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.

Mexican Madness: Cookoff Win or Cookoff Fail?

Saturday afternoon and evening was spent shopping, cooking, chatting, dinner-partying and laughing as part of the Co-Pilot Cookoff! 

A few weeks ago I nearly shut-down my blog. However, I promised to keep it open if people helped to inspire me. I received inspiration from three lovely people to do a challenge which had to include:
* Guacamole
* Flat Bread
* Cost $2.50 per moderate serve.

My co-blogger, muse and cooking friend Cheney also decided to get in on the challenge. She was particularly interested to see if we could make a meal for less than $10, with all ingredients bought at Coles. This was apart from herbs, salt, sugar and oil which we could use from home. This idea has come from a promotion by Coles, by which Cheney (and myself) were uncertain of its credibility.

With bags in tow, we were off to Coles to purchase our $15 of items (6 people at $2.50 a head). We soon realised that avocados were not only expensive, there were none ripe enough to use. We immediately scrapped that idea, and focused on the flat-bread and a main. Tossing between the idea of indian and mexican, we headed to the bean isle to determine the cheapest option. In the end we opted for Mexican: 4 cans of beans, 2 cans tomatoes, 2 red onions (on special), 2 red capsicums (on special), 3 cobs corn, 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk (on special), and 1 kg plain wholemeal flour. The total was $14.50, coming under the $15 we allowed ourselves. Dana and Scott - you will both be happy to know that it was indeed a vegan evening. Meat and animal products were too pricey for us!

Kitchen-Goddess Cheney steamed ahead with planning. Her flair for spices and know-how was invaluable. I learnt how easy it is to make dulche de leche, and the art of Cooking-Zen. I poked around the kitchen for various items, and even found some Wattle Seed lying about.

The recipes we came up with from this challenge were:

 Never cook without a trusty frog-flipper!

Flatbread (16 medium sized)

4 1/2 cups of wholemeal plain flour
3 tsp salt

3 tbs of wattle seed and chili flakes

3 tbs olive oil
2 cups warm water
Vegetable oil

 

Flour, salt and herbs were added to a bowl and a well made in the middle. Water and oil was added to the well and stirred with a knife until it all came together. Extra water or flour can be added to get a nice soft, not too dry -not too wet dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knead for a few minutes until smooth. Cheney rolled the dough into a log and cut into even-sized pieces, whilst I wrapped each piece with clingwrap and put them into the fridge to rest before cooking. To cook, preheat a frying pan, in our case an electric one, until it is hot. Roll or handpress the dough until a couple of mm's thick. Add some oil to the pan and slide the dough over the top. Done when both sides are browned. Put on a tray in a warm oven to keep them fresh whilst the chili is cooking. 

 

 

 

Vegetarian Chili

2 large-ish red onions, chopped
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cumin seeds, cracked

2 cups chicken/vegetable stock 

2 tins diced tomatoes
2 tins 4-bean mix, drained
1 tin kidney beans, drained
1 tin butter beans, drained

2 medium red capsicums, diced

 

Add sliced onions and olive oil into a stock-pot over medium heat. Carmelise the onions on a moderate-low heat (adjusting as required). You can add sugar or balsalmic vinegar and butter for more carmelised onions. When the onion is soft, add the spices. You can adjust the flavour to your liking later on. Cook the onions and spices for a minute, then add 3/4 of the stock, plus tomatoes, kidney beans and 4-bean mix (or whatever beans takes your fancy). Bring it to the boil, turn down to a good simmer and put a lid on it. Puree the white beans with a few tablespoons of stock until smooth. Add the puree to the chili about 10 minutes before serving to add creamyness and thickness to the sauce. You can also adjust your seasonings now as well.

 Stir-fried Corn

1 tbs vegetable oil
3 large cobs' corn, stripped from the cob

2 tsp cumin seeds (cracked)
1 tsp dried chilli

 

Put the vegetable oil in a frypan on high heat and add the spices. When they have cracked and spluttered a bit, add the corn stir-fry for about 5 minutes or until some of the bits of corn go a little brown. Easy as bro and ready to serve! 

 

Serve chili in a bowl with flat bread to one side, and delicious juicy corn sprinkled on the top. Yum yum! If we could have afforded sour-cream, guac or cheese, it would have been even more marvelous!

 

Whilst I was partially able to succeed in my challenge (flat bread: check. Cost under $2.50 each: check. Guacamole: Fail), did Cheney succeed in hers? Can you really make a healthy meal for less than $2.50 per person? You can read about the success and failures of the challenge on Everyonebutsix.com

A big thanks to Cheney for a wonderful afternoon, and full-credit to her for these ideas. 
 

Torte Sue: Almond, Honey and Prune Cake

Yesterday, my friend Sue helped me sort through some things rolling-around in my brain. I have a habit of caring too much about too many things. Especially when it involves people I care about or some sort of injustice. This creates stress. Although it would be easier to care less, it isn't who I am. Instead, I do things to relax; cooking being one thing that always puts me into a calm and reflective mood.

I decided to bake Sue something special to say thanks for the help. I love Catalan hazelnut cake, but the shop didn't have the hazelnuts. Instead, I walked out with almond meal and prunes; a craving. I have also been diagnosed with an iron deficiency and it turns out these two things are high in iron. Random cake items that my body is telling me to consume!!! Using the hazelnut cake recipe as a guide, I created Torte Sue.

Warning!! This cake is not for the health conscious. However, you can reduce butter and sugar by 1/4 cup each.

4 big eggs
1 cup sugar
250g butter, room temp cut into pieces
1 tbs honey, preferrably dark honey
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup almond meal
Bicarbonate soda
1 1/2 packets prunes

Preheat oven to 180 celcius and grease a cake tin. Line the bottom of the tin with prunes in any arrangement that takes your fancy. Wisk eggs and sugar until light coloured and mousse-like in consistency. Add butter a bit at a time, still whisking, then the honey. Stir through flour and almond meal. Add some milk if batter is too thick. You want it plopping off the spoon. If the eggs are old or you had trouble beating, add 1tsp bicarb. Spoon batter over the top and smooth out. Cook until skewer comes out clean.

This is a rich caramelly cake! It would be great with cream or a cup of tea. I overcooked mine (too busy with Dr Who) and it was still ok- just more caramellised! A fool (Jess)-proof recipe.

Dessert Fail and Dessert Win

Always read the ingredients. If there are no eggs, it is unlikely to set.

I bought some UHT custard awhile ago now; for a dinner or something. I have never been a fan of custard apart from Portuguese tarts. Having it in the house means it was likely to stay on the shelf for sometime. Racking my brain for a use, I decided to try baking it. Dish, cinnamon, sugar, 1/2 filled tray with water, 180 degrees until bouncy...

An hour in, nothing. Just hot, runny custard. Being a 'tard, I failed to read the packet. No eggs. No wonder it wasn't setting. I immediately pulled two eggs out of the fridge and whisked through. The end result was abismal in appearance, but tasted fine. The custard had seperated.





To make a good baked custard, start from scratch! You will be handsomely rewarded. In this case, the custard seperated because I added the eggs after it was hot. So, you could try adding eggs to packet custard (before cooking) if you can't be bothered to try from scratch. But, dont blame me if it seperates!





I served the custard with stewed mandarins and prunes. 6 mandarins, peeled and segments pulled apart with 1/2 cup prunes, 1tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of sherry/brandy/fortified wine. Simmer on moderate heat until mandarins are bloated and liquid reduced. Serve on top of custard with some of the sauce, and cream if you dare!

All in all, Angus said it was a win; good flavours. Next time, eggs FTW!

Co-pilot Challenge!

Today is the day of truth! I must choose my next food adventure.

Many thanks to my three co-pilot cooks: Fuz, Cheney and Jim.

Fuz suggested that I cook him a burger with guac. I seem to recall doing this already (for Mr Fussell). Yet the idea has merit.

Cheney suggested I try to cook a main and one side dish for 4 people which must total no more than $10. This seems to be a warped claim by Coles Supermarkets.

Jim is obsessed with his local cafe serving flat-bread and baked pancakes.

So, pulling all  this together... I am going to make:

A meal under $10, which will serve 4 people. It will include flat-bread and guac. The only things  I can use from home are: salt, pepper, dried herbs and cooking oil. This is going to be a challenge.

Cheney: should we do this together?