LOTI COOKS | TREACLE TART

The Quality Chop House is an institution – there’s been a restaurant on the same site since 1869 and since 2012, Will Lander and Daniel Morgenthau have been running with Shaun Searley heading up the kitchen, turning it into one of the most beloved restaurants in town. Now the trio are sharing their secrets with the first ever Quality Chop House cookbook, so you can finally replicate some of their classics at home. This treacle tart is a staple, appearing either in the shop or on the restaurant menu at any given time, and it’s not hard to see why.

What You Need

For the sweet pastry tart case

250g butter, at room temperature
180g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped out
2 free-range organic eggs
500g plain flour
beaten egg yolk, to glaze

For the tart

100ml extra virgin olive oil
4 free-range organic eggs
90ml double cream
800g golden syrup
100g good-quality honey
170g brown breadcrumbs
1 tsp salt
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 blind-baked tart case
clotted cream, to serve

What You Do

1. Make the sweet pastry tart case. The quantities above make enough for three cases so you can freeze the dough you don’t use for another time. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds until light and fluffy and almost white in colour.

2. Beat in the eggs one at a time – if the mixture looks like it is going to separate, add a little flour. Fold in the rest of the flour in 3 batches and bring it together to form a dough.

3. Divide the dough into 3 pieces, then wrap in cling film and store in the fridge or freeze until you need it. To make a blind-baked tart case, take a piece of dough and roll out to a 25cm circle, 3mm thick. Use it to line a 20cm fluted loose-bottomed tart case. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Lay out 2 sheets of cling film to really get into the grooves of the tart case, one on top of the other, and press into the lined tart case. Fill with baking beans or dried haricot beans and bake for 15–20 minutes.

5. Carefully remove the beans and continue to bake for another 5–10 minutes. The pastry should be a pale golden colour and firm to the touch – if the centre is still a little soft give it another minute or two in the oven.

6. Once it’s definitely baked, make sure there are no holes (you can patch them up with a little leftover pastry), then brush with a little egg yolk to glaze.

7. Make the tart filling. Preheat the oven to 170°C. In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, eggs and cream together.

8. In a saucepan, warm the golden syrup and honey to room temperature then whisk into the egg mixture. Finally, fold in the breadcrumbs, salt and lemon zest and juice.

9. Place the tart case on a baking tray and pour in the mixture (you may have some mixture left over). Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the tray 180 degrees and bake for a further 15 minutes. When it’s ready, the tart should have an even dark brown crust and a slight wobble in the centre.

10. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 1 hour, then slice into 12 even portions. Serve with a good spoonful of clotted cream.

For more QCH recipes, check out The Quality Chop House by William Lander, Daniel Morgenthau & Shaun Searley here. Do tag us in your photos with #loticooks and we will showcase the best ones on our feed.

Photo credit: Andrew Montgomery

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