Fruits of the forage
Nannie Gwen's apple and blackberry tart
I popped home last weekend and my Mum told me that the blackberries were out, which in my mind always means two things: the new school year must be here, and Nannie Gwen’s blackberry and apple tart. Blackberries grow in the little lane behind out house and have done for as long as I can remember. As kids, my brother and I would go out with a mixing bowl and pick them. We’d carefully reach through the brambly crevices to get the ripe juicy berries, Alex on the higher branches and me down below. We used to collect enough for Nan to make at least two pies, if not more.
While the blackberries are now somewhat easier to reach – thanks to longer arms and legs – there’s no less joy in collecting them. My mum grabbed me a mixing bowl and spotted the best ones – those ready to fall off the branches – as I wound my arms through the thorny spindles to pick them, scagging my sleeve several times in the process.
There’s something about foraging for food yourself, or even picking it from your own garden – if you are of the green-fingered kind – that so satisfying. Perhaps it’s the hunter gather instinct. Picking blackberries that you can eat straight from the branch, feeling the little globes of purple juice pop as you bite down, not knowing if you’ll get a deliciously sweet, tannic taste or a tart, eye-wincing hit of a berry not quite ripe, all the while inhaling that warm grass scent wafting up from the trampled undergrowth, is the joy of the summer fading away to autumn. It’s harvest time.
As a child, the collected berries felt like treasure and in a small way they were. For one, it was free food right outside our gate that we could just go and pick whenever we wanted, but also it gave the big, bold, fresh flavours to the pie that Nan was inevitably going to make.
If ever I’m out walking, I always love to spot something that could be foraged, be it whimberries (winberries or bilberries if not from South Wales) with their slightly tart blueberry flavour picked on a mountain hike, juicy plums from the tree that use to grow in the garden (before the birds and bugs got to them), my own grown cherry tomatoes on my balcony, or a spot of wild garlic on a walk in the countryside.
Wales is a great place for a spot of foraging with hedgerows and countryside providing a bounty of berries, fungi and green leaves such as lemony-sour sorrel and herbs including peppery savory – a herb that crops up frequently in many older Welsh recipe books.
The Recipe
Nannie Gwen’s blackberry and apple tart
Whenever I taste this, I’m immediately transported back to my Nan’s kitchen. I can smell the scent of stewed fruit and cooking pastry. This is her recipe and she always used all lard to make pastry rather than butter, but you can use butter if you prefer, or a mix. Nannie Gwen used to use a dinner plate to cook it on but you can use a tart tin or a tin plate if you prefer to give it a crisper base. My favourite part was always watching her trim the excess pastry from around the edge of the pie before it went in the oven. She seemed to spin it at speed with one hand and shear the sides with a knife like a woodpecker with the other hand.
Now, generally this would be called a pie in most places as it has a top and bottom case of pastry, but typically in South Wales, any sort of pie – top or not – is called a tart. I love the rich ruby colour that emanates from this when it’s cut open. Serve it with hot custard or with a glorious helping of thick double cream.
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
125g lard (or butter or another hard fat), cubed
300g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
Pinch salt
Cold water
500g (about 3 large) Bramley coking apples, peeled, cored and diced
Lemon juice
3 tbsp caster sugar
250g blackberries
Milk for glazing
Method
Firstly, make the pastry by rubbing together with your fingers the flour, salt and lard in a large mixing bowl until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add enough water to bring it together into a ball, but not so much that it’s too wet. The bowl should be relatively clean if it’s the right amount. Chill in the fridge.
While the pastry is resting, place the apples in a saucepan over a low heat. Add a good splash of lemon juice and 2 tbsp of the caster sugar. Cover and simmer, stirring regularly for about 10 minutes, until the apples have softened but they still hold their shape. Add the blackberries and gently stir. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/ Gas Mark 6.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out just over half of it. Line the base of your plate or tin. Roll out the other half and leave to the side.
Spoon the apple and blackberry mixture on top of your lined plate and spread out evenly, but leave a little space around the rim.
Gently moisten the edge with milk, lift on the reserved pastry lid and seal the edge with your fingers or a fork. Trim the excess pastry from the sides with a sharp knife.
Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Pierce the middle with a knife to let the steam out.
Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes until golden and crisp.
Allow to cool slightly, and then serve with lashings of hot custard.
If you try the recipe out, don’t forget to tag any photos with #mywelshkitchen.
The Playlist
To me, cooking and music go hand in hand, whether that’s singing at the top of your voice using a wooden spoon as a microphone while waiting for pasta to boil, or dancing around with the oven gloves on as the oven timer counts down. Here are this week’s ideas for your Welsh Kitchen playlist.
The first piece up this week always reminds me of the British Airways advert but is from Lakmé composed by Léo Delibes. Here it’s performed by Neath’s own Katherine Jenkins, and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The second is a country-style piece by poet and musician Gwyneth Glyn from Bangor.
The Flower Duet by Katherine Jenkins
Adra by Gwyneth Glyn
The Pantry
Good food is nothing without good ingredients and thankfully there are plenty of fantastic Welsh products on the market. Here is where you’ll find recommendations to stock up your cupboard, fridge or fruit bowl, or a really great place for food.
Dà Mhìle Sloe Gin
Talking of foraging and hedgerows, this gin using sloe berries is from the family-run Dà Mhìle distillery in Ceredigion, and comes laced with warming autumn spices including nutmeg and cloves – perfect now that the evenings are starting to get chilly.