Once I had recovered from the jet lag after our trip to Bali I was itching to get back into the kitchen and bake something! It really is my favourite way to relax.

My baking preferences change regularly. I’ll have a few weeks where all I want to bake is chocolate cake and then a few where I overwork my muffin tins and then a few where it’s all about cupcakes. Right now I’m enjoying playing around with pastry. It really isn’t my forte, I wish I had inherited my paternal Grandmother’s talents in this area. My own mother still talks about her ex-MIL’s pastry more than a decade after her death. Now that’s a baking legacy.

Pastry problems aside, this bake is incredibly easy. Once you’ve rolled the pastry out you just sort of plonk the topping on, fold the edges over slightly and then bung it in the oven. It gives you all the pleasure of a pie without the fuss of baking tins or lids to be cut, fitted and fluted. It tastes divine too!

The blackberries we used here were almost homegrown. Technically they grow wild at the bottom of our road, but that’s just an extension of my front garden if you ask me. Free fruit is hard to beat! Of course you could substitute with whatever fruit you have growing at the bottom of your road (or whatever they have on offer in the supermarket… cherries would be delicious!) Here’s my little fruit picker….For the pastry you will need:
60g plain flour
30g polenta/fine cornmeal (this helps soak up the fruit’s juices and prevents the pastry from going soggy)
1 scant tablespoon caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
50g cold butter
15g (1 tablespoon) vegetable shortening e.g Trex
1-3 tablespoons iced water or enough to bind

For the filling:
Approx 150g blackberries
Approx 3 tablespoons caster sugar
3 heaped tablespoons creme fraiche, plus more to serve

1 baking sheet, lined (although I don’t bother as mine is an amazing silicone coated one from Lakeland)

• Pulse all the dry ingredients in a food processor before adding the butter and shortening diced into small pieces. Pulse briefly again until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add enough iced water to form a dough, pulsing gently to mix. Form it into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 190C/gas mark 5. Roll the pastry out into a rough circle and transfer to the baking sheet. I had a little help with this bit!
• Scatter the blackberries on top, leaving a good sized margin round the edge.
• Sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, to taste, then dollop with creme fraiche. Sprinkle a further tablespoonful of sugar over, dampen the edges with water, then wrap them over themselves to form a a knobbly rim.
• Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is cooked through and then devour while it’s still warm (although it tastes delicious cold too!). Mmmmm…. just look at the fruity goodness…

The original recipe for this masterpiece can be found on p.115 of Nigella’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess. Geeez, I love that book! My current pastry obsession saw me baking a spicy lamb pie from scratch on Sunday and I’m keen to try Delia’s Very Easy One-crust Pie soon too. Have you attempted any pastry recently ladies?

Loveaudrey xxx