Dec 1

Dec 1 Advent Calendar - Day 1 - Festive Fruity Pie

Christmas, Advent, Robert Jones, Bread Cake Pastry, Puddings

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas … only sadly it’s not :-( . Not for a lot of people at least.

Had a wander through Caernarfon and Bangor today. So sad to see so many shops closed, boarded up or empty of shoppers. Attempts to ‘act normal’ seem surreal. Especially as the latest round of measures to beat Covid in Wales were announced today. The lid being firmly tightened for the forseeable future.

I am not particularly religious, although Anne-Marie usually begs to differ. But I do like symbolism.

Advent is rich in symbolism.

The word comes from the word for ‘Coming’ in Latin. Sounds a lot better that ‘Appropinquanti’ which means approaching. It’s about anticipation. It’s about hope. It’s about preparing for the real spirit of Christmas. It doesn’t matter about the things that we cannot do. Let’s enjoy the things we can do. If not together physically, then certainly in spirit. Food is such a great way to share and care. Let’s make and give. We’ve got some ideas.

Day 1 of our Foody Advent Calendar

OK, so no little windows to open. Just a festive recipe each day. Best enjoyed with friends or strangers.

Advent Calendars have a curious origin. In 19th century Germany, Christians marked 24 chalk lines on a door, and rubbed one off every day in December. The first with 'doors' were made in Germany in the 1920s. They reached the UK in 1956, and included chocolate two years later. The world's largest calendar was made in 2007 at the St Pancras Train Station in London. It was 71 metres tall and 23 metres wide and celebrated the refurbishment of the station. The most expensive advent calendar ever was made in 2010 by a jewellers in Belgium. It was made of 24 glass tubes each containing some diamonds and silver and was said to be worth £2.5 million.

Like many things about Christmas today, maybe losing sight of the real meaning of the season.

My first offering - Festive Fruity Pie

For the Pastry:
250g Butter
50g Lard
350g Plain Flour
50g Icing Sugar
1 Large Egg Yolk
Pinch of Salt
Cold Water.

To the flour and icing sugar, add the butter and lard and work the mixture into a crumble. Add the egg yolk, and water until you get a maluable dough. Pop into Fridge for 30 minutes. Then divide in two, and roll one half out to line a greased pie dish. The other half is for the top.

For the filling:
Stew up some Summer Forest Fruits. To be honest I used a bag of ‘ready mix’ from the supermarket. I added some strawberry jam and a dash of port. Plus a knob of butter at the last minute. Plus a little cornflour to thicken.

Put the fruit into the dish. Peel, core and slice some apples and pears. Soften in the microwave with some brown sugar and butter. Place them on top of the fruit mix.

Cover with the rolled out remaining pastry. Crimp the edges. Dab some egg over the top, and sprinkle some sugar over it.

Cook for ten minutes on high, then cover with foil and cook for another 20-30 mins.

Serve with some Crème Fraîche, Cream or Ice Cream.