Strawberry Ice Cream

Last week I had to tell Sarah that I couldn’t make the No Churn Double Chocolate & Cherry Ice Cream for a recent supper party she was hosting, because there were no decent cherries left in the shops. Besides, as a last hurrah for English summer berries, I fancied making some no-sugar, no-dairy Strawberry Ice Cream instead. She wasn’t best pleased. The look of disappointment that flashed across her face immediately metamorphosed into disbelief. “How?”, she asked.

Sarah is always astonished when I cull ingredients that are considered intrinsic to a recipe’s success and the finished dish looks and tastes as good as the original. Nay, oftentimes better! At the heart of most yummy ice cream is a custardy concoction of sugar, cream or milk and egg yolks, but even substituting Paleo/Primal friendly ingredients like raw, organic honey or maple syrup for refined sugar, and raw organic cream or milk for industrially produced and processed dairy, doesn’t necessarily go far enough. Recent health scares within my own family have motivated me to make even more effort to support people whose bodies are already in a state of turmoil - their condition exacerbated by eating sugar or anything that turns to sugar - such as grains, potatoes, too much meat and high amounts of fructose (fruit sugar) in so-called healthy fruits.

So, undeterred by Sarah’s initial resistance to my suggestion of Strawberry Ice Cream and with more than a passing nod to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe for the same in his book Light & Easy, I confidently told her it would prove to be a deliciously sophisticated dessert for her guests. I was right. I love its colour - a sort of soft, antique-pink, its creamy texture (I was almost tempted to rename it Strawberries n’ Cream Ice Cream!), and above all its intense, fresh strawberry flavour.

In theory, because both sugar and fat don’t freeze (butter does, but that’s because it contains water) you should never mess ‘willy-nilly’ with the amounts specified in ice cream recipes for either ingredient if you want to achieve a smooth, softer, less-icy texture. Also, before churning, the ice cream mixture needs to taste a bit sweeter than you think it should, because after freezing it will taste less so. Raw, runny honey à la Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s version of strawberry ice cream, works well in frozen desserts - that’s until you’re trying to pare back on healthy sweeteners too. In this recipe I wanted sweetness without sugar, and creaminess without fat. The solution is alcohol. Like sugar and fat, alcohol won’t freeze so adding a tablespoon of pure, organic vodka to the ice cream mix before churning stops it from becoming too hard and makes it easier to scoop. 

As regular readers of this blog will know, my preferred all-natural, safe alternative to refined sugar in all its guises is Sukrin. Free from calories and carbohydrates, Sukrin’s sweeteners have the aroma, sweetness and flavour of regular sugars but, according to Sukrin, none of the aftertaste found in most other sweeteners. Call me supersensitive, but I do sometimes experience a lingering, cooling taste-sensation in my mouth afterwards. To minimise this, I like to use Sukrin in combination with another sweetener - usually honey or maple syrup - rather than on its own. Nevertheless, to challenge my tastebuds and to see whether I could get away without any honey, I made two batches of ice cream. The first with Sukrin:1 in combo with a little honey and the second with just Sukrin:1. It seems the freezing process not only dumbs down sweetness but also, if it existed, any aftertaste. 

Hurrah! There was no discernible difference between the two - they both tasted delicious, which means Primal Plate's Strawberry Ice Cream is good to go, even for vegans.

You should still be able to find British strawberries in the shops up until the end of September so don’t ‘snooze and lose’ like I did with Sarah’s cherries! Just make sure your strawberries are ripe and full flavoured so you can continue to enjoy a taste of summer for just a little while longer. 

Strawberry Ice Cream (Serves 6)

Ingredients

75g raw, organic cashew nuts

100ml fresh, cold filtered water

1 large (or 2 small) organic bananas (unpeeled weight approximately 200g)

85g Sukrin:1 sweetener

400g ripe strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped

Juice of ½ lemon 

1 tablespoon pure vodka (or Kirsch)

To Serve - optional

Extra strawberries, hulled and sliced

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Sukrin icing sugar

Instructions

Soak the cashews in cold, filtered water to cover for 6-8 hours, or overnight. Then drain.

Peel the banana and break into pieces then place in a high-powered blender with the drained cashews, Sukrin:1. and 100ml of fresh cold filtered water. 

Blitz thoroughly until the mixture forms into a thick, creamy, smooth puree. 

Add the strawberries, vodka and lemon juice and blitz again, just until smooth. 

Pour the contents of the blender into a jug, then cover and chill in a refrigerator until cold. 

Now churn the mixture in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions until it’s soft-set.

Transfer the ice cream into a plastic freezer container, before smoothing off the top and pressing a piece of waxed paper (or cling film) directly onto the surface to stop ice crystals from forming. Cover with a lid and and place in the freezer until solid. 

If you don’t have an ice cream machine, pour into a plastic freeze-proof container and freeze for about an hour until the sides start to get solid. Then mash with a fork to combine the solid ice cream at the sides of the container with the still liquid centre. Straightaway, put it back into the freezer for another half-hour then take it out again and repeat the mixing and mashing. Continue doing this every half hour until the ice cream is soft-set, then let it freeze solid.

About 30 minutes before serving remove the ice cream from the freezer to soften slightly.

Serve scoops of ice cream with sliced strawberries macerated in a little sieved Sukrin icing sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice, if liked. 

Notes 

Always start scooping ice cream from the outer edge where it is softest. This stops ice crystals forming on the outer edges when it’s refrozen. Before returning to the freezer replace the waxed paper and the container lid.

N.B. If you have a sweet tooth and want to eat healthily, it’s best if you to stick with Sukrin’s all-natural sugar alternatives, 100% pure stevia, xylitol, raw honey, pure maple syrup, molasses, and coconut palm sugar.

Carbohydrate 9g Protein 3g - per serving of ice cream (without extra strawberries)

No-Churn Double Chocolate & Cherry Ice Cream

Last week, the weather forecasters promised us that there was a heatwave heading our way and in response to this welcome “summer-where-are-you?” turnaround, I decided to celebrate by making ice cream. Second time around (the first batch was as solid as a rock!) it was voted a spectacular success. With a taste and texture to rival Haagen Daz or Green & Black’s, this sophisticated, silky-smooth, chocolatey ice cream has no added sugar and doesn’t need an ice cream machine to make it. It tastes so good, I’m thinking of setting up in business!

Most no-churn ice creams rely on just two ingredients - straight-out-of-a-tin sweetened condensed milk and double cream. Unfortunately, as fine and dandy as it may sound to just open-up a tin and whip up some cream to make ice cream, a little more stove-top effort is required for the health conscious who don’t eat sugar. Actually, it’s more time than effort that’s needed here. The base for Primal Plate’s version of no-churn ice cream is simply made from organic full-fat coconut milk and Sukrin Gold - a natural, healthy, almost zero-calorie, sugar-free sweetener - gently simmered together for 45-60 minutes until it bubbles down into sweetened condensed milk. Easy or what?

Choosing the flavourings for my ice cream was a no-brainer. Just the sight of dark, sweet, juicy English cherries at the height of their seasonal deliciousness (just 4 weeks every July and August) is enough to tempt me to binge on more of them than I can reasonably afford. However, taking this pleasure one step beyond bliss is the winning flavour combination of cherries and chocolate brought together in a delectable ice cream.

Better still, dark chocolate and cherries are ranked No.1 and No.3 respectively on the Top Ten Paleo Super Foods which means that not only does this decadent ice cream taste divine, it is really good for you too. Anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, cardio protective…the list of health benefits for cherries and cacao goes on. So if you love ice cream, dark chocolate or, like me, cherries, now is the time to indulge yourself completely guilt-free with this low-carb, no added sugar, cooling chocolate and cherry iced cream sensation. 

Although temperatures in the East Midlands never really did hit the high spots this week, this No-Churn Double Chocolate & Cherry Ice Cream most certainly did. Whether you’re stepping out into the sunshine to enjoy a refreshing scoop or two, or you want to create a fabulous 5-star dessert for your next summer soiree, I think you’ll be hard pressed to find anything more pleasing.

No-Churn Double Chocolate & Cherry Ice Cream (Serves 6)

Ingredients

300ml organic double cream

400ml organic full-fat coconut milk

50g Sukrin Gold

30g organic raw cacao powder, sifted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

6-10 drops organic clear liquid stevia

50g dark chocolate (at least 70% - I used Callibaut 72% Satongo chocolate chips) 

225g dark cherries

Extra to serve:

Whole cherries, washed

Dark chocolate, finely chopped or grated

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, bring the coconut milk and Sukrin Gold to a light boil. Simmer on a low heat for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally (be careful, the mixture has a tendency to bubble-up and splatter when stirred!) or until it has reduced in volume by half. Do not cover the pan.

Mix in the raw cacao powder and vanilla extract and whisk together until all is combined and smooth. Pour into a large mixing bowl, cover and let it cool down to room temperature. Do not refrigerate.

Meanwhile, wash and pit the cherries and cut them into small pieces. And, if you’re not using chocolate chips, roughly chop the chocolate into small pieces with a serrated knife.

Add the double cream (straight from the refrigerator) to the bowl of cooled condensed milk.

Whip the cream and condensed milk together until slightly thickened and the mixture falls in ribbons from the whisk. N.B. The mixture just needs to hold its shape rather than stand in stiff peaks.

Add the chocolate chips and cherry pieces to the whisked cream then very gently stir everything together with rubber spatula until evenly combined.

Pour into a plastic freezer container, smooth off the top then press a piece of waxed paper (or cling film) directly onto the surface to stop ice crystals from forming. Cover with a lid and and place in the freezer for at least 3-4 hours.

Notes:

It’s easier to cut the cherries into pieces if you have them facing skin side up on your chopping board.

To soften the ice cream before serving, let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

Always start scooping ice cream from the outer edge where it is softest. This stops ice crystals forming on the outer edges when it’s refrozen. Before returning to the freezer, replace the waxed paper and container lid. 

Full-fat ice cream will become more solid the longer you freeze it. For the best texture and taste, eat within 2 weeks.   

Carbohydrate 16g Protein 5.5g - per serving

Asparagus Loaf

There’s been a seismic shift in my life situation over the past few weeks - and yes, it’s been every bit as horrible as it sounds. All self-care has gone out of the window and I’ve thrown my despairing food-blogging hands up in the air more than once because there has been no time for me to be creative. Nevertheless, with just a few more days left to get your hands on the last of the English Asparagus - the notoriously short season starts on St. George’s Day and ends on 21st June - I was determined to blog one of my all time favourite asparagus recipes. 

Thankfully, not much original thought was required. I’ve borrowed this recipe straight out of Rose Elliot’s book ‘The New Vegetarian Cookbook’ - although I’ve more than doubled the amount of ingredients than the original recipe calls for, because it just doesn’t make enough of this delicious savoury loaf to satisfy my greed for English asparagus.

If I wasn’t strictly Primal, I would most enjoy eating a couple of slices of this asparagus loaf for a lazy lunch in the garden on a warm summer’s afternoon, with a few Jersey Royal potatoes, homemade mayo, a fresh leaf salad and a glass of ice-cold wine. My food fantasy aside - and the fact that so far this year there’s been precious little summer weather to speak of - mangetout peas and some crisp lettuce will do just as nicely in place of potatoes for a lovely Primal-inspired summer dinner party dish. Alternatively, cut the loaf into tasty, canapés-sized mouthfuls to serve with drinks, transport to a glamorous picnic, or serve as a delicious vegetarian option as part of a buffet party spread. I think Asparagus Loaf is very, very delicious - anywhere, anytime, any place. 

Asparagus Loaf (serves 6)

Ingredients

1 medium onion, peeled and grated

225g Parmesan or Vegetarian Parmesan-style Cheese (I used Gran Moravia)

225g organic ground almonds (I bulk buy ground almonds online here)

4 large organic eggs

285ml single cream (I actually used 250ml organic double cream and made up the quantity with filtered water)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

freshly-grated nutmeg (I used about ⅓ of a whole nutmeg)

750g green asparagus (at least 30 decent-sized asparagus spears)

Sprigs of organic watercress - to garnish

Instructions

Boil a kettle of water. 

Set the oven to 190℃ / 375℉ / Gas mark 5

Snap the ends off the asparagus spears and using a potato peeler trim off the bottom third of the spears to make sure that all the tough part has been removed - you should end up with about 325-350 grams of trimmed asparagus.

Pour the boiling water from the kettle into a large pan. Put the trimmed asparagus into a steamer basket set over the boiling water, put the pan lid on and steam the asparagus for 3 minutes. Drain, refresh under cold water, drain well again and set aside. 

Grease a 2lb loaf tin with melted butter and line with a long strip of baking parchment to cover the base and short-end sides.

In a large bowl, mix together the grated onion, cheese, ground almonds, eggs and cream.

Season with sea salt (about a teaspoon), a generous grinding of black pepper and the nutmeg.  

Put a layer of this nut mixture into the base of the loaf tin, then neatly arrange a layer of asparagus spears on top. Continue in layers like this until all the ingredients are used up, ending with the nut mixture. 

Bake for 60-70 minutes, until risen and firm in the centre.

Cool completely in the tin, then slip a knife around the sides and carefully turn out onto a plate.

Strip off the paper. Cut into slices. Arrange the slices on a plate - or individual plates - and garnish with watercress.

Notes

It’s well worth taking the time to arrange the asparagus spears neatly into the loaf tin. 

You’ll end up with 4 layers of the nut mixture and 3 layers of asparagus spears in your loaf tin, so try to split your ingredients evenly upfront. When baking this for the blog, I threatened to run out of the nut mixture for the final layer. From experience I know that If the top nut layer is too thin, when the loaf is cut into slices it will tend to break off. Annoyingly, I also ended up 2 asparagus spears short, which then had to be steamed separately! 

Season carefully as Parmesan cheese tends to be salty.

If you’re making canapés - makes about 48 - cut the slices neatly again into thirds.

Although leftovers keep well in a sealed container in the fridge, if the size of this loaf is too much for your needs, simply halve the ingredients and bake in a 1lb loaf tin for 45-60 minutes. 

Carbohydrates 11g Protein 28g - per serving

Nutburgers

The heartbreaking news about Cecil the lion continues to haunt me. It isn’t just the immorality of seeking out and killing magnificent endangered species of wild animals for ‘game’, it’s also the general lack of reverence for animals and nature, prevalent in today’s society, which I find so depressing. Who’d think to dye baby chicks neon colours and then seal them inside plastic bags to sell as toys? Closer to home, I’ve just stood and watched a motorist swerve his car across to the opposite side of the road outside my house to deliberately run over a female blackbird that was foraging for insects in the verge!

I’ve been teetering on the brink of eliminating all meat from my diet for a long time, but a constant stream of ugly events, symptomatic of a worldwide epidemic of insensible violent acts against the environment, other people and animals, have pushed me over the edge. It isn’t just a question of killing animals for sport. Whilst ever beautiful vegetarian food is available, why raise innocent sentient beings and subject them to systematic cruelty, mutilation and suffering before destroying their bodies in an industrialised slaughterhouse designed to kill 200 animals per minute? Just to eat? What for?

The fact is, an abundance of delicious, healthy, life-giving vegetarian food IS available, so what need is there to continue the very crude, primitive, uncivilised behaviour involved in destroying a body to eat its flesh? If you think this is okay, why not eat dogs, cats and horses? Or, to take the okay-ness and disconnected-ness of killing unevolved animals for food to its logical conclusion, it's just another step away from killing evolved animals for food, a.k.a. cannabilism. Enough now.

Primal Plate is committed to sharing recipes that are more in tune with compassion, beauty and love - how life should be lived - rather than the inhumane behaviours associated with eating factory farmed meat. 

Sir Paul McCartney sums it all up: "If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That's the single most important thing you could do. It's staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty”.

Primal Plate wants to pave the way for healthy, nutritious, vegetarian, Primal-friendly alternatives to meat that won’t compromise on your foodie sensory pleasure. Quite the opposite in fact. Vegetarians all too often turn to grains and legumes to pack out their meals, but unfortunately these foods contain anti-nutrients, are pro-inflammatory and can ultimately make you fat and diseased. All Primal Plate recipes are created without the unhealthy ‘bad boys’ - grains, legumes, refined sugar, processed seed oils - but look equally as good, and often taste much better, than their gluten, lectin, trans-fat riddled counterparts. Making meat-free meals is aesthetically more appealing because vegetarianism respects life and doesn’t disconnect people from the suffering caused by them consuming “corpse and two veg”.     

These meat-free, vegan Nutburgers are serious contenders for the best of alfresco or BBQ fare. With a full-on savoury taste profile and a better texture than ground beef or lamb, they might easily be confused with ‘sausage-burgers’ for uninitiated carnivores.

Keep the Primal/Paleo ethos intact by ditching the burger bun and wrapping them up in the biggest, freshest raw savoy cabbage leaves you can find. Top with your choice of dressing - tomato ketchup (is sort of obligatory), homemade mayonnaise, or spicy chutney. Serve with sliced tomatoes, avocado and a handful of micro-leaves for a lovely-looking, very filling, nutrient-dense, moreish burger that doesn’t hurt or harm any animal - a conscious lifestyle change that doesn’t add to the pain and suffering in this mad world. Walter Palmer-ites, take note!

Nutburgers (V) (Makes 12-13 burgers)

Ingredients

2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped

2 sticks of celery, finely diced

100g organic butter or vegan alternative (M&S Simply range do a vegan-friendly sunflower spread)

250g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped

25g green banana flour

1 tbsp organic ground flaxseed

2 tsp organic Marigold vegetable bouillon powder

2 tbsp Clearspring tamari soy sauce

2 tsp yeast extract (e.g. Marmite)

200ml filtered water

450g mixed nuts (I used raw organic cashews, walnuts, macadamias, brazil nuts and pistachios) - finely chopped 

200g ground almonds

4 rounded tablespoons fresh mixed herbs (parsley, thyme, marjoram, rosemary etc.), finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To finish

75g ground almonds, to coat 

Olive oil for shallow frying

Instructions

In a large pan, gently sauté the onions and celery in the butter (or vegan alternative) for 10 minutes until they are soft a just turning golden brown.

Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes until soft and most of the liquid has been driven off as steam.

Mix in the banana flour and cook for a further minute. Pour in the water and stir continuously over a medium heat until thickened.

Add the stock powder, ground flaxseed, tamari, yeast extract, mixed nuts, ground almonds, fresh herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Allow the mixture to cool before proceeding to the next step.

Tip extra ground almonds onto a large flat plate in readiness for coating the burgers.

When the burger mixture is cool enough to handle, form into 12 burgers - about 6cm (2½”) wide x 2 cm (¾”) thick, weighing approximately 100g each. N.B. Don’t make the burgers much bigger than this because they’re easier to manoeuvre and turn them over in the pan (without breaking up) if they’re smaller and more compact.

Coat the burgers in the ground almonds and place onto a clean plate. Cover loosely with cling film and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to start cooking.

Cook on a lightly oiled flat tin (or frying pan) over the barbecue. Alternatively, if you’re not firing up the barbecue, gently fry the burgers in a little olive oil in an oven-proof frying pan over a moderate heat for about 3-5 minutes on each side, until lightly browned. Then place the frying pan in the oven (pre-heated to 190℃) for a further 8-10 minutes to heat through completely. 

We topped the burger with ketchup and mayo, slices of tomato and vegetarian mozzarella and some pretty micro leaves, before wrapping around the savoy cabbage leaf. Knives and forks not needed!

Notes:

The easiest, quickest and least messy way to finely chop the mixed nuts is in a food processor. Ditto the mushrooms and fresh herbs.

To make this recipe suitable for vegans, I used ground almonds for coating these burgers. However, if you eat eggs and you have some 2-3 day old leftover Grain-free Bread vegetarians can convert this into panko-style breadcrumbs for a crispier coating. 

To make panko-style breadcrumbs for coating: 

• Pre-heat the oven to 140℃. 
• Cut about 150g of grain-free bread (including the crust) into cubes. Using the coarse grater/shredding disk of a food processor, push the bread cubes through the feeder tube to make coarse crumbs. 
• Spread the crumbs out onto a baking sheet in a single layer and bake for about 15-20 minutes until they are dry but not browned. Tip: To ensure the crumbs bake evenly, take them out of the oven every 5 minutes or so and turn them over with a spatula, then give the tray a good shake to level them out again before continuing with the cooking process.
• When the crumbs are completely dried-out (crispy but not toasted) remove them from the oven and allow to cool.
• Coat the burgers in the dried breadcrumbs and cook as above,

The burger mixture can be made 2-3 days in advance and kept covered in a refrigerator. It can then be shaped into burgers and coated with ground almonds/dried breadcrumbs the day you intend to eat them. 

Carbohydrate 10g Protein 17g - per burger

Good food, wine, a generous tomato and vegetarian mozzarella salad and our nutburgers are the perfect partners for chilled-out al fresco dining.

Summer Berry & Lemon Cream Tigernut Tart

This week was the start of Wimbledon (think strawberries and cream) and culminates in Independence Day (Saturday, 4th July) - think, ‘Happy Birthday’, to my beautiful daughter, Sarah! After that Mirror Imaging is into a run of photoshoots and weddings on five consecutive weekends that will keep us both busy until the end of September. So with that in mind, I really wanted to make an extra special summer birthday ‘cake’ for Sarah, not only to celebrate her birthday but also the last of our leisurely weekends for the foreseeable future!

Today, I am so excited to be able to bring something completely new to the party - a delicious summer fruit tart made with tiger nut pastry. “Tiger, erm what?”…I hear you say!

Q. When is a nut not a nut? A. When it’s a tiger nut! 

Tiger nuts, also known as ‘earth almonds’ and in Spain, ‘chufas’, are the sweet, brown, nutty, ‘super’ tubers of the sedge plant (a stubborn, weed-like grass), which is grown and harvested like potatoes. And, they are incredibly good for you. 

Truly Primal/Paleo (our early human ancestors used to forage and feast on this nutrient dense wonder food), tiger nuts have a nutritional profile that really holds its own against red meat, olive oil and even human breast milk. In fact, tigernut milk (recipe for Spanish style ‘Horchata de Chufas' coming soon) is the healthiest substitute for dairy milk because it is rich in monounsaturated fat and does not contain inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids like other nut milks do. Tiger nuts are also full of dietary fibre, particularly resistant starch, are high in minerals (magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, calcium and iron) and Vitamins C and E. Sounds to me like the under-utilised tiger nut might well be the answer to 795 million people around the world still struggling with hunger and malnutrition! 

And, in modern society, where people are often overfed and under-nourished, research suggests that tiger nuts can help reverse or stop the progression of degenerative diseases such as  diabetes, heart disease, circulatory problems, digestive disorders, autoimmune diseases and some cancers, including colon cancer.

I’ve only just re-discovered tiger nuts (they were sold as sweets when I was little) as part of my ongoing search for grain-free, gluten-free and now nut and allergy-free alternatives to grain flours. To say I’m chuffed with the way my chufa pastry lined Summer Berry & Lemon Cream Tigernut Tart worked out, is an understatement! This new kid on the block for lovers of Primal/Paleo treats, ticks all the boxes for healthy, nutritious food that makes you glad to be alive - indeed a little bit smug - because who would guess that this gorgeous Summer Berry & Lemon Cream Tigernut Tart would be entirely compatible with a low-carb, refined sugar-free diet?

When cooked, this tigernut pastry has more the taste and texture of a biscuit cheesecake base than it does shortcrust pastry per se, but I like this. As pastry goes, it’s very user friendly. It rolls out like pâte sucrée (French name for sweet shortcrust pastry) and was incredibly well behaved when I lined the flan case - although a chunk fell off one edge when I lifted my rolled pastry disk off the work surface, it was easy to patch up and press everything back together again with my fingers, once it was in the tin. 

Best of all, because tiger nuts are naturally sweet, you don’t need to add sugar or other sweeteners. I’ve been wanting to devise a recipe for Primal cheesecake for some time, so when I do I’m certain this recipe will double-up, adapting itself to both sweet tarts and cheesecakes beautifully.  

Meanwhile, I hope you’ll make the most of summer’s juiciest berry-fruits in this exceptionally lovely looking tart - I think summer celebrations will be the sweeter for it. 

Summer Berry & Lemon Cream Tigernut Tart (Serves 10)

Ingredients - for tiger nut pastry

225g tiger nut flour (available online from The Tiger Nut Company)

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp pure vanilla essence

30g unsalted butter, melted

1 large organic egg, beaten

a little extra melted butter (about 5g), for greasing 

Instructions - to make the pastry case

Pre-heat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4.

Grease the base and sides of an 8 inch loose-bottomed fluted flan tin with melted butter.

Combine the tiger nut flour, baking powder and vanilla essence in a bowl.

Mix in the melted butter, then add the beaten egg and stir with a fork to combine.

When roughly combined, abandon the fork and bring the mixture together with your hand to achieve a firm but moist dough. 

Roll out to a round thickness of 3mm-6mm between two sheets of plastic cling film (to avoid the dough sticking to your worktop or rolling pin). As you roll, turn regularly to achieve an even round shape that is approximately 2½cm/1” larger than the circumference of your tart tin (this allows for the sides of the tart). 

Carefully peel off the top layer of cling film, then loosely wrap the pastry around your rolling pin removing the bottom layer of cling film as you do, then using the rolling pin to support the pastry, lift it one piece directly into the tart tin. If it splits or breaks in transition (mine did!), don’t worry, just patch it back together by pressing it firmly and evenly into the base and up the sides of the tin with your hands. N.B. Since tiger nut flour is gluten-free it’s easier to handle than normal shortcrust pastry, because it doesn't get harder and tougher if you need to re-work it. Once it’s settled in the tart tin in an even thickness, trim any raggedy bits of pastry off the top edge by going around with a sharp knife (chef’s privilege to eat these pastry off-cuts raw!)

Prick the base of the tart all over with the prongs of a fork. 

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned and crisp. Leave to cool completely in the tin before transferring to a serving plate.  

Ingredients - for lemon cream filling

150ml Primal Lemon Curd

150ml Crème Fraîche (I used Roddas)

150ml Double Cream

Instructions - to make the lemon cream filling

Put all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until the mixture thickens and will stand in soft peaks.

Cover and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble your tart. 

Ingredients - for fruit topping

250g fresh strawberries, picked over and cleaned as necessary

175g fresh raspberries 

100g fresh blueberries

A few sprigs of fresh mint or lemon balm, to decorate

Instructions - to assemble the tart 

Not more than an hour before serving the tart, place the pastry case onto a serving plate. 

Spoon the lemon cream filling into the tart case and spread out evenly.

Arrange the fruit attractively on top of the lemon cream filling, then garnish with sprigs of fresh mint or lemon balm. 

Notes

Although this tart looks like ‘fancy-pants’ French patisserie, please do not be intimidated by the recipe. Rolling out the pastry and lining the tart tin is the only challenge - and only then for the novice cook. Everything else is quick and easy to do - including making the pastry and assembling the tart. If you need to, just follow the photographs for how to arrange the fruit topping.

I suggest you make a batch of yummy Primal Lemon Curd up to several days in advance (in readiness for the lemon cream filling) and store (hide!) in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble your tart. 

I like the visual treat of using several different types of summer berries as the topping for this tart - and the particular selection I’ve chosen all marry well with the lemon cream filling. However, just one type of fruit (blackberries, cherries, sliced peaches, apricots, etc.), or any combination you like, will work. Just select the sweetest, juiciest and most visually appealing fruit you can find.

Refrigerated in an airtight container, this tart still eats really well the next day.

Carbohydrate 26g Protein 5g - per serving