St Clement's Tartlets

St Clement’s Day – 23 November: St. Clement was a Christian martyr who died in the 4th century by being thrown into the sea tied to an anchor. That should do the trick! His feast day was celebrated chiefly in Hampshire, Suffolk, Sussex and Kent. The patron saint of metalworkers and blacksmiths (excuse me for being picky, but shouldn’t he have been tied to an anvil?), on 23 November it was traditional for an effigy of St Clement (or “Old Clem”) to be carried through the villages whilst begging for alms. A ritual that came to be known as “clementing”. The children of the village carried their own effigy of Old Clem and sang clementing songs for the reward of a Clementing Cakes. Clem Suppers and Clementide Sheep Fairs were also held and the popular clementing tart served.

Ingredients - makes 4 x 4inch tartlets

225g sweet shortcrust pastry 75g butter, softened
1 orange 2 eggs, separated
1 lemon ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
75g caster sugar  

Method

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C (fan oven temperature).
  2. Line the tartlet tins with the rolled out pastry.
  3. Cream together the butter and sugar and gradually add the egg yolks and beat until they are well mixed in.
  4. Add two tablespoons of juice from the orange and the finely grated rinds of both the orange and the lemon.
  5. Beat in the vanilla extract.
  6. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff then fold into the mixture.
  7. Pour into the tartlet cases and bake for 25 mins.
  8. The tartlet filling will rise and form a dark brown top. The tartlet filling will collapse on cooling. Delicious with vanilla ice cream.

Images

Oranges
ORANGES
Lemons
LEMONS