winosandfoodies

Tomato Tart

Tomato Tart is one of those easy dishes that can be made even easier by using a shop bought shortcrust pastry. I make my own pastry with a shortcrust recipe from Stephanie Alexander's book The Cook's Companion. For the filling use quality ingredients like the best cherry tomatoes you can find, Maille mustard, good olive oil,  Maldon salt,  and freshly ground pepper.

It was only after I put the tart in the oven, I googled tomato tarts to see how long they should be cooked, when I discovered most recipes blind bake the pastry shell before adding the topping. I didn't and the  tart was perfectly okay.

Filling
2 punnets of cherry tomatoes, cut  into halves
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Flaked salt and freshly ground pepper

Pastry
240 grams plain flour
pinch of salt
180 grams unsalted butter
3 tablespoons water

Sift flour and salt onto the work bench
Chop butter into small cubes and rub into flour
Make a well in the centre of the flour and add water
Use a pastry scraper to blend ingredients into rough lumps
Gather together to form into a ball, dust with flour, flatten to a disc and wrap in cling film
Place in fridge about 20 minutes

Remove pastry from fridge, roll out and line tart pan with a removable base
Spread mustard over base of pastry
Top with halved cherry tomatoes
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and  drizzle with a little olive oil

Bake at 200 degrees about 30 minutes or until pastry is browned and tomatoes have caramlised.

Spiced Salt For Bri

Earlier this year we dined at Harrisons in Port Douglas.On each table was placed a sweet little mortar and pestle containing a spiced salt. I've been intending to make my own spiced salts ever since.

 

Last week Jaden at Steamy Kitchen did a post on Asian flavoured salts. It was enough to kick me into action and make some spiced salts for our table.

I wanted to find a way to get more of the cancer fighting food turmeric into my diet. I also wanted to support the initative of  Jugalbandi  and their photographic CLICK  event in support of  Figs With Bri. Bri is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. Bee and Jai at Jugalbandi have organised a fund raiser to help Bri and her family with medical expenses. They chose the colour yellow for the photography event as it is the colour associated with cancer.  Remember LiveSTRONG Day and the fabulous array of yellow food.

I chose a traffic light set for our  table.

Red - Maldon salt and sweet hot paprika
Green - Maldon salt and matcha powder
Yellow - Maldon salt andturmeric powder

Visit Jaden for spiced salt ideas.

....and help Bri by entering your own yellow food photo.

Waiter There's Dried Fruit and Nuts In My White Chocolate and Matcha Cream Pots

 
 
Last week we took a trip to the Sunshine Coast, a couple of hours driving north of here. After a visit to the Buderim Ginger Factory I came away with a packet of organic uncrystallized ginger. This is like crystallized ginger but without the sugary coating. Across the road is the Macadamia Nut factory and after sampling the entire line up of flavoured nuts we  decided on a 1kg bag of raw macadamias.

I've been so busy the past couple of months I haven't had time to enter many blog events but I thought I might combine my nuts and ginger, which is not actually a dried fruit, and enter Waiter There's Something In My - Dried Fruit and Nuts, hosted by Andrew at Spittoon.

After a little thought I decided macadamia nuts and ginger would make perfect partners for white chocolate and matcha. I googled white chocolate pots and the first one up was one from my favourite  Tartelette.

 Earlier in the week I made another Tartelette recipe  - Lemon Madeleines. 
 
Without the lemon glace icing you can see the perfect little bumps.
 
These would be perfect served with my adapted Tartelette recipe for white chocolate pots.

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND MATCHA CREAM POTS WITH MACADAMIA NUTS AND GINGER
(Enough for two greedy people or 4 sensible people)

1/2 cup heavy cream
100 mls whole milk
150 grams white chocolate
3 egg yolks
25 grams raw macadamia nuts roasted in oven for 10 minutes and finely chopped
25 grams crystallized ginger, sliced, or if you can get it, uncrystallized ginger.
2 teaspoons matcha powder dissolved in 4 teaspoons milk

1. Combine milk and cream and bring to the boil.
2. Melt white chocolate over hot water
3. Whisk egg yolks into melted chocolate
4. Pour boiling cream into chocolate and eggs whisking constantly. Bring temperature up to 71C (160F). It will take about 3 1/2 - 4 minutes.
5.Remove from heat into stainless steel bowl placed in bath of iced water.
6. Cool, stirring constantly with whisk till it comes down to 32C (90F), about 4-5 minutes.
7. Divide mixture into two bowls. To one add the chopped macadamia nuts.
8.To the other add the matcha and chopped ginger.
9. Pour macadamia mixture into glass and leave to set in fridge for a couple of hours.
10 Add matcha and ginger flavoured chocolate to top. Leave to set in the fridge.

The matcha flavoured chocolate is not as green as I hoped and maybe I need to add more. If anyone has a formula for flavouring with matcha please leave a comment.

Moroccan Haloua With Dates

I came across these charming little sweets when I was researching ideas for My Breakfast with Maryam. It is the same dough I used  to create the little almond topped breakfast cookies.

They are the perfect little baby sweet and just right for Phe/MOM/enon who is raising awareness for March Of Dimes, March For Babies with her event Blogging For Babies.

This is my adaptation of the original recipe from a book featuring recipes by Fatima Mouzoun.The original recipe uses almonds, walnuts and orange flower water.

Haloua covers all kinds of sweet foods and pastries, and among them are the many different sweets and cookies served on festive occasions. I think these would be  fun to make with friends. All the rolling, flattening, stuffing could do with the distraction of some good conversation. Enjoy them with tea or coffee as they really do melt in the mouth as Fatima says.


Haloua With Dates

Dough
300 grams (2 2/3 cups) plain flour
250 grams (2 1/4 sticks) softened butter.
4 tablespoons orange juice

Put the flour in a medium bowl and make a well in centre
Put the softened pieces of butter into the well. Knead  butter into flour by hand.
Work in orange water.
Knead well together and roll into a ball..

Filling
250 grams (1 1/2 cups) dates
100 grams (2/3 cup) blanched almonds
50 grams (1/2 cup) cashews
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 4 tablespoons orange juice
Place all ingredients into  a food processor and chop until a smooth paste is formed.
Take a teaspoon of paste and roll into small date shapes.

Garnish
250 Grams (2 1/4 cups) icing (powdered) sugar

To make Haloua
Take a small ball of dough by hand and squeeze flat.
Place one of the date pieces on it and fold over dough and pinch ends together. If dough sticks to your hands roll teaspoonfuls into a ball drop into a bowl of flour and then flatten between palms of hands.
Place on a baking paper lined oven tray.
Bake at 180C for 15 minutes.

When cool sprinkle with the icing sugar to serve.

Want to know more about Little Wonders March for Babies Team? Fantastic!! Here is the Team Page. Any amount that you can sponsor is extremely appreciated. Please, please help spread the word and sponsor Little Wonders if you can! Thank you!

A Slice Of Cake For Cooking To Combat Cancer 2

Chris at Melcotte has announced her annual Cooking To Combat Cancer event. I hope you will join her. Chris has thoughtfully made the closing date April 29th so as not to clash with LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow, which finishes on April 19th. Isn't she just the sweetest person? Thanks Chris.


When I was diagnosed with cancer I bought all the books, read all the information, listened to all my friends, talked to my oncologist. I drank gallons of freshly juiced carrot juice, beetroot juice, apple juice. I swallowed flaxseed oil by the tablespoonful. I loaded my oatmeal with wheatgerm and bran.  I drank the cleanest possible water by investing in an expensive filter.

Then one day I decided I didn't want the rest of my life to be controlled by what and how I ate. If I felt like carrot juice I would have it. I no longer would be juicing carrots and washing that damn juicer every morning. Somedays my grape juice would come in a bottle marked 13.5% alcohol. I had exercised and eaten reasonably healthy all my life. Changing my diet to bran and flaxseed oil  would make no difference to my future....and god I hate flaxseed oil.

Now this didn't mean I would go out and eat cakes and sweets with gay abandon. No, that would just be silly wouldn't it? However the occasional cake or piece of chocolate would not hurt me. And cakes can be a little healthy with the right ingredients.

Back in 2001 and thanks to AFS, our beautiful French daughter, 16 year old Diane, entered our lives.  She introduced me to Yogurt Cake, where she would use the yogurt jar to measure the ingredients. Together we made lots of yogurt cakes in the 12 months she lived with us.
  
Now she is all grown up, graduated, and coming to visit us in July. I'm not sure who is more excited, her or me. So I thought now might be a good time to renew my yogurt cake making skills.  This recipe is from Clotilde's Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook.  It contains two cancer fighting ingredients. Firstly yogurt, and secondly I have added some blueberries to the original recipe.

Gateau au Yaourt
2 eggs
250grams (1 cup) whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt
200g (1 cup) sugar
80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon light rum
1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F), line the bottom of a round 25-cm (10-inch) cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides.
In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, oil, and rum.
In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and blend together until just mixed.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Place blueberries on top, they will sink into the batter as it cooks.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, and transfer onto a rack to cool.

Thanks Chris for hosting Cooking To Combat Cancer.


 

Rice Pudding from Isabel's Cantina

Just before I went on holiday last year several books arrived into my mail box.  One being Isabel's Cantina by Isabel Cruz .  I took it on holiday, I took it home, then we decided to move to Australia so it was packed into one of the many boxes labelled cookbooks. Since being unpacked it has shared shelf space with the remainder of my collection I had decided to keep. ( Some  went to good homes) .

Our favourite Creampuff  did an extensive review of the book last year......and tested many of the recipes. 

I finally got out of the pool  did a little cooking this week.  I wanted to try the rice pudding as it has condensed milk as an ingredient.  And who doesn't like to have a can of that open  in the fridge to sneak a spoonful of when no one is looking.  Isabel serves hers with mango but I decided to serve mine with nectarines stewed in white wine and sugar.

Rice Pudding with Cinnamon, Star Anise and Fruit
(Serves 4)

1 cup medium or short grain rice
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups whole milk
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 whole star anise (I left this out as I didn't have any)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Bring two cups of cold water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice and the salt, stir once, reduce heat so that the mixture simmers. When the rice has absorbed most of the water (about 20 minutes), add the whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, star anise, cinnamon and vanilla bean.  Stir thoroughly to combine.

Simmer the pudding over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it begins to thicken, 15 - 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and begin stirring regularly to avoid scorching as the pudding begins to thicken to an oatmeal consistency. This can take about 30 - 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Remove the star anise, cinnamon and vanilla bean. Refrigerate the rice pudding until cold, at least 1 hour or, covered,  for up to  three days.

Serve the chilled rice pudding in individual bowls and top with fruit.

I think I will use this book more living in the warmer climate of the Gold Coast than I would in the cooler New Zealand.

Fig Balsamic Vinegar and Baking Powder

Fig Balsamic vinegar is my drug condiment of choice at the moment. Having found the supermarket one overly sweet I decided to make my own.  A Google search came up with several recipes but I decided to go with my own. Fresh figs are in season here but you could use dried figs.

FIG BALSAMIC VINEGAR
250 ml balsamic vinegar (regular supermarket, nothing expensive)
10 fresh figs, chopped
1 tablespoon vanilla.
1 tablespoon honey
20 grams dark chocolate ( I used 70%)

Place all ingredients into a saucepan and place on medium heat.
Heat until it boils and then turn temperature down to low.
Simmer for an hour.
Remove from stove and leave to stand overnight.
Drain solids and return liquid to pan. (You could try using the fig pieces in another recipe. I did not experiment)
Boil on high heat until reduced and thick and syrupy.
Pour into container and store in the fridge. I don't know how long it will keep as it is the first time I've made it.

I have also begun making my own baking powder using Heidi's recipe.

BAKING POWDER
1 part baking soda (bicarb of soda)
2 parts cream of tartar
2 parts arrowroot (I didn't have arrowroot so used cornflour)

Mix everything together and store in an airtight container. It should last for a month. To test if it is still active drop a teaspoon into a  glass of hot water. If it bubbles vigorously, the powder is still active.

Arfi's Cupcake Spectacular

There are just so many food blog events now days I find it hard to keep up.  As much as I'd like to participate  in them all I can't.   An unfortunate ongoing side effect from previous  chemotheraphy is tiredness.  I need to plan ahead and make sure I shop the day before I am making and photographing my entry. That way my day is free to make my entry and photographed it and still leave me with the energy to write my post.
No matter how tired I was though I wanted to support Arfi's Cupcake Spectacular .  She is a friend I met through blogging and I miss her now I live in Australia.

And I wanted chocolate cupcakes, very chocolate cupcakes. With real chocolate not just cocoa powder. I searched the web with the words "chocolate cupcakes made with chocolate". Which is where I found these very chocolatey chocolate cupcakes.  Veronica's Test Kitchen adapted a Dorie Greenspan recipe. So here is my adaptation of Veronica's adaptation of Dorie.

Chocolatey Chocolate Cupcakes
For the cupcakes
120 grams cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cup milk
60 grams dark chocolate, melted and cooled
For the glaze
100 grams dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tbs icing sugar, sifted
30 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place paper muffin cases in a muffin pan

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Beat the butter at until soft and creamy.
Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until it is blended into the butter.
Add the egg, then the yolk, beating 1 minute after each addition.
Beat in the vanilla,
Stir in the  half the dry ingredients,
Add the milk, mixing until incorporated, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.
Stir in the melted chocolate and mix it in with a metal spoon. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cases.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the tops of the cakes are dry and springy to the touch and a knife inserted into their center comes out clean.  Cool to room temperature on the rack before glazing.

To make the Glaze
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of shimmering water.
Stir the icing sugar into the chocolate, followed by the pieces of cold butter.
Spread onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.

Some of you may have seen this last week when I accidentally hit the wrong button and released it to the world.  In trying to block it I then lost it and had resigned myself to writing a new post.  Then Sarah at Readable Science kindly sent me it from her reader. I may have lost some of the  early comments.

Kat's Mango Bread

Kat who shares her adventures in Japan  kindly shared her Mango bread recipe with me. Although it's called bread it is really cake....and it is delicious. I halved the original recipe and baked it in a slice pan so I could control my portions a little more. It's too easy to cut a large slice of a deep cake and I need to lose a bit of weight.

Here is the full recipe as written by Kat. It would make two loaves.

KAT'S MANGO BREAD

4c flour
4 tsp baking soda
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
3 c sugar
1 1/2 c oil
6 eggs
1 c nuts chopped
1 c raisins
4 c mangoes, diced

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Let stand for 20 minutes
Pour into lined baking loaf pans
Bake at 350F (180C) for 45-60 minutes  (time depends on size of pans)

Cupcake Spectacular

There are just so many food blog events now days I find it hard to keep up.  As much as I'd like to participate  in them all I can't.   An unfortunate ongoing side effect from previous  chemotheraphy is tiredness.  I need to plan ahead and make sure I shop the day before I am making and photographing my entry. That way my day is free to make my entry and photographed it and still leave me with the energy to write my post.

No matter how tired I was though I wanted to support Arfi's Cupcake Spectacular .  She is a friend I met through blogging and I miss her now I live in Australia.

And I wanted chocolate cupcakes, very chocolate cupcakes. With real chocolate not just cocoa powder. I searched the web with the words "chocolate cupcakes made with chocolate". Which is where I found these very chocolatey chocolate cupcakes.  Veronica's Test Kitchen adapted a Dorie Greenspan recipe. So here is my adaptation of Veronica's adaptation of Dorie.

Chocolatey Chocolate Cupcakes

For the cupcakes

120 grams cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

½ cup milk

60 grams dark chocolate, melted and cooled

For the glaze

100 grams dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 tbs icing sugar, sifted

30 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place paper muffin cases in a muffin pan

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Beat the butter at until soft and creamy.

Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until it is blended into the butter.

Add the egg, then the yolk, beating 1 minute after each addition.

Beat in the vanilla,

Stir in the  half the dry ingredients,

Add the milk, mixing until incorporated, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.

Stir in the melted chocolate and mix it in with a metal spoon. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cases.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the tops of the cakes are dry and springy to the touch and a knife inserted into their center comes out clean.  Cool to room temperature on the rack before glazing.

To make the Glaze

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of shimmering water.

Stir the icing sugar into the chocolate, followed by the pieces of cold butter.

Spread onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.

An Apple A Day

You will see this is a little dark on the top. That will happen if you try to bake a cake on fan grill.  It didn't detract from the taste.

Nor did my first attempt at making baking powder and not quite getting the ingredients correct.  Heidi has a recipe for baking powder in her book Super Natural Cooking , a gift I received from the kind and lovely Sam.  Mistakenly  I had purchased tartaric acid instead of cream of tartar.

As the cake tasted perfectly alright I guess it didn't matter.

This cake is dedicated to my new friend Rossella over at  Ma Che Ti Sei Mangiato in Italy. Rossella is celebrating a year surviving a stroke.  It was on the 3rd March 2007 Rossella suffered a stroke...and she is only 30 years old young.  Rosella would like everyone to help her celebrate a year on with her blog event An Apple A Day .

My apple recipe is an apple cake from Clotildes Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook . Her original recipe  using pears is called  Gateau de Mamy and can be found here.  I added a sprinkling of cinnamon in with the icing sugar to comply with Rossella's rules.

You have until 3rd March to help Rossella celebrate with a recipe featuring apples.

Best Tip When Making Mango Salsa

Top tip - Chop your mango first. Under no circumstances chop your chili first and then using the same knife and board chop your mango. Don't stand over the sink eating the flesh off the seed after chopping your mango after the chili.

Mango Salsa similar to Wino Sapien's version

1 mango peeled and chopped
1/4 red onion diced
1 banana pepper seeded and diced
1 hot chili seeded and chopped finely
juice of 1/2  lemon
handful of flat leaf parsley chopped ( I don't like coriander)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and let sit  about an hour before serving with  fish or chicken.

Mmmmmm Mangoes

A fruit shop with a tray of mangoes is a rare sight in Auckland.  Sometimes you will see them, but only for a short time, and they will be so expensive. Here in Queensland they grow them.  Mostly in Bowen . Back in the 19th century horses were traded between India and Bowen. One day some clever person bought some seeds back from India.

I'm making up for all the mangoes I haven't eaten over the years. Which is not a bad thing because they are so good for you. High in nutrients and even higher in anti oxidants.  And not to bad on the calorie count either - 60 cals in half a mango.

My morning starts with a chopped mango and yogurt.

I have plans to try  Ed's Mango Salsa  and perhaps Tartelettes Creation  and Elise's Sorbet .

Australia grow a variety of  different mango.  A quick Google  will give you all the varieties and growing months. I think I prefer the Kensington Pride  but I also like the other popular variety R2E2.

A very helpful man at the So Fresh Markets in the Southport Centro Shopping Centre answered my questions on the black spots on the 58 cent mangoes. It is caused when the mango  absorbs too much water. It has been a very wet summer.  He also gave me instructions in how to cut the mango. I have been using the avocado method which resulted in one perfect half mango and then a very beat up second half as I tried to prise the stone out.  Some days I have resorted in eating the mango over the sink.

Did you know mangoes are from the same family as the pistachio and cashew. Think about the shape and you will see why.

What's your favourite mango recipe?

Eggnog For Christmas

Everyone has there own  way of making eggnog with their own secret ingredient.  I'm keeping mine a secret. Different recipes can be found here.  I will tell you I do use the whipped egg white method.

If you are concerned about eating raw egg try this recipe .

Sugared Rose Petals

Pretty up your Christmas parties with sugared fruit or rose petals.  Choose  rose petals that have not been sprayed with chemicals.  Paint the leaves with egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar.  Use to decorate cakes.  Also looks pretty on herb flowers or grapes for a dessert or cheese platter.

Mushroom + Fontina + Pasta = Delicious

Another  Delicious  meal. The combination of  pasta, mushroom and fontina cheese served with some rocket leaves tossed in olive oil and fig balsamic was a taste sensation.  It is so simple, it will become one of those quick  meals your throw together after a busy day.  Just sauté some onions and garlic in a little oil,  add a dash of white wine and reduce. Cook 2 lasagna sheets per serving. Layer mushroom mixture and fontina cheese on one sheet, top with the other, warm through in the oven and serve.

Walnut Tea Cake

This started out as  Walnut Tea Bread to serve with the creamy wedge of goats cheese melting on my bench. A lack of several of the main ingredients and I ended up with a rather nice cake to enjoy with a cup of tea...and from my pantry cleaning project I used up some more sultanas and all of the walnuts. The recipe has been adapted from the November 2006 issue of the brilliant New Zealand publication Dish magazine.

WALNUT TEA CAKE

180 grams butter at room temperature
180 grams  sugar
zest of 1 orange finely grated
3 eggs
180 grams four sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
80 grams chopped walnuts
80 grams sultanas

Preheat oven to 180C.
Lightly grease a 20 cm spring form cake pan. Line base with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar and orange zest until pale and creamy.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Using a large metal spoon gently fold in the sifted flour, baking powder, walnuts and sultanas through the mixture.
Spoon cake into prepared pan and bake in oven for 40 minutes or until skewer, inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin.
Remove baking paper from base and serve.

Zoomie's Pear Crostade

Lucky Cookiecrumb has a pear tree in her back yard.  I don't, so the next best thing is to pick some from the huge table of pears at the Sunday market.  These pears are not good enough for the shops because they aren't perfect pears.  They are just like the pears I would pick if I had a tree in my back yard.

I've printed off a couple of Zoomie's  recipe, who happens to be on Cookiecrumbs pear giving list. This is the first Zoomie recipe I've made - the Pear Crostade .  The ingredients are much the same, I just constructed mine a little differently.

PEAR CROUSTADE

Crust:
1 cup flour
1-1/2 TBS sugar
1/8 tsp salt
6 TBS chilled butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
1-1/2 TBS ice water (or you may need a little more)
1 egg yolk

Filling:
3 firm but ripe pears, peeled, quartered, cored and cut into 1/2" wedges (if small, use 4 5 pears)
3 TBS sugar
2 TBS flour
2 lemons, well washed zested and juiced.
freshly grated nutmeg

Topping:
2 TBS flour
1 TBS sugar
1 TBS chilled butter, cut into 1/2" pieces

CRUST: Mix flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Add butter until coarse crumbs. Transfer to bowl. Mix egg yolk and 1/2 TBS ice water in small bowl. Using fork, blend to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; flatten into a disc. Wrap and chill until firm, about one hour. Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured parchment paper to fit a quiche dish.

FILLING: Toss pears, sugar, flour, lemon juice and nutmeg in a large bowl. Overlap pear slices to cover base.

TOPPING: Rub butter into flour and sugar as if making a crumble. Sprinkle over top of pie. Bake tart until crust is golden and filling bubbles, about 45 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream.

Sultana Scones

My fridge is looking very bare. In two weeks time we are going to spend a couple of months in Australia.  I'm cleaning out the fridge and pantry by using as many items as possible before we go. This week I used up the last of the self raising flour and some of the sultanas with this scone recipe from the BBC website. I doubled the original amount of sultanas.  The original 25 grams didn't look to be enough. The 50 grams was just perfect.

Ingredients
225g/8oz self raising flour
pinch of salt
55g/2oz butter
50g/2oz sultanas
25g/1oz caster sugar
150ml/5fl oz milk

Method
1. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Mix together the flour and salt and rub in the butter.
3. Stir in the sultanas, sugar and then the milk to get a soft dough.
4. Turn on to a floured work surface and knead very lightly. Pat out to a round 2cm/¾in thick. Use a 5cm/2in cutter to stamp out rounds and place on a baking sheet. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough and stamp out more scones to use it all up.
5. Brush the tops of the scones with a little milk. Bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden.
6. Cool on a wire rack and serve with butter and good jam and maybe some clotted cream.

I served them with butter so I could use the last of my Burro-Butter Francia from Italy. I have a whole packet of sago so if  you have any suggestions for sago leave a comment.

 

Tami's Soup Challenge 2007

Tami at Running With Tweezers  is hosting her annual Soup Challenge in honour of her late Mother.  Here is my entry to honour TamI's Mum.
When I make soup it is usually with what ever was fresh at the market. This morning I found tiny leeks and new seasons rocket.

SPRING GREEN SOUP

1 tablespoon oil
1 bunch of small leeks green tops removed,washed and sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 cups rocket, shredded
1 cup frozen peas
1 litre water
salt and pepper to season

Heat oil in medium saucepan and  sauté leeks. Add garlic and sauté a further minute.
Cover with water and 1 teaspoon of salt. Simmer 10 minutes.
Add rocket and peas, return to boil and simmer a further 5 minutes.  To retain the fresh green colour it is important to not overcook the vegetables.
Blend with a stick blender, adjust seasoning and serve.

Rosemary Honeyed Oranges

Ivonne   and Lis  are celebrating   la festa al fresco again and have asked us to bring a dish for the table using a seasonal ingredient.  I'm taking along some orange slices steeped in rosemary and honey for the dessert table.

For each serving use one orange, one table spoon of honey and a little chopped rosemary.
Peel and slice oranges removing all the white pith. Slice through into circles.
Warm honey and add crushed rosemary leaves and steep for 15 minutes.
Pour over the orange slices and serve.

See you at the party.

Moroccan Inspired Muffins For Maryam

Thanks to Jennifer  I recently discovered My Marrakesh  and came to know Maryam.  We exchanged a few emails, mostly about food.  When Maryam said she couldn't buy blueberries in Marrakesh I decided to create a muffin she could make with local ingredients.  When I think of Morocco I think of tangines  with dried fruits, couscous, preserved  lemons, pine nuts  and  mint tea. These are my blueberry muffins gone Moroccan.

MOROCCAN MUFFINS
1  3/4 cups plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup natural yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped dates
Topping
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
(I meant to include a few slivers of preserved lemon in the topping but forgot. I think it would work quite well)

Preheat oven to 200C
Sift together flour, salt and baking powder together.
Add apricots and dates and mix in.
Blend butter, sugar, yogurt, eggs.
Add to dry ingredients.
Spoon into muffin pans lined with paper cases.
Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over muffins
Bake at 200C for 20 minutes or until cooked.

Serve warm with butter.

Chocolate Shortbread....and an Award

From the August 2007 edition of Delicious this Chocolate Shortbread is a little like a biscuit and a little like a brownie. I served them after dinner with espresso coffee and small glass of Grand Marnier du cent cinquantenaire .

CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD

300g unsalted butter
220g ( 1cup) caster sugar
375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
5 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder
11/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
icing sugar, to dust

Grease and line base and sides of a 18cm x 28cm lamington pan.
Beat butter and sugar in a bowl with electric beaters until pale.
Sift in flour, cocoa and soda and beat slowly until just combined.
Spread in pan and smooth with a spatula. Prick all over with a fork. Chill for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180C. Cook shortbread for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch.
While still hot use a knife to score into 12 pieces. Cool slightly, then remove from the pan and cut into 12 pieces. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Shortbread will keep for 3 - 4 days in an airtight container.

Thank you to the lovely Helene at Tartlette who thinks I deserve to receive the Schmooze award.  I'm honoured to be included with Helen's other recipients.

I'll take a few days to think about who I'd like to pass it on to.

No Knead Chicken

If you have ever cooked chicken by the Zuni Café  method in your regular oven you will know how it can really make a mess of your oven.  We don't all have wood fired pizza ovens in our back yard and after all that oven cleaning I was about to give up eating chicken cooked this way. Then I got to wondering if the no no knead bread baking method might work with chicken.

I salted the chicken and left it sitting on the bench while I heated the cast iron pan in the oven  set at  250 Celsius.  I put the chicken in breast side down, top on and baked it for 1 hour. After 1 hour I removed the lid and turned it over and with the lid off put it back in the oven for a further 15 minutes.  The skin is not as crisp as the Zuni Café method but the taste is as good.  Next time I'll even make the Bread Salad. to go with it.

UPDATE:  the cooking time will depend on the size of the chicken. I've been experimenting a little since my original post.  Today I cooked a 1.5 kg chicken breast side up for 50 minutes, then 10 minutes with lid off pot. It was perfect.

The original No Knead Bread recipe can be found here .

Waiter There's An Island In My Sauce

The last time I made Ile Flottante we lived by the beach and I would stand at the stove looking at the ocean while stirring the Creme Anglaise .  They are sometimes called Snow Eggs or Oeufs a la Neige .  When  I've made them in the past I have poached the egg whites in the vanilla infused milk which is then used to make the Creme Anglaise. Time consuming and messy. Which is why I haven't made them in years.

I've been watching the series French Food at Home with Laura Calder.   Her version bakes the meringue in the oven. So easy.

The recipe is a combination of Laura's recipe and a recipe from the Essential Dessert Cookbook, a birthday gift from my son.

ILE FLOTTANTE
4 eggs separated
1 cup caster sugar
3 cups milk
1 vanilla bean split length ways
1/2 cup extra sugar

Creme Anglaise
In a medium saucepan heat milk with the vanilla bean. Do not boil.
Whisk eggs yolks with 2/3 cup caster sugar in a medium bowl.
Slowly pour hot milk on egg yolks stirring until blended. Return mixture to saucepan and stir over low heat until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not boil the custard or it will curdle.
Remove from heat and pour into a jug bowl and leave to cool.

Meringues
Preheat oven to 150C.
Lightly grease 4 x 1/2 cup ramekins and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Beat egg whites to soft peak stage.  Slowly add the  remaining 1/3 cup caster sugar and whisk until stiff and glossy.
Ladle into ramekins and smooth off the tops.
Bake in  oven for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Place a meringue on serving dish and pour the cold custard around.
Stir the extra sugar with two tablespoons of water in a small pan over low heat until the sugar dissolves completely. When the sugar has dissolved bring to the boil and simmer until syrup turns golden brown. Working quickly and carefully drizzle the toffee over the meringue and custard.

This is my entry for Waiter There's Something In My Sauce. Thanks Andrew for hosting and thanks for delaying the closing date for entries.