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Bilberry custard tart

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry

125 g/4oz plain flour
pinch of salt
55 g/2oz butter cubed
30-45 ml/2-3 tbsp cold water
(or you can buy a pack of ready-made in the chilled section of most supermarkets)

For the custard

4 eggs
2 egg yolks
475 ml/1pt milk
55 g/2oz caster sugar

Instructions

You’ll need to collect about 225g/8oz bilberries. Remove stalks and stray leaves and rinse in a sieve.
Dry carefully on some kitchen towel (Don’t use a tea towel unless you don’t mind it getting stained purple).

For the shortcrust pastry

Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and add the cubes of butter
Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs with no large lumps of butter remaining
Using a knife, stir in just enough of the cold water to bind the dough together
Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 10-15 minutes before rolling out
Flour the worktop and roll out the pastry to about 1/2cm thick and 25cm/10inches in diameter (or large enough to fit over the dish you’re using)
Carefully lift the pastry and lay it over your dish, moulding it to the bottom & sides
Cut off any excess bits using a sharp knife
Pour in the washed & dried fresh bilberries

For the custard

Heat the milk gently in a pan
Whisk the eggs & egg yolks
Slowly add the milk to the egg mixture whisking continuously (make sure the milk’s not too hot or the eggs will scramble!)
Pour the mixture carefully through a sieve on to the bilberries in the dish
Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas Mark 4. Cook the flan for 45 minutes or until the top begins to brown nicely. When cool, sprinkle a tablespoon of caster sugar over the top

Keyword bilberries, custard tart, tart

Each day starts with a long walk with the dog. It’s normally a case of put the boots on, grab the lead and go. Our camera is quite cumbersome so it doesn’t get out much. However, last month we decided that we were going to make the effort to take it with us more often on these daily walks.

We’re going to start sharing with you some of the photos that we take when we’re out & about – things that we find beautiful, striking, interesting or fleeting – posting a collection of our favourites each month. This first batch were all taken in & around Todmorden this October.

October heralds the start of autumn with its stunning foliage, fruit, berries & fungi.

We stumbled across this beautiful orange mushroom beside a stream. It must have sprung up overnight – it was so pristine.

We didn’t have to walk far to get this image. These cute, little white-capped mushrooms were growing in a cluster on an old tree stump at the end of our garden.