Fercullen Recipe Idea!
Fercullen 18 Year Old Five Elements with a Plum and Almond Frangipane Tart
We love to savour our Fercullen Irish Whiskey in many ways. It’s so wonderfully complex and full of flavour that each sip is a taste sensation.
We also love to pair our whiskey with food, and we have many food and whiskey pairing suggestions and recommendations. Whiskey and food pairings should be like any good partnership, – great on their own but even better together!
We have enjoyed many varieties of local foods and flavours with our range, and we already have many favourite pairings with our Fercullen 8 year old Blend, 10 year old Single Grain , 14 Year old Single Malt and 18 Year old Single Malt .
This month our resident Food and Beverage Specialist, Santina Kennedy, gives her recommendation for pairing for the 18 year old Five Elements. She has chosen a plum and whiskey frangipane tart. The whiskey has deliciously complex layers of flavour with sweet silky malt and delicious stone fruits and even hints of fruit cake. Those flavours work really well with almond in the frangipane and the plums in the tart mirror the lovely stone fruit flavours in the whiskey. Indeed, this tart would work equally well if the jam was replaced with cherry jam and the plums were replaced with fresh cherries. The Fercullen 18 Year Old Five Elements is a perfect after dinner drink to savour on its own but would also make a great accompaniment to this baked dessert.
If you would like to try this combination, we have included the recipe below:
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 175g/6oz plain flour
- 75g/2½oz chilled butter
- 3 tbsp cold water
For the filling
- 1 tbsp plum jam
- 125g/4½oz butter
- 125g/4½oz caster sugar
- 125g/4½oz ground almonds
- 1 free-range egg, beaten
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 3 plums
- 20 ml Fercullen Irish Whiskey
You will need six individual loose-bottomed tartlet tins well-greased with butter.
Method
- Begin by slicing the plums around the stone and soaking the pieces in Fercullen Irish Whiskey. Leave to soak while you make the pastry.
- To make the pastry, place the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the water, and mix to form a soft dough.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface and use it to line the six tartlet tins. Chill in the fridge for 30 mins approx…
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 (180C fan).
- Line the pastry case with baking parchment and fill it with baking beans. Bake blind for about 10 minutes, then remove the beans and parchment and cook for a further five minutes to dry out the base.
- Spread the base of the pastry with the plum jam.
- Mix the butter, sugar, ground almonds, egg and almond extract in a food mixer until it is thick and creamy. Pour into the flan tins and place the plum pieces evenly in the mixture.
- Bake for about 25 minutes. If the plums seem to be browning too quickly, cover the tart loosely with foil to prevent them from burning.
- Leave to cool slightly and decorate with mint leaves. Serve with custard (which would be delicious with a little more whiskey stirred in)
Sláinte!
