Kentish Pudding Pie, or Kent Lent Tart

Living in Kent, I thought I'd like to try a few traditional local recipes, and have had varying degrees of success! (of which more later).   The first one was Kentish Pudding Pie, also known as Kent Lent Tart, which originated in Folkestone, and was popular during Lent when diets were even more restricted than usual.  Having said that, I'm not always certain how many recipes containing lemons and ground rice can be deeply traditional!  Revd  Sydney Smith described life in Yorkshire in the 1800s as being "so far out of the way that it was actually twelve miles from a lemon", so maybe they were widely available!   Maybe the lemon zest was a later addition.  I made this one for a Puds Night, where we had puds from all over Europe, so I wanted a local one to add to the selection.

Kentish Pudding Pie or Kent Lent Tart

Kent Lent Tart/Kentish Pudding Pie

Shortcrust pastry:

6oz/150g plain flour

3oz/75g butter, chilled

3-4tbsp cold water

1 pinch salt

Make the pastry either by hand or in a food processor.  Line an 8” flan tin, prick the base, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to rest the pastry before baking blind at 180 deg C for 15 minutes until it is cooked, but not brown.     

Filling:

½ pint/285ml milk

1oz/25g ground rice

3oz/75g butter at room temperature

2oz/50g caster sugar

2 eggs

zest of 1 lemon

½ tsp nutmeg

1oz/25g currants (or raisins, but currants are more traditional)

Put the rice and milk into a non-stick pan and bring to the boil, stirring until the rice thickens (be careful, you can get to “concrete” very quickly!).  Put aside to cool while you make the rest of the filling.   Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, then add the lemon zest, nutmeg and cooked rice, pouring the resulting mixture into the pastry case.  Scatter currants on the top.

The original recipe suggested this was baked for 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown and firm on top, but I rescued it much earlier!    It is best served warm.