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Ember Day Tarts
 
recipe image
Prep Time: 0 Minutes
Cook Time: 60 Minutes
Ready In: 60 Minutes
Servings: 4
Four times every year in the Catholic calendar, there were Ember Days - consisting of a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday - when meat was forbidden. Cheese and eggs, however, were allowed. An 'Ember Day Tart' therefore was a filling dish served instead of meat on these fasting days. Read more . The recipe uses galingale, you can use ginger as a substitute . This comes from the history cookbook below is the original recipe. 'Tart in embre day: take and parboile onynons; presse out the water & hewe hem smale;take brede & bray it in a mortar,and temper it up with ayren; do perto butter, safron, spice and salt and corans & a ltel sugar with powdor douce, and bake it in a trap,& serve it forth.'
Ingredients:
pastry
200g flour
1 teaspoon of salt
400g margarine or butter
a pinch of saffron (optional)
1 egg yolk
iced water
filling
2 large onions
1 tbsp melted butter
4 eggs
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
a pinch of saffron, galingale and mace
1/8 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp currants
Directions:
1. for pastry:
2. If you are using the saffron, place a pinch in a tablespoon of hot water and leave for at least half an hour
3. Sift the flour and the salt into a basin
4. Cut the fat into small chunks and place into the flour
5. Using your fingers, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs
6. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the egg yolk and a few tablespoons of iced water along with the saffron water
7. Mix with a butter knife until it starts to form lumps
8. Add a little iced water
9. Roll the pastry into a ball, wrap in cling film and leave in a cold place for about half an hour before using
10. Roll out the pastry onto a floured board and cut into the shape
11. filling
12. Chop the onions
13. Parboil for about 5 minutes
14. Strain, add the butter then set aside to cool
15. Mix remaining ingredients together in a bowl
16. Add the onions
17. Make either one 8 pastry case or 12 individual sized cases
18. For the latter, roll out the pastry
19. Cut the pastry into small circles using the top of a beaker or cup and place on a patty tray
20. Pour or spoon the mixture into the pastry cases
21. Bake at 350 degrees or gas mark 5 for 30-40 minutes(one large pie) or 15-20 minutes(individual cases). The filling should be set and the pastry lightly browned
By RecipeOfHealth.com