bj inspired bacon & egg pie

Say goodbye to boiled, fried, scrambled and poached eggs this weekend. Spoil yourself with this scrumptious breakfast pie.

All credit goes to the amazing BJ (aka Belinda Jeffery) Have you seen her website?  OMG! Just like her books, recipe collection and amazing photograper Rodney Weidland. Gorgeous.

"Mix & Bake" is still my absolute BJ fav. I started baking this pie in 2007 when the book was first released and I haven’t stopped baking it since. Our cafe customers used to tell me ‘how a little bit spoilt’ they felt when presented with a steamy slice on a Sunday morning. There’s no reason why you can’t whip it up and feel a little bit spoilt too, this weekend or sometime soon.

Ingredients

Adapted just a smidge from Belinda’s Mix & Bake and using my own method 

600 grams of store bought quality puff or shortcrust pastry (I always use Careme brand puff but Belinda uses shortcrust)  both work equally as yum ❤ 2 large leeks, white part only, washed and sliced finely (you can use onions if you don’t have leeks) ❤ 8 large rashers of butchers Bacon, rind removed ❤ bunch of freshly picked Italian parsley ❤ 1 tablespoon chopped chives ❤ 11 free range eggs ❤ ½ cup (125 ml) full cream milk or cream (I use cream, surprise surprise!) ❤ a little ground nutmeg & freshly cracked pepper ❤ egg wash ie. 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon of water to glaze pie top

Method + Tips

Grease and line the bottom of a 24 or 26cm loose bottom tart tin with baking paper. Ensure it’s a good quality tin that won’t leak or use an extra layer of baking paper and a sheet of tin foil if necessary to line tin bottom. Place the tin on a flat baking tray.

Prepare the leeks by chopping the whites finely. Place in a microwave proof bowl with a knob of butter and cover with cling wrap.  Cook on high heat in the microwave for 3 minutes. If you don’t use a microwave, just sweat and fry the leeks off in a frying pan for a few minutes. Put aside to cool.

Remove rind from the bacon and put into the frying pan.  Fry off the rind for a minute or two to coat the bottom of your pan. Remove and discard. Add the whole bacon strips and fry until browned but not crisp. Put aside to cool and chop roughly.

Preheat oven to moderately hot 190°C (370°F). Line base and sides of pie tin with pastry. Reserve ⅓ of the pastry for your pie top.

Scatter leeks and ¾ of the chopped bacon inside pastry shell. Crack each egg into a cup and add gently to the top of the pie filling.  Use all ten. Try not to break the yolks if you can help it as the whole eggs look so fab in the pie slices. Saying that, if you break a few it really doesn’t matter.  

Whisk the final remaining egg with your milk or cream until combined.  Drizzle this over the pie filling and scatter the remaining bacon and freshly chopped herbs on top.

Cover the pie with its pastry top.  Seal the edges in, squeezing with your finger tips after wetting the edges with a little egg wash. Trim the leftover pastry around the edge with a sharp knife.

Any pastry offcuts can be used to cutout little leaves for decorating the top.  Just mark out the leaf shape and score pastry with a blunt knife down the centre and sides of each leaf to make the leaf veins. Arrange on pie centre. Gently prick pie centre and sides with a fork to allow the steam to escape while cooking. Brush all over with egg wash glaze.

Bake for 50-55 minutes until golden brown and the smell is driving you crazy. Leave pie to cool on a wire rack in the tin. It’s just as lovely served as leftovers for a few days after. Keep it in the fridge.  

If desired, experiment with your breakfast fillings. BJ recommends scattering chopped smoked salmon instead of cooked bacon and using dill instead of chives.  You won’t ever step a foot wrong with that terrific variation.

take two for anzac day

While no original Anzac diggers are left and the number of World War II veterans is sadly diminishing, isn’t it wonderful to see so many more young Australians rising before the sun to attend dawn services.  

From our place we head down the beach by 5am to Currumbin Surf Club, where thousands of “mates” are already gathered.  A very special Anzac commemoration begins. A service steeped in history and tradition that’s now broadcast around Australia. If you’re coming to Currumbin, I’d suggest getting settled in the night before or taking the RSL’s park & ride offer which commences at 3.30am. The official March starts at 4.45am.

If you let the half-light of dawn play tricks with your eyes, Currumbin Beach takes on Gallipoli-like form.  At that favoured time of attack, the shadows, pounding waves and rocky outcrops set the scene. 97 years fly by and that foreign beach doesn’t seem quite so far away.  Millions of silent messages sent to lost Aussie soldiers.  

This recipe is an original, sourced from the Australian War Memorial, as provided by Mr Bob Lawson - an Anzac present at the Gallipoli landing.  Any believer in tradition will resist the temptation to tamper with this recipe. Despite modern adaptations, these biscuits never need chocolate cream filling, fruit, nuts or dipping in melted choc to make them taste this good. There’s less butter and syrup in this original one too.  I use brown or white sugar.

The Original Anzac Biscuit Recipe  

Ingredients

1 cup each of plain flour, sugar, rolled oats and desiccated coconut ❤ 4 oz butter (115 grams) ❤ 1 tablespoon treacle (golden syrup) ❤ 2 tablespoons boiling water ❤ 1 teaspoon bi-carbonate soda, dissolved in the boiling water

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Lightly grease your largest biscuit tray or cover with baking paper. 

Combine all the dry ingredients. Melt together butter and golden syrup in a medium sized saucepan. Combine water and bi-carb soda and add to the pan. Add to dry mixture and combine. Drop teaspoons of mixture onto tray, allowing plenty of room for spreading. No need to flatten the tops down before cooking.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden.  Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks. They do harden on cooling. Makes approx 2 dozen.

If my family doesn't want porridge for breakfast and I can’t resist baking something else with rolled oats, I’ll make this ‘anzac’ tart base and bake it with a light passionfruit filling for afternoon tea.

 Passionfruit Anzac Tart

Ingredients

for the Anzac Base

1 cup plain flour ❤ 1 cup desiccated coconut ❤ 1 tablespoon golden syrup ❤ ½ cup quick rolled oats ❤ 100 grams butter ❤ ½ cup lightly packed brown sugar 

for the Filling

4 free range eggs ❤ 1 cup white sugar ❤ ⅓ cup plain flour ❤ pulp of 2 passionfruit ❤ juice and rind of 2 limes or lemons ❤ 1 ½ cups (12 fl oz) cream

Method

Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F). Grease a 4cm deep 22-23cm round loose-bottom tart tin. 

Sift flour into a medium sized bowl and add coconut and oats. Toss to combine with your fingertips. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt and combine the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in butter mixture.  Combine with a wooden spoon and transfer to tart tin.  Press out and evenly spread and smooth base mixture over bottom and sides of tart tin. The base shouldn’t be too thick. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the base is cooking, make the filling. Whisk eggs and sugar together until pale. Sift flour over the top and add passionfruit pulp, citrus juice, rind and cream to the bowl.  Stir well with a wooden spoon to combine.

Pour carefully over the cooled tart shell and bake for a further 40 minutes or until set in the centre.  Allow to cool completely in the tin before serving. Serves 10.  You can also use this filling in your regular sweet pastry tarts, large or smaller individual ones.

 Lest we forget

A beautiful and respectful shop window last Anzac Day. 

caramelised onion & feta tart

Recipe

❤ Caramelised Onion and Feta Tart

Recently I grabbed one whole hour of uninterrupted bliss... and I wasn’t asleep. Do you get to enjoy time like that very often? A massage you ask? No. Facial perhaps? No chance. It was an impromptu date with the Kim Evans book ‘Treats from Little & Friday’.  I completely lost myself in her story, vintage layout and special recipes. Her book drizzles mouth-watering charm on every page.  It’s no wonder this tart is still No. 1 in her Auckland bakeries. The addition of gruyere cheese and mustard powder to the pastry takes it well beyond expectations.  A modern tart based on the classic French favourite that’s perfect I reckon for the Easter long weekend.

Ingredients

Paprika & Gruyere Pastry

75 grams unsalted butter

1 ¼ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon mustard powder

½ cup grated Gruyere Swiss Cheese (Australian or NZ brands are good)

salt and pepper

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons iced water 

(enough pastry for one 28cm round tart or six 6cm tarts)

Tart filling

1 cup tasty cheese, grated

2 cups crumbled feta (or other crumbly cheese of your choice - blue cheese would work wonders too)

3 cups Caramelised Onions (below)

salt and freshly ground pepper

12 eggs  (note: in the shallower tart tin I used here 8 eggs were plenty)

⅓ cup cream 

Caramelised Onions  (makes 4 cups)

8 onions, thinly sliced

4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

6 tablespoons of brown sugar

good dash of olive oil

Method + Top Tips

To make the pastry - rub butter and flour in a medium sized bowl until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Combine the paprika, mustard powder, Gruyere and salt and pepper in another bowl. Mix the egg yolk and water to paprika cheese mix. 

Add this to the flour and lightly knead into a soft dough before covering in cling wrap to rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  (freezes well if required or refrigerate for up to one week)

Grease tart tin/s lightly with butter. Roll out Paprika & Gruyere pastry to 3mm thick. Line base and sides of tart tin. Rest in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.  Note: it's brilliant pastry - doesn’t need a long resting time, easy to work with, you don’t need to blind bake this one and it doesn’t shrink.

Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F).

To make the filling - Sprinkle grated cheese, crumbled feta and Caramelised Onions in the tart base, spreading evenly.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Whisk eggs and cream together until combined and pour gently into pastry tin, leaving a 2mm gap from the rim top so tart won’t overflow or stick.

Bake for 35 minutes for small tarts or 50 minutes for whole large, just checking egg mixture is set in the centre by lightly touching it. Should be a lovely golden brown and very fragrant. Cool completely in the tin before serving.

To make the caramelised onions - coat a large saucepan with olive oil. Fry off your thinly sliced onions in balsamic vinegar and brown sugar at high heat, stirring as required while liquid is forming and then reducing. Lower heat to a simmer and stir as required until onions are caramelised dark brown and very soft 

The parallels between Kim’s early days in her 1st Auckland bakery and my former Palm Beach one are vivid. Staying true to your original vision is often the hardest challenge in life, don’t you think?

A great busy bakery quickly takes on its own life and form, harder and harder to shape. Despite the name, Kim’s bakery was never going to stay ‘little’ or open only on ‘Fridays’ with beautiful baking like that.  Check out her Pear Tarts too if you get a chance. A petite piece of perfection.

mum's simple apple strudel

Recipe

❤ Mum’s Simple Apple Strudel

This one is all the evidence you need to prove a beautiful dessert doesn’t have to be time consuming, expensive or difficult. Pop it in the oven when you sit down to dinner - then enjoy a fragrant classic dessert 30 minutes later. 

My Mum uses a 400 gram tin of Pie Fruit Sliced Apples. I shouldn’t mess with her lovely recipe but I do prefer using freshly grated apple instead of tinned. This way you get to choose your own just picked variety at your local Farmers or Fruit Market. Today I’ve used Mutsu apples, just picked by Iventure Orchards in Cottonvale north of Stanthorpe. I bought them on Saturday morning at Palm Beach Farmers Markets.  I also like to add in some currants, citrus peel, glace cherries and extra spice. Sorry Mum! 

Ingredients

2 large or 3 medium green apples (variety of your choice - Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Mutsu or similar), coarsely grated   

OR 

1 x 400 gram tin of Pie Fruit Sliced Apples (perhaps use the tinned variety when the best of your local fresh apples have finished)

60 grams sultanas

30 grams flaked almonds + a dozen extra flakes for decorating

60 grams currants (optional)

30 grams citrus peel, chopped finely (optional)

30 grams red glace cherries, chopped finely (optional) 

½ cup caster sugar + 1 tablespoon extra for sprinkling

¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg

juice and zest of 1 lemon

6 sheets of Filo Pastry 

100 grams butter, melted for brushing

Method + Tips

Buy the freshest apples in season you can find

Take the Filo Pastry from the freezer and allow to defrost for at least 10 minutes. 

Preheat oven to moderately slow 170°C/150°C fan-forced (325°F) & line your baking tray with baking paper.

To make the Filling - Grate apples coarsely with skin on and put in a medium sized bowl.  Add sultanas, currants, almonds, citrus peel, cherries, sugar, spices, lemon rind and lemon juice. Stir all together to coat well.  Leave to sit for as long as you like, cover on the bench top with a tea towel.  If you like you can make this filling mix in the morning or day before even and pop it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake.

When ready to assemble the strudel, strain the juice from the filling mix by pushing it with the back of a spoon through a colander. Retain the juice in a bowl underneath the colander so you can use it later if desired.

Remove Filo from its packaging.  Dampen a large clean tea towel and lie out flat on the bench, ready to place filo sheets on.  Take filo sheets, no need to separate them at this stage, and lie on ½ of the damp tea towel. Cover sheets over with the other ½ to prevent filo from drying out.  Melt butter on stovetop or microwave for 15 seconds.

Take first filo sheet and lay flat onto the baking paper on the prepared baking tray. Brush filo lightly with melted butter - especially around the edges.  Place a second layer of filo exactly on top of the first and brush lightly with butter again.  Continue this until you have 5 or 6 filo layers in a neat pile. 

Place filling in a long log along the length of the filo layers, leaving about 1cm from each end. Roll bottom layer over the log to cover and seal pastry edges with buttered pastry brush.  Your strudel will be approximately 4cm/9inch wide when finished.  Take top pastry layer and fold back on top of the bottom layer to close. (A bit like making a sausage roll) Turn in sides and brush all edges & top lightly to seal and help browning.

Sprinkle caster sugar along the top.  Arrange extra almonds on top in a flower-like pattern. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice-cream.  Drizzle reserved juice from the filling mixture over ice-cream or strudel or both.  Dust strudel with sifted icing sugar if desired. Devour with friends or family.

Note: This same filling can also be used to fill shortcrust pastry cases to make easy French Apple Tartlets.  Also can be added to your muffin mixture. Tip: Avoid using puff pastry for strudel, filo is far superior for this dish. Good quality deli bought puff pastry is best.

Seasonal Jotting

Apples are harvested in all Australian States, with Victoria being our biggest producer. Our Aussie growers are so proud and respectful of their land - a superb environment for production that is free from the world’s worst pests, diseases and pollution. They certainly risk the elements, up against frost, hail and most recently the worst drought seen in several generations.

The majority of our Australian apple varieties are maturing NOW in Autumn. However newer hybrid varieties mean we can still buy fresh apples over a much longer period of time. Some growers are also trialling crops of old variety heritage apples and pears, are embracing organic farming and committing to the process of becoming BFA certified.(Biological Farmers of Australia)

A few weeks ago I mentioned our trip to the Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival. Stanthorpe is Queensland’s top pear, apple and grape growing region and well worth the drive.  Some farms in the area also produce figs, raspberries, strawberries, plums, blackberries, zucchinis, beans, cherry tomatoes, egg tomatoes, rhubarb and cherries. 

End result - baking inspiration overload! What to make; Apple Tea Cake, rich Apple Tart, Apple Charlotte, German Apple Cake, Torta di Mela (Italian Apple Cake) , Tarte Tatin - all fabulous dishes with fresh Aussie apples. Not to mention classics such as Baked Apples and Apple Crumble.  

In my revered cooking bible “The Schauer Australian Cookery Book”  Amy Schauer gives us 57 apple recipes to choose from! Perhaps we should just start at the very beginning. The original apple is claimed to be “the crabapple”. Perhaps plonk ourselves under that most glorious of trees and let life go by.  At least until afternoon tea time.

Deep Pink Crabapple Tree Flower in Spring

Update on March 20, 2012 by Susie

Autumn Apple Update from Iventure Orchards - "Great recipe & pictures. Unfortunately the Mutsu season for us is basically over (we only have a few trees of them), but we will have one of the parents, Golden Delicious on sale for the next few weeks. Other great cooking apples we can recommend to you are the Jonathan (yes, a red apple but wonderful flavour and my mum's favourite cooking apple for pies and crumbles), the Sundowner (available from late May), Lady Williams and of course Granny Smiths are always a sure bet for cooking as well.

Interestingly, other than the Jonathan, there are interfamilial relationships between all these apples..The Mutsu is half Golden Delicious as are both the Sundowner and the Pink Lady..the other parent of both of these is the Lady Williams....which itself is half Granny Smith!"

Update on March 21, 2012 by Susie

Another quick follow-up - this time from my lovely Mum.  I could almost hear it before the words were spoken...

"I think your addition of even a small amount of currants, rind and glace cherries makes the strudel taste more like XMAS Pudding than my traditional Apple Strudel. I'd keep to the pie apples with sultanas, almonds, lemon and cinnamon only." 

Mother/Daughter honesty, priceless! Thanks Mum for all your feedback. 

Gotta run before I'm tempted to write something like... 'do exactly as you wish lovely readers' OR 'let the apples be the hero of the dish' - in overdone My Kitchen Rules speak!  Susie

p.s a reader had a question about Australian puff pastry brands. Can't tell you which ones NOT to use but I do love  Careme Pastry if I'm not making my own.  Just click on the link for your local stockist. 

pork & fennel sausage rolls

Recipe

❤ 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.  

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.