Tarty Tales: A Bush-Farm Christmas in July

Does it get any better than bottles of wine, good company and pork belly? Angus and I spent the weekend in the Blue Mountains enjoying our first Christmas in July. There was the signature pork belly, beef racks, roast chickens, mini-kegs, red wine and tarts! Of course, there was also great company, animals to feed, bushwalking and exploring and many games of charades.

We drove to Duckmaloi Farm near Oberon for the festivities; it is about a 3 1/2 hour drive north of Canberra, up some steep and windy roads. We wouldn't recommend driving this road at night, but it was pleasant during the day. The other Christmas Guests drove out from Sydney with a plan! The plan was to celebrate Divya's first Christmas in Australia, with full authenticity of a farm, the bush and alot of booze and food! Everyone brought things to contribute. Sunny brought pork-belly and other delicacies; Ruth brought some fruit and vegetables; Brady and Alex brought the wine. Then the cooking began! It was a great opportunity for some pantry-chefing! Limited ingredients needed some creativity. I had full inspiration on Saturday morning, and lept out of bed to create three desserts: Baked Banana Custard Tarts; Rustic Apple, Pear and Strawberry Tart and Pear Tart with Ginger and Blood Orange Glaze.

Pear Tart with Ginger and Blood Orange Glaze

2 cups of flour
200g room-temperature butter
1/2 cup sugar
Warm water
2 woody pears
Small knob of ginger
1 large blood orange
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 180C and grease a tart/flan dish. To make pastry, place sugar and flour in a large bowl. Chop up the butter and add. Combine the butter/flour and sugar until bread crumbs form. Slowly add the warm water until all the crumbs are form a dough. Kneed for a couple of minutes, then roll out until 5mm thick. Place in the bottom of the greased dish and cut off excess pastry. Blind bake for about 20 minutes. If you don't have rocks/rice, use a oven proof dish that is a bit smaller than your tart dish, and place directly on the top - it seemed to work for me! Get the glaze going by cutting the orange in half, keep one slice from the center, and squeeze the rest into a saucepan. Add the peeled and roughly chopped ginger, sugar and water and place on a medium heat on the stove. When it starts boiling large bubbles, take it off the heat. Now, cut up the pears into thin slice. Arrange in a spiral pattern (or whatever takes your fancy) in the baked tart case, place the slice of orange on the top and sprinkle with sugar. Pour or spoon the glaze over the top of the fruit, and bake in the oven until the pear starts to turn golden brown. Check on the tart on occaisions to make sure the pastry doesn't burn. If it is looking a bit brown, cover with foil.

Should be served warm or cold with cream/ice-cream and good company! I was really pleased with how well this tart turned out, and would even serve it to my food-critic parents-in-law :D

 Rustic Apple, Pear and Strawberry Tart

With the leftover pastry, I made the rustic tart. Hand flattened the pastry and put on a greased tray. I then chopped up 1 1/2 apples, 1 pear and 1/2 punnet of strawberries and combined with 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tbs sugar and 1 shot bourbon. All the fruit was then mounded in the center of the pastry and the sides folded up around it. Cooked at 180 until fruit was soft and pastry golden. Again, check it doesn't burn. I really liked this tart too! Best thing is, that rustic is the new food-chic. It looks like you have spent ages baking when it really only took a few minutes. Bang on some fresh strawberries on the top, and serve with cream/ice-cream and it looks delicious!

Thanks for a great time all, and especially to Head Chef Sunny! Photos are courtesy of Dave.