Almond has to be one of my favourite flavours, and as I’ve got a super sweet tooth I’m always tempted by almond puddings! This one is so easy to make and is really tasty, and is taken from Lorraine Pascale’s ‘Fast, Fresh and Easy Food’. We had this for pudding after our Butternut and sweet potato lasagne – much later in the evening though, because we were stuffed!

Ingredients

375g of ready-rolled dessert pastry (or you could make 500g sweet shortcrust pastry)
100g soft butter
100g caster sugar
100g ground almonds
3 tbsp plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting
1 medium egg
1 tbsp amaretto liqueur
411g tin of pear halves or 4 very ripe soft pears (I used slices as that’s all I could find)
250g tub of mascarpone
1 stem ginger ball (the type in syrup)
1/2 vanilla pod (or a couple of drops of vanilla extract)
50g icing sugar

You’ll also need a non-stick 10 x 34cm fluted loose-bottomed flan tin, or you can use a 17.5cm round tin like I did.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C)/350F/Gas mark 4.

2. Line the tin with the pastry (no need to grease), rolling out the pastry as needed. Be careful not to stretch or pull the pastry too much as this will make it shrink in the tin when it cooks. Get the pastry into all of the ‘flutes’ using a wooden spoon handle dipped in some flour, and cut off the excess with a sharp knife. Put in the fridge to chill whilst you prepare the filling.

3. Mix the butter and the sugar together in a medium bowl either by hand or using a hand-held electric whisk, until it is really soft and well combined. Then beat in the ground almonds and plain flour. Crack the egg in, add the amaretto liqueur, and then beat it so everything is combined.

4. Remove the lined tin from the fridge and add the almond filling, spreading it out evenly so it is nice and smooth on top.

5. Drain the pears and then arrange them cut side down in the almond filling.

6. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until the filling is nicely puffed up and golden.

7. About 5 minutes before the tart is ready, put the mascarpone in a small bowl. Finely chop the stem ginger, add the vanilla seeds or extract to the bowl. Give the mixture a few stirs or otherwise the mascarpone may split and go grainy. Set aside for serving.

8. Check the tart is cooked by sticking the point of a sharp knife into the centre – it should be a little damp from the moisture of the pears, but not wet like the original mixture.

9. Once cooked, leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before carefully removing from the tin. Sift a little icing sugar over the top to decorate, and serve warm with the ginger mascarpone cream. Enjoy!

The post Pear, almond and amaretto tart with stem ginger mascarpone cream appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I love getting new cookery books, and the latest addition to my collection is Lorraine Pascale’s ‘Fast, Fresh and Easy Food’. I saw her TV show when we got back from honeymoon and really liked the recipes, and when I flicked through the book in the shop this recipe caught my eye. I couldn’t wait to start cooking (and blogging) again, and this seemed like a great recipe to start with! You could easily make this on a week night for a super tasty treat. I used half a squash and a sweet potato for this but it wasn’t quite enough, so next time I’ll use a whole squash and 2 sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

50g parmesan cheese
50g dried natural breadcrumbs (I whizzed up a a thick doorstop slice of bread instead)
600g prepared sweet potato and butternut squash (peel and cut into evenly sized chunks)
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
12 sage leaves
Olive oil
12 lasagne sheets
100g pine nuts, toasted
75g baby spinach leaves

For the white sauce
100g parmesan cheese
2cm piece fresh ginger
600g ricotta cheese
2 medium egg yolks
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

For the salad

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Pinch of English mustard powder (optional)
1 bag wild rocket
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas mark 7. Put the kettle on to boil for the vegetables.

2. Finely grate the parmesan for the topping, toss in a small bowl with the breadcrumbs and set aside.

3. Tip the prepared sweet potato and butternut squash into a large pan, add a little salt and then pour the boiling water over to cover. Put the lid on, bring back to the boil and then leave to bubble away for 15-20 minutes until tender.

4. Fill the kettle again and boil. Prepare the herbs by removing the leaves from the the stems of the rosemary. Roughly chop them with the sage leaves and set aside in a small bowl.

5. Pour the boiling water into a pan, add a drizzle of oil, slip in the lasagne sheets and leave to cook for 5 minutes (this is important as there isn’t a lot of liquid in the rest of the mixture to cook them in the oven).

6. As the lasagne cooks, prepare the sauce. Finely grate the parmesan and peel and grate the ginger. Place both in a medium bowl, add the ricotta, egg yolks and nutmeg, season with salt and pepper, then stir to combine and set aside.

7. Drain the lasagne sheets and tip them back into the pan. Drizzle a little more oil and gently toss the about to coat, so that the sheets don’t stick together.

8. Check that the vegetables are tender. Drain them off well and tip them back into the pan. Mash them with a masher until smooth and add salt and pepper to taste.

9. Now assemble the lasagne in the baking dish, set on a baking tray. Spread a third of the vegetable mash in the base of the dish. Next, scatter a third of the herbs, pine nuts and spinach leaves over. Then arrange 4 lasagne sheets on top, cutting to fit if necessary. Spread a third of the ricotta mixture over.

10. Repeat twice more, and finally sprinkle the parmesan breadcrumbs on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

11. While that is cooking, prepare the salad dressing by simply mixing the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard powder (if using) and seasoning together in a small bowl.

12. When cooked, serve the lasagne with a handful of rocket drizzled with the dressing. Enjoy!

The post Butternut and sweet potato lasagne with sage, toasted pine nuts and nutmeg appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.