The Future is Bright - Tarte aux Oranges

Fanny makes this her 'Star Dish of the Week' as she is so pleased with it with it's sparkling bright colours, splendid vitamin content and simple set-up. It is yet another flan, which really must be Fanny's favourites, but this one has a fresh and vibrant feel, using boiled oranges. Yes, boiled. It doesn't sound appetising but it's intriguing. It seems particularly cheery today, and a real antidote to the 'depressing guff' Fanny alludes to as the reason for celebrating all kinds of citrus, as I am packing away the Christmas tree and decorations and reflecting on the year past and what's in store for the year ahead. Fanny suggests this as a large flan, but I decide to scale it back a little and make individual ones, after all it's been a few weeks of over indulgence! 

The oranges - or large globose many celled berries with sub-acid juicy pulp enclosed in a tough rind, externally of a bright reddish yellow/orange colour to give the definition provided by Fanny - should be popped in a pan, covered liberally in cold water which is then brought to the boil before simmering gently for around an hour. Fanny suggests that the way to tell if they are ready is to pinch them lightly between your first finger and thumb and they should be as flabby and soft as a worn out tennis ball. This isn't a point of reference I am familiar with, and I have no worn out tennis balls to hand, but after an hour with the kitchen smelling heavenly they are quite squishy, which seems right. They need to be plunged into iced water now to cool completely.

Meantime I prepare my flan case and ever trusty confectioners custard. I have some individual cases left over from a previous bake which seem ideal, so just need to whip up a batch of custard. Maybe as a result of the Christmas clear out and the need for some retro comfort, or because the colour seems so bright and appropriate, I go against Fanny's method and make my custard from Birds powder. How very daring of me! Total rebel, is this the way 2014 is going to be?!

Once the oranges are cool, Fanny tells me to wipe them thoroughly and slice them neatly into 1/8 inch slices, skin and all, pop them into a shallow pan, cover with stock sugar syrup and simmer gently for 20 minutes. The syrup reduces quite a bit in this time. Once again the whole house is filled with vibrant orange aromas, replacing the familiar pine smell of the tree.

When the custard is cooled and spooned into the cases, the only remaining thing to do is to add some orange juice and a splash of orange liqueur (thanks Fanny!) to the reduced syrup and brush it over the neatly placed orange slices. I can see why this is Fanny's Star Dish of the week now, it's such a lovely colour, the flat smells wonderful and it tastes smashing - just like the very best homemade marmalade. So, Christmas is over but I am sure there is lots to look forward to in the coming months, this sparkling orange flan is just the start!

Could a soggy bottom upset the Apple Tarte?

Fanny doesn't like questions, after all she has the knowledge and is simply passing it on, why would you have any queries? "Do as I say and you will have good results". If she were around today I would have a few questions, but only to help me understand her recipes and techniques better. If she was on Twitter I'd be logging on to her live #AskFanny chat and Question 1 would be - why do you sometimes blind bake pastry and sometime bake it 'raw'? This recipe for a Classic French Apple Flan - Tarte aux Pommes - uses 'raw'. Maybe I've been overly influenced by the return of the Great British Bake Off, but I am concerned about a soggy bottom here...

Fanny gives me some instructions on how to slice my apples for this recipe. I should peel them, but not core them. Then, slice in very thin rounds until I hit the core on one side before turning the apple round and repeating on the opposite side. Fanny says I will be left with two very narrow round edges wedges when cut off the core, which I should stand on the base of the cut and slice very thinly too. I am left with either half rounds or rounds, just as Fanny says. Oh and some oblong ones, I went wrong somewhere! My mistake, not Fanny's! 

The recipe itself is fairly simple again - line out my flan case with sweet paste, top with a thick layer of confectioners custard (I had some left over from Madame Fleurette's Flan, which was handy) and top with the sliced apples, copying the pattern in her own picture of course. 

A quick sprinkling of caster sugar and in the oven it goes. Fanny doesn't say how long for, testing me again, but guiding me that it will be ready when the pastry edges are lightly brown and the apples 'strongly' brown. Meanwhile I am to make a redcurrant jelly glaze, with some shop bought jelly and water, simply heated and reduced a little.

Fanny recommends if I am a 'flan addict' (and who wouldn't be with almost every recipe in Part Two devoted to flans) that I invest in a fluted or plain edge flan ring, as these will slide off easily after cooking. I have a loose bottomed one instead, which seems fair enough to me - again I'd #AskFanny though if I should invest in a proper ring?

After half an hour my pastry edges look lightly brown, but the apples are only just starting to turn brown. Oh dear, decisions decisions - do I remove it now? What if the pastry edges were to go 'strongly' brown too? I take the plunge anyway, and take it out. Fanny says I am to immediately brush the entire surface, including my edges, liberally with the redcurrant glaze. Perhaps my glaze isn't reduced enough, but it just seems to run off. If I'm honest the entire flan looks a little 'liquidy' so I am sure that my feared soggy bottom will be there. However I am pleasantly surprised once it is cooled and sliced (transferred as Fanny recommends with two metal slices underneath at right angles), no soggy bottom at all. I can hear Fanny reminding me not to question her, just do as she says... 

Madame Fleurette's Flan - Filched by Fanny from France

Fanny rather proudly tells us that she has stolen the recipe for this flan (remember do not call it a 'tart' - unless you add an 'e' and then it's French of course which is perfectly acceptable - Tarte) from a little restaurant in Northern France. I wonder if Madame Fleurette was aware of the theft, and did she mind?  Fanny makes it her Star Dish of the week, perhaps to appease Madame...

The recipe itself is really just a combination of preparation, assembly and technique. Oh and guess work. Perhaps if Fanny had asked to borrow the recipe rather than 'filching' it it would be a little more detailed. My first task is to make a sweet pastry flan case using the same method as for the savoury, again with self raising flour, but this time all butter, with egg yolks, sugar and a small flat teaspoon of powdered cinnamon. Chopping the 'paste' with knives is hard work, I may just blitz it in the food processor next time, sssssh!

Fanny instructs me to make and bake it according to one of her very helpful pic-strips as shown by Peter. I'm aware by now that if its simple, Peter is allowed to demonstrate. The 'paste' (as Fanny always calls it) is again soft and pliable, almost pillowy, and works extremely well. I of course, follow each move that Peter makes. Unfortunately Fanny, or perhaps naughty Peter, leaves out any instruction on how long to bake it for, or any temperature guide. I guess. It smells so good as it comes out the oven, that'll be the cinnamon, and looking golden and crisp. Maybe Fanny left out the instructions to test me, I think I've passed! 

Next up I need to take some of my 'very best home-made plum jam, preferly with lots of skins in'. Oh dear, I don't have any home-made plum jam, skins or not. I've never made plum jam. Fanny hasn't given me a recipe for it. Is this another test? Luckily I've spotted a simple recipe on the fabulous Blue Kitchen Bakes blog via twitter, so I get to work and create my jam, complete with all their skins, hoping that is enough. Fanny would be so proud of me pinching recipes! Thanks Madame Jen! 

Now I need to make some confectioners custard, which Fanny thankfully does give a recipe for, and whip up some double cream. Fanny tells me the custard is an invaluable basic for pastry cooks that we will use in many more ways in recipes to come. Lovely, I've never been able to make good custard, always too thin. I follow every step very carefully, although I don't have a double boiler pan. I improvise. This one does become very thick and looks perfect for a flan filling - Fanny tells me I can thin it down to become 'everyday' custard (but doesn't say with what) or I can flavour it with coffee or chocolate if I like, for other recipes. That's for another day, for now I need to start assembling... Custard in my cooked flan case, topped with the full-of-skins jam, then whipped cream, piped, bien sûr.

Fanny suggests I finish it off with some shavings of chocolate. I decide to use some good old-fashioned cooking chocolate for that authentic 1970's feel. The final filched flan is fetching and fabulous, well worth stealing! Merci beaucoup Madame Fleurette!