melting moments

If there is one biscuit that sums up Classic Country Cookie then Melting Moments would have to fit the bill.  I adore them piped into a Viennese biscuit shape to make long fluted ones, rather than rolled and pressed round.  They are dainty and much easier to eat in this shape. Just pipe the biscuit dough out with a fluted (No.17) tip. You’ll be thrilled with the result - so professional looking and they really do melt away in record time.

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backyard basil pesto

Mary Mary Quite Contrary, how does your basil grow?  My basil is happier than it’s been for months. After all that beautiful rain we were working like crazy at Weka Weka today. An overloaded ute of sugar cane mulch to spread and every weed variety known to mankind trying to spoil our fun.  A new plot of basil, only planted four weeks ago has me running for the deli tomorrow - a big block of Parmesan and bag of pine nuts please! Check out the rows of cultivated basil in Liguria, Italy.  And I thought ours at Weka was a bit special. Pesto anyone?

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autumn produce

NOW is the best time to enjoy Australia's fabulous Autumn produce;

Apples, Artichoke Globe, Avocados, Beans (Borlotti, Butter and Green), Blackberries, Brocollini, Celery, Chestnuts, Cumquat, Fennel, Figs, Grapes, Guava, Horseradish, Kipfler Potatoes, Kiwifruit, Kumara, Leeks, Mangoes, Mangosteen, Nectarines, Nashi, Olives, Oranges, Parsnips, Pears, Peaches, Persimmons, Plums, Pomegranates, Pumpkins, Quince, Rambutan, Raspberries, Red Papaya, Strawberries, Sugar-snap Peas, Tamarillos, Taro, Yams, Zucchini Flowers.

Join me on the EAT IT WHILE IT'S IN FULL SEASON band-wagon.  You'll save heaps of money and your baking and everyday meals will taste better than ever! Shop to the Season. Welcome Autumn!

persian love cake

Updated on March 14, 2012 by Susie

One of my oldest and dearest friends does a lot of gluten free cooking for her family, some of whom are coeliacs and real foodies. Many years ago, when I first started baking like a woman possessed, she shared her gluten free Orange & Almond Cake Recipe with me. You know it, the popular one made from boiled pureed oranges and almond meal. No doubt you’ve seen it in many cafes in one version or another. Winter mandarins can be used too.  Once discovered, this wonderful world of flour-less baking is easily embraced. This superb gluten free recipe requires no lengthy boiling of fruit, no involved prep time, no fancy icing and only takes 30 minutes in the oven. Super quick sophistication. Love the Love Cake.

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low fat healthy loaf

Here’s another quick and tasty loaf I cook every week.  It has no sugar, eggs or butter (just treacle and skim condensed milk!) and is based on wholemeal plain flour.  A healthier choice over coconut banana bread - that's for sure. I love it thick sliced & toasted, then spread with honey or a little butter. This recipe is modified from an old Nestle one. I often substitute the dried fruits or nuts to include whatever is on hand in the pantry. For example, you can substitute the sultanas for raisins & currants and the dried apricots for dried fig, apple or pear. It’s terrific with cranberries added in too. Just keep the total amount to 2 x ⅔ cups dried fruits + 1 x ½ cup nuts. This recipe can easily be doubled for two loaves and keeps well for 4 to 5 days in a sealed container.

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torta caprese

Recipe

❤  Torta Caprese

Had you noticed the serious lack of chocolate in my recipes so far? I’ve been trying to hold off until April - a bit closer to Easter.  But I can't wait any longer.  I’m a serious chocoholic who doesn't enjoy cooking with chocolate in the Summer heat. I think the humidity really spoils the fun.  Like making preserves in February - it's tough work. Luckily winter citrus is so good.

In light of the fact there’s only one more day before it’s officially Autumn -  I give you the first of three adorable chocolate cakes I love to bake - Torta Caprese. None of the three need ganache or fancy icing. I’ll share the other recipes with you when the temperature drops.  Hopefully by then you’ll be enjoying simple Winter luxuries like our beautiful countryside, a peppery shiraz, the odd crackling fire and the company of good friends.

Ingredients 

250 grams (9 oz) unsalted Butter

250 grams (9 oz) White Sugar (not caster)

250 grams (9 oz) good-quality dark Chocolate, chopped roughly (50-70% cocoa solids)

400 grams (14 oz) blanched Almonds, chopped roughly

6 eggs free-range, separated

60 ml (2 fl oz) Limoncello citrus liquer

plenty of icing sugar for dusting

Method + Tips 

Buy a large packet of blanched almonds or purchase natural insecticide free Australian almonds in bulk from your health food shop. Blanch almonds by pouring boiling water over them twice, draining and pushing the skins off with your fingertips. Dry well and toast them lightly for just 5 minutes in the oven at 180°C (350°F). Chop coarsely by hand or in a food processor. Excess almonds keep well in the freezer.

Use the best quality dark chocolate your budget allows.  I’ve used Nestle Club here because I enjoy it and it’s only $2 for a big block on special.  Rule of thumb - if it’s chocolate you enjoy eating and has a relatively high cocoa solid content, then it will be perfect for your baking. Chop chocolate coarsely by hand or grate for this recipe.

If you prefer the cake to have a smoother, more brownie like, Sacher Torte texture then just process the almonds until fine almond meal.  The chocolate can be grated instead of chopped to make the texture finer too. 

Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F). Grease and line a large round springform tin with baking paper. 

Melt butter gently over a saucepan of boiling water. Allow to cool a little. Beat egg yolks, sugar and limoncello together until creamy. Beat the egg whites in a perfectly clean, dry stainless steel bowl until soft peaks occur.

Fold egg whites and butter gently into the egg yolk mixture with a metal tablespoon to combine well. Sprinkle chopped almonds and chocolate over the top, folding gently through to combine all ingredients.

Pour mixture into your prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour.  Allow cake to cool slightly in the tin on a wire rack before dusting heavily with icing sugar. Allow to finish cooling in the tin.

Enjoy with crème fraîche, single cream or on its own. 

Tale

Don't you love European style cakes? They are so irresistible for their texture and flavour. The simple fact that many contain only a little or no flour (perfect for coeliacs) really elevates the flavours.  Taste buds delight in bursts of chocolate, almonds, hazelnuts, citrus and the lightness of six eggs - often with whites whisked and combined separately to the yolks. 

This style of cake should always be baked in a large springform tin. It’s too delicate and light to be turned out onto a cooling rack.

Torta Caprese, as the name suggests conjures up the sights and sounds of the island of Capri in Southern Italy. The rowboat men singing and squeezing their boatload into the tiny opening of the famous Blue Grotto.  Feet trekking down to the gorgeous rock formations of the Faraglioni. Panoramic vistas right back to Naples from the glorious gardens of Villa San Michele, atop Anacapri. Divine leather sandals made in a minute and hand painted ceramic house tiles to take home. This one below is a treasured family souvenir.

A version of this classic Capri cake can be found in so many Italian restaurants around the world.  My recipe includes the addition of Limoncello, the southern Italian citrus liqueur made from pure grain alcohol or vodka, sugar and thick skinned lemons.  

The Italian lemons are superb however our Australian citrus and sunshine are equally as good. Purchase Australian limoncello if you can - some brands have been winning international liqueur competitions against the Italians and other rivals.   If ever in doubt just check out  http://www.australianmade.com.au/consumer-site/ to see if you can buy an Australian made ingredient over an import.

Here’s a few Aussie brands of limoncello worth trying; Ambra from South Australia,  Imogen’s Farm Whlan Whlan and Cello from NSW.  The Lemon Z brand from New Zealand is also very good.

You can make your own Limoncello and it’s not particularly difficult.  You just need lots of patience to wait four weeks while the lemon rind seeps through the alcohol! Any thick skinned lemon will work well - try the Meyer variety for its beaut skin and lower acidity and bitterness. Any shortcuts in the process of making Limoncello result in a bitter and very strong liqueur.

Limoncello is most popular as an aperitivo, served ice cold from the freezer after a good meal. It should be airy and perfectly balanced. I’ve reluctantly offended Italian hosts over the years as I rarely enjoy more than three swigs. It’s so potent!

Don’t tell your Italian friends - but try a 30ml shot in a frozen glass, with lots of ice, Ginger ale and a good squeeze of lime juice. Let me know what you think?

To cook with Limoncello is a dream; syrups for cakes, dessert meringues, lemon cheesecakes, gelato and granita. The limoncello gelato in white chocolate casing from Delizia in Brisbane is out of this world.

We’re off to celebrate the arrival of Autumn - picking apples with the girls at the Annual Apple & Grape Harvest Festival. Too hot for growing apples here at Weka Weka. Stanthorpe should be a nice cool change and provide lots of fresh foodie inspiration and photo opportunities. Talk soon x

coconut banana bread

This is one of my most well loved and requested recipes amongst family and friends. It's simply scrumptious. Banana Bread got so darn boring and bland a few years back. Don't you agree?

Coconut Bread was heading down the same tasteless, often dry path in many cafes and bakeries. Mass produced sweet bread overload! Argh!! And then at last this darling loaf came on the scene and we fell in love with simple, freshly baked sweet breads again.  My friends and family might tell you they still aren’t over it yet. A great result - considering I’ve been making it pretty much non-stop since 2009.  Perhaps they’re all just too polite to say 'you can stop now Susie'!  

Coconut Banana Bread with Passion

Ingredients

2 Eggs large free range ❤ 400ml can good quality Coconut Milk ❤  2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract ❤  2 cups (300 grams) Self Raising Flour (triple sifted) ❤ 1½ cups (135 grams) Shredded Coconut ❤ 1½ cups (330 grams)  Caster Sugar ❤ 4 small bananas sliced thinly ❤ seeds & pulp of 1 large passionfruit (optional)

Method + Tips

Preheat oven to slow 150°C (300°F). Grease and line your largest loaf pan (e.g 10cm x 30cm) or muffin pans with baking paper.

Halve the ripe bananas down the centre and chop finely to achieve nice even slices.

This big banana pile was for a batch x 4 times - to make four large loaves.  You can easily double or triple this recipe.  If making 4 loaves at a time for a fete or party, use two separate large bowls and do 2 lots of double mixture.  The mixture becomes difficult to combine easily if any more than that. As with all loaves you don’t want to over mix it or it will toughen up.

Very quick and simple. Whisk eggs, vanilla and coconut milk until well combined in a stainless steel bowl. Toss to combine sifted flour, sugar and shredded coconut in a large mixing bowl with clean hands. Add whisked egg mixture to dry ingredients and fold through till just combined.  Add chopped banana (and passionfruit pulp optional) combining all together with a large wooden spoon.  Bake large loaf for 1 hour 30 mins in slow oven or until cooked in centre when skewer pulls out clean.  

This loaf freezes really well.  Also keeps for up to 4days in a sealed container or in the fridge.  My family loves it thick toasted for breakfast and smeared with greek style yoghurt - a dash of cinnamon added.

This recipe makes 1 large cafe size loaf or a dozen Texas jumbos muffins. If you have a regular muffin size tin you’ll get approximately 16 muffins or 10-12 muffins plus a small loaf. Cook the regular muffins for 30 minutes, small loaf for 55-60 minutes. 

Tale

Despite getting most of my blogging and baking done through the week, this recipe is one that I often bake on Saturday mornings and really wanted to post up over a weekend.  It’s a fantastic loaf that is perfect to share with family or friends dropping in for a cuppa.

The original recipe version came from my favourite magazine 'Delicious' several years ago. Delicious Magazine run Best Cafe and Best Produce Awards each year, as voted by Delicious Aussie readers.  APTE, acronym for A Place to Eat and A Perfectly Textured Espresso (clever!) is located in suburban Alphington, Melbourne VIC. They won best cafe two years running. This CBB recipe was featured with their story. And I could tell it would reach new heights in the banana bread stakes, even before putting it in the oven. 

For friends and followers in the UK and USA, we’d love to know what you’re baking there for friends and family this weekend.  It's still warm and humid here, the North Queensland bananas are back to .99cents a kilo again (poor growers) and gorgeous big passionfruit $2 a bag.  Lots of end of Summer fun still to be had in the kitchen, on the farm and at the beach. When it stops raining! 

 Summer Sunday Craft Markets, Queens Park Toowoomba QLD - handmade with love heaven.

pork & fennel sausage rolls

Truth No. 7.  I had never made a sausage roll before opening at Le Petite. I’d seen far too many frozen tuck-shop and bakery chain versions. Put off to say the least. But I was missing the point (and niche) entirely. Our Gold Coast patrons sausage roll fetish quickly put me straight. They could not be silenced by citrus cakes, a french sounding name and homely fit-out.  They craved a great sausage roll - a freshly baked one made with love and quality ingredients.

After I reluctantly rose to the challenge, our customers went on to buy more sausage rolls than any other product. Coffee excluded of course. The whiff and waft down the street of a fresh batch always had instant effect. I’d love to see the Bourke Street Bakery Sydney frenzy when theirs come out. Anyone been lately? Share your sausage roll experiences in comments below. My recipe is quite similar to Bourke St, minus the celery and plus a few added extras.  

Pork & Fennel Sausage Rolls

Ingredients - A good splash Extra Virgin Olive Oil to coat frying pan ❤ 5 large garlic cloves, smashed & finely chopped ❤ 3 tablespoons fennel seeds, pumelled in mortar & pestle ❤ 4 sprigs fresh thyme ❤ 1 large brown onion, finely chopped ❤ 1 large celery, finely chopped ❤ 1 grated carrot ❤ 1.2 kg (2lb 10 oz) lean minced (ground) pork ❤ 2 slices of day old grain bread crumbed in processor (I use my Kitchenaid blender) ❤ 3 teaspoons sea salt ❤ generous amount freshly cracked pepper (how much depends on if kids are having some) ❤ good dash worcestershire sauce ❤ ⅓ cup good quality tomato relish or tomato sauce ❤ 4-5 sheets Puff Pastry ❤ egg wash (100ml milk, pinch of salt, 1 egg - whisked together) ❤ fennel seeds for sprinkling, or poppy seeds, or sesame seeds if you prefer

Method + Tips 

Preheat oven to moderately hot 200°C (400°F). Line a flat, large baking tray with baking paper. Smash and chop the garlic finely. Chop onion finely too or whiz in a processor/chopper. Peel carrot and grate coarsely. Pummel fennel and thyme in mortar and pestle.

Add a good splash of olive oil to your frying pan.  Fry off onion and garlic for less than 2 minutes - just until coated and a little translucent. Add thyme and fennel seeds - fry together until aromatic - another minute or two.

In your largest mixing bowl, combine mince and cooled ingredients from the frying pan. Also add grated carrot, breadcrumbs, sea salt, cracked pepper and sauces.  I always combine this by getting into it and using my hands, mixing for 2-3 minutes - working the protein in the meat and evenly distributing the flavours. 

Ensure your whole bench is clean and clear of any clutter. Make your egg wash and have pastry brush and seeds for topping ready. Lay out your puff pastry into a rectangle. Divide your mince into 3 or 6 evenly sized portions, depending on how wide your pastry is and if you are going to roll it vertical or horizontal. Either is fine. I buy long wide puff pastry in a roll so I normally roll mine horizontally.  Supermarket bought puff pastry sheets can be laid out along side each other in a neat row and work well.

Distribute mince along the length of the puff pastry, smoothing out with your hands an even amount of mince all along the roll. Don’t overfill them, especially if you prefer longer, thinner ones rather than shorter plump ones. Little cocktail size are nice too.

Brush the egg wash along one long edge. Pull the other edge firmly over the meat and roll to close neatly with the egg washed side down - the seam will be down too. 

Top Tip:  cut even portions of rolls, use a ruler as a guide if you want exact size, always use a serrated knife to cut as a chefs knife sticks to the pastry. Keep the blade clean for neat, consistent cuts. 

Place rolls on baking paper lined tray. Brush egg wash on top & sprinkle with fennel seeds.   I think fennel and pork is a match made in heaven but if you aren’t a fennel fan, top them with sesame or poppy seeds. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.

Recipes and methods aside, the best tip I can give you for great sausage rolls is ‘get to know your local butcher’. Be sure he/she is selling and specialising in hormone and chemical free meat.  My second generation butcher in Palm Beach has been in business since 1971. For almost all that time they have cooked their naturally smoked hams & bacon on the premise.  If you buy freshly ground lean pork on the day it has been minced, before being put into its sausage bung (the skin made of animal intestine) you are already streets ahead.  Add Australian garlic, a little good relish or sauce, fresh herbs and season well - it’s a guaranteed winner. Bill Granger likes 50/50 pork & veal mince with chopped pistachio, cumin & coriander. Chicken mince with bacon or beef mince with kidney beans & chill are both yum too. Experiment, follow your heart & have fun rollin.

 

Arancia Candite - candied orange peel

Recipe

❤ Arancia Candite (Candied Orange or any citrus Peel)

A few keen readers ready to bake the Cavallucci biscuits posted below have asked me how best to candy the orange peel. This posting is the simple method I follow. This probably isn’t the traditional Italian method but you know how I like to keep things simple.  Probably in Sicily - home of the best candied desserts and citrus in the world - they use a slower more lengthy method to achieve such gorgeousness. I bought the commercial packets in Italy and it was fantastic.  Maggie Beer & Stephanie Alexander also have a more time consuming however lovely recipe (and many others) in their “Tuscan Cookbook”  They prefer leaving all the bitter white pith intact. I’ve always removed the white pith. This came originally from Maria Anello of “New Farm Deli Cookbook”  fame. I’ve used her book for years and still adore popping into the New Farm deli.

Ingredients

6-8 oranges (or whichever citrus you are using)  make it the best & brightest local citrus you can find

approximately 12 tablespoons of sugar (weigh your citrus zest and use same weight of sugar to zest) 

Method + Tips

With a small sharp paring knife, peel the skin off the citrus.  Remove the white pith too so that all you are left with is citrus zest skin. i.e orange, lemon, lime, ruby grapefruit part only.

 In a small pot, cover the peels with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes. Drain the water off, rinse the peels well and place them in a tupperware bowl to soak for about an hour. Come back to your peel when you are ready.  In my case, four loads of washing and the breakfast dishes.. know what I mean?

Drain off the water and return to the pot on moderate heat with equal weight of sugar added in. Stir constantly and cook until the sugar is caramelising. This means the syrup is turning a light golden colour not dark brown.  If dark brown then you’ve taken the syrup too far to a toffee.

Lay the peel on baking paper to cool and dry. Turn and when dry both sides you can roll in castor sugar if you like. You can also dip it in melted chocolate for a treat.  Lots of lovely uses; cake toppings, icings, biscuits, ice-creams and puddings. In our humid climate, store in an airtight container in the fridge and away from little pesty sugar ants.  Keeps well for months. 

cavallucci - spiced cookies with candied orange and walnuts

I’m keen to share with you recipes and ramblings from sunburnt Siena. My favourite Tuscan meals, backyard Pizza oven stories and lots of digital photos are open on my Mac. But sitting in my lap is a journal filled with handwritten Sienese biscuit and cake recipes. Sweet turmoil. Where to start? And the winner is ... ahh, surprise surprise. Sweet tradition.

Sienese Cavallucci (Spiced cookies with candied orange and walnuts)

Ingredients

200 grams 1 cup Caster sugar

6 tablespoons good quality honey

200 grams Walnut pieces, chopped

85 grams of Candied Orange Peel, finely diced - store bought or home made

½ teaspoon freshly ground aniseed

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

500 grams 4 cups plain flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

plenty of icing sugar for dusting

Makes approx. 26

Methods + Tips 

Place sugar and honey in a saucepan with ¾ cup of water. Heat gently, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved.  Bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 5 minutes until temperature reaches ‘thread stage’.

Remove pan from the heat. Stir in chopped walnuts and diced orange peel.  Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F). 

Sift the flour with the baking powder and spices into a large bowl. Pour in walnut/peel mixture and fold into the flour with a large stainless spoon. Knead the dough just a little and roll into generous sized balls whilst still warm.  Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, until puffed and set but not browned. Dust with lots of icing sugar and serve.

These crunchy aniseed cookies are a Sienese specialty, along with Ricciarelli - a soft almond cookie and all those lovely P’s; Panforte, Panpepato, Panettone and  Pancioccolato - steeped in centuries of tradition. They are surely linked to the Palio horse race and/or the servants who worked in the stables of Italian aristocrats. 

When I arrived in Siena I didn’t know Cavalli was Italian for horses. Or that you could make anything small and cute in the Italian language by playing around with the word endings e.g ‘inni’ & ‘ucci’.

Don’t expect these to taste like a melting moment or other butter type Aussie cookie. There’s no butter here. It’s a crunchy biscuit on the outside with a soft centre that leaves a lingering fusion of citrus, aniseed and walnut in your mouth.

Traditionally these biscuits were eaten after a meal, often dunked in red wine or sweet vin santo.  I also love dunking them in a good espresso. When I make them they remind me of ‘brutti ma buoni’ another Italian biscuit that’s famous for its ugly look but great taste.

If you have time to make your own candied citrus and pound anise seeds in your mortar and pestle - it is well worth the effort. If not, don’t stress. You will still enjoy the results immensely.

Travel Tale

If you have a recurring dream (asleep or awake) of living in a foreign country simply because you’d like to learn a new language, cuisine and culture, DO IT!  Follow your heart.   

This IS reason enough to pack up your life for a little while. Spend your hard earned savings. And be prepared - for when you get there your heart will burst and your soul will fly. 

My recurring dream was to learn Italian in bella Toscana. I chose Siena for its two great language schools; Dante Aligheri and Universita per Stanieri (The University for Foreigners)  and also because the town seemed more approachable than its much bigger sister Florence. 

The gods were watching over me as my fellow students checked-in to their Sienese family apartments in town. Meanwhile, I was directed to the outskirts of town, ‘back down the hill to the train station and continue on past the local Coop supermercato’, directions given in Italian. I didn’t understand more than ‘grazie’ and ‘buongiorno’.

Eventually I found the supermarket and a little further along 'Strada del Paradiso' (apt beyond belief) was a long cypress lined driveway. It whispered 'picture postcard Tuscany' to me. My two backpacks, one on each sore shoulder quickly became light as a feather. I strolled up the shady track, past overgrown grape vines and olive trees to a large courtyard featuring the best backyard pizza oven I had ever laid eyes on. My host welcomed me in Italiano troppo rapido and presented a key to my heart. Actually it opened a well equipped kitchen and my Tuscan bedroom, complete with antique furnishings and a frescoed ceiling! Dreams really do come true.

All settled into my ‘villa’, I headed back into town to find ‘la scuola’ my new school and go ‘in centro’ the centre to see the famous Piazza del Campo. Lying stretched out on the cobblestones of Piazza del Campo is a terracotta dream with azure lining.  Add an IPod, ear piece and the voice of Tuscan born Andrea Boccelli to the mix - sublime.

The fiercest competition and tradition in Siena is the annual Palio Festival held on the 2nd of July and 16th of August each year. Unfortunately, or fortunately however you look at it, I arrived just after the August Palio Horse Race had been run.  But there is no escaping the importance of this event and the fascinating history of the Contradas - the 17 districts into which the town of Siena is divided. 

Other sacred destinations and magic moments are never far away in Siena. Just a minute or two from Piazza del Campo is Italy’s finest (in my humble opinion) Gothic Cathedral ‘Il Duomo’. If you have visited Siena you will remember it well - the Duomo’s unique black and white licorice all-sort striped marble belltower.

Its campanille dates back to 1313, not long before they started making these lovely biscuits in the 1500’s. The mind boggles - a 500 year old biscuit recipe. More stupenda (splendid) Siena another time. A presto!

Karen's Roast Veggie Frittata

This one is a clayton’s frittata. It's baked in the oven, not fried or put under the griller as per usual. However it has all the puffed flavour and simplicity of a frittata, especially when filled with fresh quality ingredients for top results.  Free range eggs, fresh herbs, balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese essential.

Now living in sunny Queensland, Karen moved to Australia from NZ with her family a few years back. Luckily for us she bought along a suitcase full of terrific local recipes and an insatiable passion for fresh produce and quality coffee. She grew up on a market garden farm and was the very first bella barista/baker at our Pantry.

Karen’s Roast Vegetable Frittata 

Ingredients

❤ 3 Potatoes medium sized ❤ 1 Kumara/Sweet Potato large sized  ❤ Pumpkin - half of a whole medium sized one ❤ 1 Red Onion ❤ 2 small or 1 large Red Capsicum ❤ Baby Spinach, 3 handfuls - just enough to cover and layer the base of your tin ❤ Australian Garlic 3 large cloves ❤ 1 cup of Balsamic Vinegar ❤ 10-12 free range eggs, depending on size (10 if jumbo) ❤ 150 mls cream ❤ ½ cup Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated ❤ Feta Cheese, just enough to crumble on top of frittata before cooking  ❤ rosemary sprigs and italian parsley (optional)

 

Method + Tips

Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F). Grease and line with baking paper your largest round springform, regular or square cake tin. Allow overlay of paper at top edges to help lift frittata out when cooked. Be a little careful if using a springform tin - this is best for this big frittata but only use a good quality one that doesn’t leak.  Otherwise you will loose your egg mixture out of the base.

Prepare all root vegetables for roasting by cutting into medium sized chunks - approximately 3cm square. Peel and bruise garlic. Slice red onions - not too thinly. Place prepared vegetables, onion and garlic in a large baking tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar generously over all the chopped vegetables. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and toss until all well coated. 

Bake for 30 minutes or until just cooked. Don’t overcook them at this stage. Lay washed and dried spinach on base of the lined tin to form a bottom layer. 

Whisk together eggs and cream lightly. Add freshly grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Mix through with a wooden spoon.

Lay roasted vegetables evenly on top of the spinach, pour over egg/cream mixture and crumble feta with your hands over the top to complete. 

Bake for 45-55 minutes or until set firm in the centre.  Cover with baking paper or paper towel if beginning to brown too much towards the end of cooking. Top with freshly chopped Italian parsley and serve hot or cool with a salad. This is a frittata large enough for 8-12 slices. It's very high so the slices don't need to be big to fill you up. An average size family should have plenty of leftovers for another meal or tomorrows lunchboxes.

Tale

The pumpkins at the farm are problematic.  There’s never enough of them to go around!  So many delicious uses. We all love pumpkin soup variations in our family.  I enjoy the Asian-inspired coconut milk and red Thai curry paste version the best (it's in Stephanie's The Cook's Companion).  They grow wildly along an embankment near the paddock at Weka and don’t get any attention. They seem to like it that way, sun-baking in peace. Sounds ideal really.

Roasting the pumpkins and other root veggies in olive oil, sea salt and balsamic vinegar makes this dish work so well. You can scent them with sprigs of rosemary during baking too if you like. The baby spinach base and melted feta crumble top is perfect. In our first year at the Pantry I devoured a generous chunk of this Frittata for lunch most days. Gets your daily veggie intake up and really hits the spot.  

This dish is a perfect family meal or easy lunch with warm bread, greens and good store bought or home-made tomato relish.  Don’t be afraid to experiment and substitute also. I often make a Rocket, ricotta and pecorino or Chorizo, Potato and Red Pepper version.  If pushed for time just do the traditional frying pan method instead.  

grandma's salad dressing

The words boring and salad should never appear in the same sentence.  Creating a salad that is a superb meal in itself is really fun - perhaps a warm Thai Yum Salad inspired by Annette Fear from Spirit House Yandina or a divine Salmon Stack Salad like this one from The Deck Cafe at Currumbin Beach.

Photo courtesy of The Deck Cafe - Liz bella barista & photographer

When I want to jazz up a Green Salad, I like to fill it with fresh mint, italian parsley, sunflower sprouts and freshly picked Nasturtium from the garden. Salads can be taken from simple to sophisticated with only a little extra effort on prep and presentation.  

Grandma’s Salad Dressing

Try dressing your next Salad creation with this delightful, old fashioned, handmade mayonnaise. It’s the perfect addition to tangy peppery greens, baby spinach, iceberg, cos or mesclun. 

Ingredients - 2 eggs ❤ 4 tablespoons of water ❤ 4 tablespoons of white vinegar ❤ 4 tablespoons of white sugar ❤ 1 heaped teaspoon of mustard powder

Method + Tips - Beat eggs lightly.  Pour into a saucepan that fits inside a larger one. The larger saucepan should be filled with boiling water about 1/3 full.  You may have a double boiler especially for the job. Otherwise just improvise with a small and larger one - that’s fine. 

Add water, vinegar and sugar to the eggs in the smaller saucepan.  Dissolve mustard powder in a little extra vinegar - just enough to take the lumps out when you stir it with a teaspoon.  Add the mustard to the ingredients.  Stir frequently in the same direction - until dressing starts to thicken. Approximately 10 minutes.  It will thicken more upon standing - when dressing has completely cooled.

Tale

This is a really popular one. I would always make it  x 10 times the recipe i.e using 20 eggs.  You can be very confident to double or triple or more, if you want plenty leftover for later in the week or next.  It keeps well in the fridge for a few weeks.

If it looks and tastes familar to you it's probably because your own Grandmother made it.  This homemade double boiler dressing was 'the dressing' of their time.

I was often asked for the recipe at the Farmers Markets & the Pantry. Hesitated to give it out though as the sugar content is quite high. Perhaps some might feel this defeats the purpose of eating salad.  I say don’t stress. A little of this dressing goes a long way and what a difference it makes. Enjoy.

On Friday I’ll post a terrific frittata recipe that's perfect served with a Salad - drizzled with Grandma’s Salad dressing. See you then.

Spirit House Cooking Class - If you haven't been to one or two yet, you must treat yourself.

giant freshwater crayfish

Seasonal Jotting

No one can dispute we are blessed in Queensland with superb local seafood. Queenslanders cook and plate up seafood very well at home. We are also spoilt with an abundant number of exceptional seafood restaurants across the State. Moreton Bay Bugs, Sand Crabs, King Prawns, fantastic local whiting, Pearl Perch, Barramundi ... just to name a ½ dozen. 

My Dad is and always has been the biggest seafood fanatic I know. It’s no wonder his oldest friend is Michael Gambaro - a name synonymous with Queensland seafood since 1953.  

I’ve lots of lovely seafood recipes I can’t wait to share with you. I’ll throw in a couple of classic Roman & Sardinian ones too from my nostalgic Italian longings. 

Until then, the reason for this posting was simply to share a couple of happy snaps my Mum took on a recent trip to Tasmania.  Perhaps a generous food blogger down there might like to share their ‘secret’ cray recipe with us.  

We are so proud of our Aussie produce - from our farms and the sea. Do you ever worry that species like this magnificent cray, the largest of its type in the world, might be lost forever one day? 

State boundaries and current ‘My Kitchen Rules’  rivalry aside, I’ll let the pics do the talking. 

Perhaps there are two Queenslanders tonight, wishing they hadn’t done so much talking this week?! Good luck tonight Peter & Gary on MKR.

 

Loved up Carrot Cake

Valentines Day Recipe

❤ Loved up Classic Carrot Cake 

Choosing just one special dessert (entree and main) for an occasion like Valentine’s Day or Birthdays. Hard, isn't it.  So many possibilities. Especially for indecisive Librans out there, followers of many good food blogs and owners of way too many cookbooks.

I’m so over chocolate desserts for Valentines Day. I really wanted to use Quince for this posting - Aphrodite’s fruit of love.  The ancient apple believed to be the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. And besides, it’s way too humid here to work with chocolate. Alas, Quinces aren’t in season. 

Then I thought Passionfruit. Aren’t they delicious at the moment. Bill Granger’s Passionfruit Coconut Slice from his ‘Sydney Food’  is so perfect in every way for Valentine’s Day.  So perfect I couldn’t possibly adapt it in anyway - and I don't intend to breach copyright law. No time to ask permission.  I note others haven’t worried if you want to google it. I lightly toast large coconut flakes (from my local health food shop) for the top & dust heavily with icing sugar. Serve with Double cream.

So.. the decision. In the spirit of originality and sophisticated classic, here’s my best simple quick Carrot Cake recipe you’ll love. It’s moist beyond belief, husbands love it (mine does at least) and it’s irresistible in heart shaped minis. Not to mention healthy, as it’s full of freshly grated carrots, then smothered in cream cheese icing & sprinkled with coconut flakes.

Ingredients 

1 cup caster sugar

1 cup canola oil, or grapeseed oil or other good quality oil you’ve got in your pantry

3 eggs

½ teaspoon of sea salt

1½ cups Self Raising Flour (triple sifted)

2 cups of freshly grated carrot (by hand or 2 secs in processor or whizzer)

½ cup chopped walnuts

1½ teaspoons cinnamon

1½ teaspoons bi carb soda 

Icing

125 grams (4ozs) Cream cheese at room temp

155 grams (5ozs)  Butter at room temp 

250 grams (8ozs)  Icing Sugar

dash of Vanilla or Lemon Juice (up to you!) 

(can easily be doubled or tripled for a bigger layered cake)

Method + Tips

Preheat oven to moderately slow 160°C (325°F). Grease and flour your tin/s. Large round springform or mini hearts or whatever you’ve decided to use.

Combine sugar and oil with hand held beater or mixer. Add eggs and beat well. Sift flour, cinnamon and bi carb soda together. Add to wet mix and beat until well blended.

Lightly fold in grated carrots and chopped walnuts with a wooden spoon. 

Bake for 1 hour or until springs back when lightly touched in the centre. Small cakes take approximately half the time  25-30 minutes. It's that simple!

While cake is cooling, mix all icing ingredients with a beater or mixer until smooth.  Keep refrigerated until ready to use. Trim bottom of heart cakes if necessary to neaten heart shapes.  

Ice with cream cheese.  Icing is beautiful when covered all over the cake - top and side. See pic below. Decorate with coconut flakes, toasted shredded coconut, crushed walnuts or sugared rose petals when cold.  Display on your best white cake plate.

Actually I’ve just noticed in my jounal I've written  'Waldorf Astoria Carrot Cake from Mum'. I’m guessing some time way back when, this recipe must have originated from that amazing old New York Hotel. Proof again that nothing in baking is ever new or truly original. Stayed there once on a travel agents super deal.  I'll save that story for another day.  

Best part about the little hearts, you ask? You can give your heart to each family member with a cuddle. Any spares, possible but unlikely, can go to school to butter up a favourite new teacher.

A clever baker friend Jenny, adds a gorgeous mango spread layer to her ‘secret’ carrot cake recipe. Just double this recipe and use two round tins.  Double the icing quantities as well. 

Seasonal Jotting

I promise not to forget the passionfruit while they are so huge & plentiful. Let’s make something with them next week.  Isn’t it quintessential Australia to have a passionfruit vine choking your backyard fence. My latest vine, only planted about 12 weeks ago, is already taking over nearby shrubs and in need of taming onto a trellis. Seems citrus plant food and expensive soiled kitty litter works wonders.

Truth No.5 - I hate red roses. Boycott Valentine’s Day red this year!  Chilli Red I love. And Tupperware silicone red I can almost handle, just because they are such great baking moulds. But Red Roses, that sickly $10 a single stem/$45 a bunch red that is way too much.  Anyone agree with me? Post a comment! Give us girls WHITE flowers any day, any variety and we’ll love you all the more for it.

I can feel some Red Wine Chilli Jelly coming up soon... stay tuned.

sweet tomato relish

I’m thrilled to share this recipe with you. Unfortunately I can’t give credit where credit is due as I don’t know the lady who passed it on to me.

Seven years ago I started this baking and bottling adventure selling my wares at a roadside stall near Weka Weka. One hot Sunday, under the shade of my market umbrella (the local rainforest), a virtual stranger kindly shared her family’s best country preserve recipes. A terrific Mango Chutney and this wonderful Sweet Tomato Relish were two of them. They are still the simplest and best relish recipes I’ve come across. Bottle some soon - before the last of the peak summer tomatoes finish. This batch will delight you right through Winter.

sweet tomato relish

Ingredients - 1.5KG (3lb) Ripe Tomatoes ❤ ¼ cup salt ❤ 500gram (1lb) Onions ❤ Water ❤ 2 cups Brown Malt Vinegar ❤ 2 cups Brown Sugar ❤ 1 tablespoon Curry Powder ❤ 2 teaspoons Dry Mustard Powder ❤ ¼ cup Cornflour ❤ ¼ cup Brown Vinegar (extra)  ❤ ½ teaspoon each of ground Nutmeg, Pepper, Cinnamon & Ginger

Method + Top Tips - Score the tops of tomatoes with a sharp knife to help loosen skins. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water. Allow to cool a little and remove skins. If you prefer your relish chunky with skins on, then don’t worry about this process. 

Thick slice tomatoes into a large plastic bowl. Peel & chop onions into small slices and add to the bowl of tomatoes. Cover with water, sprinkle with salt, mix through lightly and cover bowl. Stand overnight. 

The next day, drain all the liquid from the tomatoes and onions. Place in a large saucepan with the brown malt vinegar added. Bring to the boil uncovered.   Add brown sugar & stir over low heat until sugar has fully dissolved.

Meanwhile, combine curry powder, mustard & cornflour, gradually adding extra vinegar to mix until smooth & lump free. Remove pan from heat & add cornflour/mustard mixture slowly, stirring until combined. Return pan to heat and stir until mixture comes to the boil.  Leave uncovered to cook for 35-40 minutes or until mixture thickens.  Add spices five minutes before the end of cooking & mix in well. 

Stir frequently during cooking and pour into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately. Makes approximately 1½ litres (6 cups). Recipe can easily be doubled if you have a big jam pot.

Other tips: Sterilise jars in your dishwasher on its hottest setting to save time. Always use a large stainless steel, heavy based preserving pan. Never try to make relish or jam in a pot that’s too small.  Lightly butter the preserving pan before starting. Use a long handled wooden spoon for stirring.

During a hot Aussie Summer wait for a cooler than usual evening, a thunderstorm or the odd rainy day!  Preserving should be a labour of love that’s fun - don’t even think about turning on the cooktop during the peak of a Summers day.  The fun quickly expires. Have a good stainless steel jug for pouring out relish. Have your clean lids ready for immediate sealing. Use your largest, hottest gas burner for effective, speedy setting of relish and jams.

Seasonal Jotting

We grow a small quantity of tomatoes at the farm. Growing your own is so satisfying - however don’t you also love the produce of an experienced, specialist farmer. One who ignites passion for their crop - so much so that you can clearly see, hear and taste it. 

Like many of us in well populated areas on the East Coast of Australia, I’m spoilt here for choice when it comes to weekend Farmers Markets. Our closest are at Palm Beach , Mudgeeraba and Miami Organic Growers Market. Over the border in nearby Northern NSW the choice gets even bigger.

We seem more than happy to pay a bit extra for genuine farm produce - Lockyer Valley tomatoes and potatoes, Bayside berries, local herbs and greens, Stanthorpe apples and pears ...all the seasonal pickings.  Because we can tell at first sight this produce has a local farm story behind it. Not an import carton.

Just one example is Peter Sutton and his wife Carmel of Suttons Tomatoes. They make the ordinary tomato extraordinary and visit several farmers markets around SEQ. They grow heritage tomatoes in the Lockyer Valley near Gatton. Peter used to be a dairy farmer and grape grower.  Now they grow several types of old tomato on the grape trellises. Their tomatoes come in all shapes, colours, sizes and flavours - ranging from green to yellow, pink, purple and even black.

I often buy a colourful mixed punnet and reserve these special beauties for a salad, bruschetta, margherita pizza or seafood pasta dish with lashings of local garlic & freshly picked parsley.

In the height of the season, I use the bigger toms (most often the Roma variety) to make double batches of the tomato relish above. This way we’ve got enough relish to use with cold meats, sausage rolls, chicken pie, burgers, frittata and any dish calling for a pretty side of preserved relish. With plenty left to give away.

Update on July 1, 2012 by Susie

1st Prize - My Blue Ribbon sweet tomato relish - yah! So glad the judges enjoyed it as much as we all do.

speculaas bowral style

My favourite Bakery in the Southern Highlands town of Bowral specialises in organic sourdough and sweet morsels. Lovely organic coffee too. It’s called Flour Water Salt . Over the course of a week I became utterly obsessed by one spicy treat in particular with a silky almond filling. They call them Dutch Speculaas. Normally a Winter/Xmas food in Europe I guess. But I call them the perfect coffee food and re-named them ‘Bowral Bliss’.  The guys at FWS wouldn’t give me their recipe. Bugger! However after three attempts and a little trial and error, I’m satisfied the recipe below is equally as blissful.

Dutch Speculaas (Bowral Bliss)

Ingredients

500 grams white plain (all purpose) flour ❤ 250 grams chilled unsalted butter ❤ 250 grams dark brown sugar ❤ 2 eggs, lightly beaten ❤ ¼ cup thickened cream ❤ a  generous pinch of sea salt ❤ 30 - 50 grams Speculaas Spice (ie. as much or as little as your nose & taste buds like - see tips) I use approx. 5 teaspoons of the mixed spice combination to a batch ❤ freshly grated rind of 2 lemons ❤ 1 teaspoon bi carb soda ❤ 1 teaspoon baking powder ❤ lightly beaten egg white for brushing

Almond Paste 

200 grams almond meal ❤ 200 grams icing sugar ❤ 1 egg, lightly beaten + 1 egg white, lightly beaten ❤ 1 tablespoon of Rose Water OR 1 teaspoon of almond extract 

Speculaas Spice

4 tablespoons ground cinnamon ❤ 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg ❤ 1 tablespoon ground cloves ❤  1½ teaspoons ground white pepper ❤ 1½ teaspoons ground ginger ❤ 1½ teaspoons ground cardamom seed

Method + Tips

It’s important to get the spice right first. Traditionally, Speculaas Spice included all six ground spices as above; cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper, ginger and cardamon. When I say tradition, I’m talking dating back to medieval times. Combine all 6 spices evenly in a small dish. In all honesty, I left the ground white pepper out last time cause I found it a little too much for my taste buds.

To make the Dough - Sift the flour, spices, salt, baking powder and baking soda together. Add the brown sugar and combine well.  Using the dough hook of your mixer, processor or by hand, add the chopped butter and combine. Mix in the freshly grated lemon rind.  Lightly beat the cream and eggs together and add to the dry mixture. Dough will come together easily.  Do not overwork.  Flatten dough and cover in cling wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

Note: There should be enough leftover dough to make a dozen small speculaas cookies or ½ dozen large gingerbread men when you’ve completed this recipe.  Each layer (pastry & almond filling) is rolled about 5mm thick.

Make the almond paste filling by sifting icing sugar over the almond meal in a medium sized bowl. Gradually add the beaten egg, egg white and then the rosewater, teaspoon by teaspoon. You need the filling to be spreadable, not runny. Flatten and cover in cling wrap also and refrigerate overnight.

Next day or whenever you’re ready to bake the Speculaas, preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F). Grease and line your cake tin (23cm square) with baking paper.

Allow dough to sit at room temperature to come to workable temp. Divide the dough in half, knead lightly and roll out each portion on a very well floured bench or pastry sheet with well floured rolling pin. About 5mm/¼ inch thick. Drape first rolled portion into cake tin.  Cut or patch as required to make neat.  Roll out almond filling to same shape/size and place over the dough layer. Repeat by draping over the top layer of dough and pressing down around the edges to seal.

Brush generously with lightly whisked egg white.  Bake for 20 minutes until firm and rich brown in colour.  Cut as required. I like the long strips as pictured. At FWS they served them as very generous sized rectangles. Or in little fudge size bites on the saucer with coffee as a sampler. Brutal tactics. They go oh so beautifully with a good espresso.

Travel Tale

Truth No. 5. I have a serious new addiction that doesn’t involve food.  Namely House Swapping. Firstly, the activity of cleaning your home like a crazy mad person prepping for a real estate open inspection. Not so addictive. But secondly, the more joyful activity of stepping off a plane and into someones equally sparkling clean home in a foreign town. Thirdly, the overwhelming delight of trialling local restaurants, markets, coffee beans, shops, corner pub, sourdough bakery, the lot - on the good recommendation of your faraway hosts. Finally, not having a great big fat hotel bill added to one’s credit card before flying home.

I love my life but leaving it behind for a week or two to ponder what life in Town X would really be like is a very refreshing experience. OK, so one of my favourite movies IS ‘The Holiday’. But tell me honestly, who can deny Jude Law in picturesque English countryside isn’t its own special form of addiction. 

On one of our recent exchanges we visited the Southern Highlands.  Bowral was a destination that ticked all the boxes at once and with sudden rapid fire. Timing was perfect. The magnificent Open Gardens Scheme & Tulip Time Festival was underway. But even so, this region has much to offer without 1000’s of tulips. 

‘Our’ house was like stepping into the pages of Country Style Magazine . Or more specifically Highlife - the Southern Highlands glossy mag based in Bowral. 

It was the 51st anniversary of Tulip Time, one of Australia’s largest floral garden festivals. A feast for garden lovers and foodies, lasting two weeks each year at the end of September - early October.

We visited over a dozen open gardens. Milton Park and its 8 acres of formal gardens and 20 acres of lawns and informal areas was in its 61st year of opening its gates and raising money for charity.  Bluebells, daffodils, jonquils, 2000 tulips and snowdrops covered the glade. The ancient Rhododendrons were a colour palette of spring shades.

Corbett Gardens (the town's corner park) at the end of Merrigang Street was just the beginning. Freshly picked tulips, waratahs and warm baking screamed ‘take me home’ from all angles. Barbara’s Storehouse - and numerous other lovely stores - had the most fabulous array of inexpensive home wares I’ve seen anywhere.  

Further afield, Exeter General Store was a little jewel for lunch and local produce, with heaps of handmade confectionery, conserves and great coffee. And what a pretty drive to get there. The town of Berry, closer to the coast was gourmet shopping heaven.

The Southern Highlands slogan is perfectly apt - ‘the journey is just as impressive as the destination’.   I say, if you can’t make the journey right now, at least make the Speculaas.  Terrific preserves too.

Update on June 15, 2012 by Susie

Check out this month's Donna Hay Mag where FWS Sourdough Bakery are featured as a country classic!

Lucia's Chicken & Leek Pie

Recipe

❤ Lucia's Chicken & Leek Pie

You were starting to wonder if I ever bake anything savoury, weren't you? Does this girl eat cake for breakfast lunch and dinner, you ask? I admit my sweet tooth is well and truly filled, capped even - however I love simple, sophisticated savoury dishes too, especially those packed with flavour and encased in pastry!

I often make this terrific pie in a beautiful Robert Gordon love heart shape pie dish. My daughter Lucia (7 years) will eat anything if it's in the shape of a love heart. And this Chicken Pie is a winner with both kids. Lucia’s the only person I know with a tooth sweeter than my own.  She didn't have much of a  chance.  Her favourite bedtime story since the age of 2 was the 'Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book'.  'What cake should I have for my next birthday?' was her favourite game. 11 months in advance.  Sugar didn't come in a sugar bowl - it came in 25 kilo bags. We regularly constructed shiny white cake boxes together instead of lego.

Ingredients

1 whole free range chicken, skin removed 

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup of greek style yoghurt

1 cup of good quality cheese grated - Tasty, Cheddar or Swiss is good

1 medium sized Leek, finely cut

Puff Pastry, enough to fill pie base & top

Salt & Pepper  (a pinch of cayenne if the kids don't mind!)

Method & Tips

Preheat oven to moderately hot 200°C (400°F) & lightly butter pie dish.

Line dish with Puff Pastry, gently pressing the edges into the corners.  Place enough pastry to cover the top of pie dish aside for later.

You can use good quality store bought puff pastry for pie making.

Break up the whole cooked chicken, remove and discard the skin and any bones.  Shred chicken with your fingers as you go.  Slice leek very thinly and fry gently until translucent with a good nob of butter. Don't brown the leeks.

In a large bowl combine cooked chicken, cooked leek, grated cheese, greek yoghurt and beaten eggs as pictured below.

Fill the Pie Case evenly with filling.  Cover the top with pastry, seal edges & brush lightly with a beaten egg. Cut little petals with your leftover pastry ends to decorate.  Arrange in the centre of pie. Sprinkle with poppyseeds or sesame seeds if you desire. Slit top centre of pie with a sharp knife to allow pie to breathe & puff. Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm. It's also lovely at room temperature or cold, served with a side salad.

This pie is gorgeous in any pie dish you have on hand.  At the Pantry cafe, I often featured it as a daily lunch special, served with roast pumpkin, spinach and feta salad with our homemade tomato relish. Our customers never tired of it. I wasn't ever game to take it off the menu.

For non-Aussies reading along, you may not know of our long love affair with the humble meat pie here in Australia. I'll tell you all about it some time. This recipe comes from our Poppy Ron. He’s the best slice and marmalade maker in Toowoomba. 

So, it’s blog dinner tonight. I guess there’s going to be a lot of that happening in our house.  I hope it will happen at your place too. Enjoy.

golden queen peach cream tart

Recipe

❤ Golden Queen Peach Cream Tart

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of finely chopped nuts of your choice, divided (I like using cinnamon coated almonds for this one or pecans)

¾ cup of creme fraiche

2 egg yolks

¾ cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon of sugar

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2 large peaches, washed, dried and thinly sliced

Method + Tips

Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F) & lightly grease your 24cm tart tin.

Press shortcrust pastry (see the pastry recipe from Torta Della Nonna posting) into tin, rest in freezer for 15 minutes and then blind bake in oven for 10 minutes.

Scatter 2 tablespoons of the ground nuts in this pre-baked tart shell.  In a bowl, whisk well together the creme fraiche, egg yolks, ¾ cup of the sugar, almond and vanilla extracts and salt.  Pour this mix carefully over the nuts into the tart shell. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove tart from oven and arrange peach slices over the top and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of nuts and 1 tablespoon of sugar over the peaches.

Return to oven and bake for another 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature. 

Serves 6-8.

Seasonal Jotting

It's love at first sight. My husband longs for this time of year and the first sight of peaches at their best. It's the ideal time here in Queensland to enjoy peaches - in particular he loves Golden Queens. What furry skinned, firm luscious lovelies they are. This sweet peach is ideal for preserving, a heritage variety of clingstone peach that originated from our neighbours in New Zealand. I'm going to do a batch of Peach & Passionfruit Conserve next week.

Did you notice yet? It's my personal mission to uphold the dying art of preserving.  Conserving the bounty of each seasons harvest is more important now than ever before. Why you ask? Because we live in a throw-away society. Because preserving is part of Australia's heritage.  And because it's unrealistic to crave your favourite produce all year round. We're talking about nature here, not genetically modified food.  

Shake the hand of the local farmer who feeds you - wherever you live. Buy his or her produce when it's in season and preserve it for when it's not! See an import - don't buy it! Simple.

The ongoing Australian debate about imports is really scary. It moves from fruit to fruit, year in year out. We must fight to keep our farmers viable and our homegrown produce plentiful. For there really is no need to import fruit and veg from any other country into Australia. Or your home country onward, if there's already food aplenty.

tamarillo jam

It's mid-summer and that means it's Tamarillo time. This jam is an ideal Tree to Table Preserve you can make in less than one hour, not including the time it takes to climb the ladder and pick the tamarillos.

tamarillo jam

Ingredients - 1.5kg tamarillos ❤ 1.5kg sugar ❤  juice & rind of 2 freshly picked lemons ❤ 1 x 440gram tin of crushed pineapple, drained

Makes about 7 x 300ml jars

Method + Tips - Place saucer in the freezer. Butter the bottom of your preserving pan.

Slit tamarillos top & bottom with a cross to assist peeling them. Boil the jug & pour boiling water over the tamarillos to remove skins.  Do this twice if necessary or top up with more boiling water if skins aren't coming off easily enough. Skins can be quite thick, especially on underripe fruit.

Once skin-free, slice the flesh and place in a large preserving pan with ½ a cup of water and cook fruit until soft - about 10-12 minutes. You will need to stir occassionally to ensure fruit doesn't catch on the bottom of pan.

Reduce heat, add the sugar and stir really well until sugar fully dissolved. Increase heat, add lemon juice & cook for another 13-15 minutes - or until jam jells and setting point is reached. Stir as required to stop catching or burning.  Use the wrinkle freezer test (see marmalade mornings posting for more details). Take off the heat and stir through crushed pineapple.  Bottle jam and seal while hot.

Store in a cool, dark place. Keeps for 12-18 months.

Seasonal Jotting

Tamarillos are also known as tree tomatoes or tomato de arbol. They are exotic, versatile fruits native to the Andes of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. Also grown in a few other sub-tropical areas around the world, including our orchard at Weka Weka. Very tropical at this time of year.

You can see the rejects in the last pic. Don't ever use rotten, 2nds or damaged fruit for preserves. The same rule applies here as with all cooking - quality ingredients in, quality product out.

I can't bear to watch the birds attack these beautiful egg shaped fruits. Any fruit that satisfies my sweet tooth e.g great jam/cheesecake/smoothie as well as my savoury one e.g terrific chutney and salsa, is a real winner with me. Get your hands on some. Try them raw too. The yellow and orange ones are sweeter. Don't eat the skin and perhaps sprinkle a little sugar on the flesh when you've cut them in half.  Gotta run. Must pick & preserve mine now - before those pesty birds beat me to it.

lemon lime slice

This recipe is adapted from a Bill Granger one, Lime Slice - as featured in his 1st cookbook named 'bill's food'. Truth No.4: I'm a Bill groupie. A very big fan. Why? One of the not so handsome but important reasons is his food philosophy - the simple sophistication in creating food that's enjoyable and delights family and friends. A man after my own tastebuds.

Ingredients

Pastry Base 125 grams (4oz) butter ❤ ½ cup caster sugar ❤ 1 egg ❤ ½ tablespoon lemon rind, finely grated ❤ 1 ½ cups plain (all-purpose) flour ❤ ½ teaspoon baking powder ❤ a pinch of salt

Filling 6 eggs ❤ 375grams (1½ cups) caster sugar ❤ 60grams (½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour ❤ 125ml (½ cup) lime juice freshly squeezed ❤ finely grated zest from 4 limes ❤ icing sugar to dust

Method & Tips

Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F).  Grease and line your cake tin 23cm (9inch) square with baking paper.

Make the pastry - place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add egg and rind and beat well.  Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt - stir until combined with a wooden spoon until it forms a sticky dough.  You will need to flour your hands well and press pastry evenly into prepared tin and bake for 15 minutes. As you can see from the pic, I like using a pastry tool to make my sides neat and a fork to flatten and prick the pastry base.

Make the filling while the base is cooking.

Whisk the eggs really well in a bowl until quite thick.  Then add flour, sugar, lime juice and zest to eggs and whisk until combined.

Pour the filling over the cooked pastry base and bake for another 20 minutes or until the filling is set firm and lightly golden on top. Remove from oven and let the slice cool in the tin completely.

Cut into pieces and dust with icing sugar. Makes 12 slices or more if cut smaller.

Seasonal Jotting

Although limes seem to be a year round thing in our fruit shops nowadays, right now they are in full swing, well priced and fantastic quality. I'm starting to sound like a Woolworths Fresh Food ad aren't I?  Although ours at the farm this summer are a little smaller than usual - not sure why - their juice is fab and their zest is exceptional.

Try Mint Tea with this lovely lime slice.  Fresh mint leaves in a glass with boiling water and honey or perhaps source some from your local tea producer. I often serve Well-Being Tea with lime slice. Australian Herbalist & Naturopath Lisa Hilbert has formulated an extensive range of herbal teas, majority of which are grown organically in Australia, harvested by hand and shade dried. Well-Being has a light minty taste, it relaxes and complements the lime perfectly. I normally have a latte with my afternoon slice but this is a great exception to make.