Cranberry Tart and Sprouts Gratin

Cranberry Tart

It was Mary Maw and Rhada Patterson of Cargoes Deli and Cafe in Belfast who first introduced a cranberry topping recipe from Sophie Grigson to a crumbly pastry base recipe from Joseline Dimbleby. The girls from Cargoes put the two recipes together in this simple Cranberry Tart, a heavenly marriage that has been a staple of our Christmas cooking ever since they gave it to us, ooh, it must be about twenty years ago.
I've changed very little of the recipe, just put it in metric and described it a little differently.
The origins of recipes are always interesting for a cook, though we're not always as good as we should be about acknowledging them.

This Sprouts Gratin recipe is also, for us, a Christmas essential. It is a recipe that was at the centre of a scandalous litigation suit, when legendary food writer Richard Olney sued Richard Nelson, the boyfriend of legendary food writer James Beard, in 1984, claiming breach of copyright. It was the very personal sprouts gratin recipe in Richard Nelson's American Food that alerted Olney to the pilfering. Olney won the case and established new precedents and principles concerning the authoring and plagiarism of recipes.
I've changed very little of the Olney recipe too, and certainly not his distinctive manner of description. The only possible alteration I might make would be to make a pure veggie version, substituting chestnuts for the bacon.


So, two classic Christmas recipes, with interesting histories.

Brussels Sprouts Gratin

Brussels Sprouts Gratin

Olney writes: "For aggressiveness and determined lack of subtlety, sprouts have no peer. To be good - or so it seems to me – they demand shock treatment, a counteracting flavour to soften harsh relief without altering character – bacon, anchovy, vinegar, hard-boiled eggs... Mysteriously, those countries that appear to nourish the greatest affection for sprouts are usually content to serve them boiled to death, dribbling a grey liquid."


60g lean bacon, cut into strips
30g butter
500g Brussels sprouts, parboiled 5 or 6 minutes, drained, and coarsely chopped
salt, pepper
120ml double cream
handful breadcrumbs
butter

Cook the bacon gently in butter until limp but not crisp, add the sprouts, season, and toss over a medium-high flame for a minute. Spread into a buttered gratin dish, spoon the cream over the surface, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and distribute paper-thin shavings of butter here and there. Count about 25 minutes in a 200ºC oven.


Cargoes' Cranberry Tart


Pate Sucrè:
175g flour
2 tablespoons icing sugar
pinch salt
120g butter
1 tablespoon warm water

Mix together the flour and sugar. Melt the butter with the water until just melted. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to a paste with a wooden spoon. Lightly press into a buttered 9-inch fluted, loose-bottomed flan tin. Leave to cool in the fridge. When cold, take out of the fridge and bake blind (no need for beans) until slightly brown.
   
Cranberry Tart Mixture:
250g cranberries
250g caster sugar
120g butter
 2 eggs

Place cranberries into a pan and add two tablespoons water and 100g sugar. Heat gently, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the juices begin to run. Bring to a boil and boil rapidly until the cranberries have burst (5-8 minutes). Take off the heat and stir in the remaining sugar and butter. Leave to cool. Whisk the eggs and pour into the cranberry mixture. Pour the lot into the pastry base and bake for approximately 30 minutes at 170ºC.