Kitchen Garden Summer Vegetable Tart
(serves 8)
Pastry Case
INGREDIENTS
Home-made pastry (shortcrust or puff works best – shop bought is fine)
METHOD
Roll out and line one very large or 8 individual tart tins. Bake blind, lined with parchment and baking beans, at 170c (lower in a fan oven) for 25 – 30 minutes so it is cooked but not coloured. Take out of the oven, cool and carefully remove liner.
Filling
INGREDIENTS
4 Ripe tomatoes
2 green peppers
2 red peppers
1 large aubergine
2 medium courgettes
1 large white onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
Good olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Black peppermill
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
200ml of tomato passata
4 large free range eggs
275ml double cream
METHOD
With the point of a knife, remove the eye from the tomatoes. Place in a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to stand for just 10-15 seconds before placing under cold running water. Peel away the skin, quarter the tomatoes, deseed and cut the flesh into small cubes.
Finely dice the vegetables and keep separate.
In turn sauté the different vegetables separately in hot olive oil, stirring regularly. Season lightly as they cook. Remove vegetables from pan once al dente (nb add garlic halfway through sautéing the onion). Place vegetables in a sieve to drain, re-using oil for next vegetable.
Deglaze the hot frying pan with red wine vinegar. Add vegetables and passata sauce, bring to a simmer and cook until thickened.
Boil three eggs for 5 minutes, then cool under cold water tap. Peel eggs and carefully cut each into twelve pieces.
Place vegetable mix into cooled pastry case(s). Whisk the remaining egg with the double cream, lightly season and pour over vegetables.
Bake for 25 minutes at 200c until lightly browned.
At Fritton, we serve it with dressed wild rocket leaves from the kitchen gardens, a parmesan crisp (just Google it to find recipe) and tangy lemon oil. To make it more of a hearty meal, add some garlic and thyme sauté potatoes.
FRITTON HOUSE HOTEL, OMERLEYTON ESTATE
Part of Somerleyton, a traditional aristocratic traditional estate near Oulton Broad on the Norfolk/ Suffolk borders, one could be forgiven for thinking that an old rectory now luxury hotel would fit firmly into the classic country house mould. The family seat Somerleyton Hall might be as grand and imposing as you could find but Fritton House Hotel on the northern edge of the 5000 acre demesne is distinctly boho-chic. Full of style but without pretension, it’s as laid back as the Armani jean-clad weekenders who throng here, looking to escape away from the stresses of City weekday life but without giving up any of their urbane fripperies.
A contemporary addition to the extensive facilities around Fritton Lake, Fritton House was brainchild of current heir, the Hon. Hugh Crossley. Hugh’s inspiration and belief in diversity is giving a breath of fresh air to the estate, relieving some of the dependency on agriculture by harnessing the strength of tourism in the Waveney area.
A former London restaurateur, Hugh’s passion for food flows deep and his belief that they should be as self sufficient as they can be. Outside the Hall, his beloved cattle graze on lush pasture, a family herd of Welsh Blacks with fabulous beef whilst elsewhere they farm both Suffolk Mule and Norfolk Horn sheep as well as rare breed pigs.
The game season brings bags of pheasant, partridge and wild duck as well as venison and other ground game. Over at Herringfleet Hall, we see the original walled kitchen garden, now being restored and harvested on organic lines. Munching on a salad leaf and then a russety sweet Williams pear, his enthusiasm for the history and provenance of their home-grown ingredients is infectious, above all the overwhelming desire to make them the building block in all the Estate’s catering businesses.
This very local home-grown produce is clearly a shared passion of head chef Alan Leech, who has brought his own cosmopolitan flavour to the food at the hotel in signature dishes like crostini of seared pigeon breast with rocket, pear and beetroot or slow roasted Somerleyton rare breed pork belly with clam and chorizo broth. Acknowledging the popularity of retro dishes like traditional shepherds pie or pot roasted partridge, he gives them his own decadent twist, not quite how mother used to make.
Upstairs bespoke design has given a unique feel to the nine smart bedrooms, combining the rich warmth of the centuries old architecture with cosseting furnishings, contemporary interiors and modern luxurious bathrooms, creating a clean contemporary look. Downstairs the central old-meets-new theme continues with sophisticated leather tub chairs sitting side by side with rustic open beams, incorporating the past and the present seamlessly with the best in contemporary design complementing the classic perfection of period features.
Truly a 21st century country house hotel in tune with the appetite of a rejuvenated estate for the new millennium.
Fritton House Hotel, Church Lane, Fritton, Norfolk
T: 01493 484008 W: frittonhouse.co.uk
