Add a few uncooked pinenuts to the top of the mixture for decoration.
5. Serve with caramelised figs (grilled with a little sugar), crème fraiche and a little lemon thyme.