Sausage & Caramelised Onion Quiche

Sausage & Caramelised Onion Quiche

2 sausages

8 sundried tomato strips, sliced into small chunks 

1 brown onion

5 basil leaves

3 eggs

1/2 cup cream

1 piece short crust pastry (I used frozen)  

Cheese 

Chop the sausages into small chunks (remove skins if you wish) and fry in butter until cooked through and beginning to crisp.

Slice the brown onion and lightly fry on a very low heat until soft, golden and beginning to caramelise (will smell and taste sweet) - don't allow onion to burn or crisp. 

Lay the pastry into a tray (I used a round 20cm pie dish). Arrange sausage, sundried tomato and onion to fill the base of the pastry. 

Whisk the eggs and the cream and carefully (and gently) pour over pastry filling. 

Top egg with cheese and chopped basil leaves.

Bake in 180 degree oven for 30minutes. 

Lamb Pie

 

 I made this, it was amazing but didn't look anything like this. Mine also overflowed my pie dish and burnt to the bottom of my oven. I also added lots of delicious garlic-chives and parsley from my garden to the potato crust. It made it super amazing. Also I didn't actually follow the instructions for this at all. I made this pie in about 40 minutes instead of the HOURS prescribed in the recipe. After a very hectic weekend this was the perfect way to end it all up. I accidentally locked my teaching partner and myself out of our report card writing program on Friday night. I spent all day Saturday at a Grammar PD. I learnt lots. This is now my 4th Grammar PD and I think I might actually be starting to "get it" now. Activities are on the way. I was up until about midnight Saturday night writing reports. Spent all day Sunday trying to prepare for this Indian Adventure that is just around the corner and then more reporting. I think it's mostly all done now, so hopefully I will stop neglecting my kitchen and my blog so much.

Sunday Sweets: Lime Chiffon Pie

We are still on Cloud Lime thanks to our earlier harvest. As pretentious as it sounds, making delicious things with home-grown produce is so rewarding!

I was tempted to make another Lime Meringue Pie because....well, how can you resist?! However, reason prevailed and "trying new things" is important. Also this Lime Chiffon Pie requires the use of gelatin which I generally hate working with so it presented somewhat of a challenge. Finally, the concept of lime sugar really appealed to me as it is a combination of my two favorite flavours - sweet and tart.

To begin with, to me, this dessert was reminiscent of a graceful, elegant elderly lady. The luscious cream representing carefully blow dried and primed hair. The lime sugar, like lace gloves. However, when I came to make it, I realised that Chiffon Pie is just the extremist bastard love child of Meringue Pie. It's messy, a little conceptual and time consuming.

It's everything a Meringue Pie is not and when it comes together it is like actually eating a cloud (hence my earlier little Cloud Lime-Cloud 9 play on words....we've been doing a lot of figurative language in class this week). The end of the story is, this Lime Chiffon Pie is the lightest, fluffiest thing in my house at the moment. Considering I own this dog....

.....that is saying a lot.

Lime Chiffon Tart
Base
250gram packet butternut snap cookies
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
75 grams butter
*this base actually became very hard and difficult to cut, if I were to make it again I would use my tried and true Scotch Finger Biscuit base however, this base is delicious and it works beautifully with the lime flavour 

Filling
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup lime juice
1/3 cup water
3 teaspoons powdered gelatine
2 teaspoons lime rind
2/3 cup caster sugar
4 egg whites

Topping
300ml thickened cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar mixture

Lime sugar
1 tablespoon lime rind
2 tablespoons caster sugar

As with all deliciousness, this pie starts with crushing up biscuits, adding cinnamon and melted butter. Combine all of these things and press into the base of a springform pie dish or a fluted pie dish if you're fancy and own one of those.

For the filling, separate the eggs and leave the whites to sit for the moment. Place the yolks, half the sugar (that's 1/3 of a cup!) the lime juice, water, gelatine and lime rind into a large heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl over a simmering saucepan of water (exercise caution with steam, hot water etc).

Get your electric mixer ready and have your iPad nearby because at this point you are in for a long wait. As your yolk mixture sits over the simmering water you need to whisk it. Choose a low setting so that you don't end up having an egg shower. Whisk the mixture until it doubles in size and resembles thick, fluffy goo.  To begin with you will say things like, "Nothing is happening."  "Is this right?" and there will be many times when you ask, "Is this done?".  Just keep whisking. Just keep whisking....and so on.

Once it's at the point where your arm is about to fall off and it looks like this (light and creamy) you are ready to give your buzzing arms a rest.

Let this mixture cool to room temperature...this might mean popping it into a little ice bath to speed the whole thing up if you are on a time limit.

While the yolk mixture is cooling, place the egg whites into a bowl and begin mixing all over again. This whole processes becomes easier if you have a mix master but if not, just keep those arms a-whisking. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form (what does that even mean?) then gradually add the other half of the sugar, beating until it is all dissolved.

Fold the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture until it is combined. It should resemble a light, fluffy slightly goopy mixture. Pour the mixture over the biscuit base a refrigerate until set (about 4 hours).

Once the pie is set and just before serving, whisk up the cream and the icing sugar until the cream is fluffy (like everything else in this post). Smother cream over the pie filling.

Finally in a food processor, combine the lime rind and the caster sugar. Once combined this will form moist sweet-sour clumps to sprinkle over the top of the cream. Get ready to eat a tangy amazing cloud.

Sunday Sweets: Lime Meringue Pie

Yesterday's post was a little late - it was a take on our garden about a week and a half ago. As we are well and truly out of Lime season now we did a (late) harvest of our lime tree this weekend. We gathered 16 limes from our little tree then cut it right back to rest for the winter.

So with all of these limes it was time to hit the kitchen. We used one lime on a jug of zesty refreshing lime flavoured water (hold your applause) then I went looking for something a little more creative.

Being a huge fan of anything citrus and sweet the choice was clear. I have just started attempting to learn some French so why not combine my gardening, cooking and travelling hobbies into my most favourite thing of all - dessert! Welcome to Lime Meringue Pie, not too sweet, not too tart.

Lime Meringue Pie
Base
250grams scotch finger biscuits, blended into fine crumbs
90 grams butter, melted

Filling
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup cornflour
1/2 cup lime juice (for me this was about 4 and a half limes)
1 & 1/4 cups water
60 grams butter
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon lime rind

Topping
3 egg whites
3/4 cup caster sugar

Base
Combine the biscuit crumbs and butter the press the wet base into a 20-25cm pie dish. Refrigerate while you make the filling.

Filling
Prepare all of the ingredients for the filling before you begin because it all happens rather quickly once it gets going. Combine the sugar and the cornflour in a medium size saucepan on a medium heat.

Gradually add the lime juice and the water stirring until the mixture is smooth. As the mixture heats it will begin to thicken gradually. Bring it to the boil and let simmer for about a minute.

Don't let it simmer too long as the heat will breakdown the cornflour (which makes it thick) and then the whole thing will become a weepy watery mess.

Remove from the heat and add the butter, yolks and rind and mix to combine. Scoop the filling into the pie base and refrigerate until cool.

Topping
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Beat the egg whites in an electric mixer until peaks form, gradually add the caster sugar, allowing it to dissolve between each addition.

Rough the top of the pie filling with a knife or fork then spread the meringue over the top. Bake for about 5-10 minutes until the meringue is browned. Refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving. Don't let the meringue sit for too long as it will begin to go soggy and weep.

Sunday Sweets: Snickers Pie

So this just happened.

 I'm pretty sure I'll never look at Snickers bars the same way again. This Snickers pie is like a sweet, gooey chocolate and peanut layered lasagne. It's just that good. The richness of the chocolate mixed with the creaminess of the cream cheese and the texture of the Snickers peanuts. Whew. Get some water and take a seat.

Snickers Pie

Pie Base 
250 grams scotch fingers
90 grams butter

Fudge-Snickers Layer
115 grams butter
115 grams milk chocolate
5 tablespoons plain flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
220 grams Snickers bars, diced

Cream Layer
250 grams cream cheese
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare a pie dish.  Process the scotch finger biscuits in a blender until fine. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave and add to the biscuit crumbs. Mix to combine then press the crumbs into a spring-form dish.

For the fudge layer, melt the butter and chocolate in a heat proof mixing bowl over boiling water. While chocolate is melting (keep an eye on it!) use an electric mixer to beat the sugar, eggs and egg yolk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Add the melted chocolate and mix to combine. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder on top of the chocolate and fold together.

Bake for around 15 minutes, the batter should still be moist in the centre. Let this base cool then arrange  the diced pieces of Snickers bar over the top of this chocolate layer.

For the cream layer, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and the egg white and vanilla and beat until well combined.  Carefully spread this mixture over the top of the Snickers bars and fudge layer. Bake the pie for 15 minutes or until cream cheese is just set. Allow to cool in the fridge.

Banoffee Pie

Yes, I am aware I said no more baking for a while but some days the only thing that is right and good and decent is caramel. 

Sometimes your day is complicated, confusing and rushed. No matter how hard you try. No matter how organised you believe you are. There are some days when you just end up chasing your own tail. 

But things look brighter when you arrive home and you discover a can of condensed milk and some ripe bananas. 

And just when you think life can't get any better, there is whipped cream too and as you plonk yourself down on the couch and push all the regretful, worrisome episodes of the day to the side...you wonder why things seemed so bleak and overwhelming to begin with.

and that, is the magic of caramel.

Banoffee Pie

Base

1 cup of self-raising flour

1 cup of coconut

100g melted butter

combine ingredients, press into a pan and bake for about 15 minutes

Filling

1 can of condensed milk

2 tablespoons of golden syrup

30g butter

combine ingredients in a saucepan and place on the stove on medium heat. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for around 5 minutes until light golden brown.

Pour mixture on top of prepared base and place in the oven for 15minutes, place in fridge to cool.

Topping

slice some bananas, whip some cream - combine and dollop on top of cooled pie

Fiddle-de-de-potatoes

On the weekend we had a St Paddy's Day celebration. This was my idea because

1. green is my favourite colour

2. potatoes are delicious

3. we do nothing most of the time so it's nice to see people

We had an amazing spread: green mashed potatoes, roast beef, spinach and cheese dip, barra & chicken bake and stuffed potatoes, bright green ice-cream, creme brulee, cupcakes of various green-ness and lemon meringue pie. I made three of my own dishes - all first timers. It was a very delicious night!

Here are mine

Steak & Guinness Pie

I was a little worried about this one for two reasons - we have no Guinness in town and

I had never made it before. Fortunately a friend picked up some Guinness for our celebrations and it worked out SOOO well!

1 kilogram of rump steak

1 large onion

4 cloves of garlic

200ml Guinness

1 cup of beef stock

1/3 cup plain flour

2 sheets of puff pastry

1 egg yolk

Thaw the puff pastry sheets as you do everything else and remember to turn the oven on to about 180 degrees. Dice the steak up into chunks and pop in into a moderate

frypan.

As the meat browns slice up the onion and crush the garlic gloves. Pop them in a large saucepan and let saute.

At this point your meat is probably looking really juicy. Spoon the meat into the saucepan with the onion and garlic. Put the meat juices to the side for the moment. Pour the Guinness and beef stock in with the onion and meat. Let this simmer for a while, as it reduces add in the meat juices. Finally, add the flour and mix through, this should make the sauce thicken quite a lot so do it slowly so you get saucy thickness that you like.

Take meat off the heat and prepare your pastry. Using your pie dish (I used 20cm) cut a circle out of the pastry. This provides the top of your pie. Place the uncut sheet of pastry in the the pan ensuring you push it into the sides of the pan snuggly. Tip the meat on top of the pastry and cover with round sheet. Press the sides together nice and tight. Brush the top of the pie with the egg yolk (coat again after first 15min). Cook in oven for about 30min.

Bailey's Cheesecakes

I copied this one from Taste

250 grams of cream cheese

4 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons of Bailey's

pre-mix biscuit bases

I cheat with the biscuit bases coz it gives perfect consistency every time. So make the biscuit base then using a measuring measure out about 20grams of the mixture and place into cupcake pan. The reason I measure it, is to that every base is the same quantity so they look even. Takes time but looks better in the end.

Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and whisk until creamy. Add in the sugar and whisk some more before adding in the eggs. Whisk one last time to combine then fold in the Bailey's. You should now have a creamy, light latte colour mixture. Tip the mixture into a measuring jug and pour evenly between the cup cake bases.

Place in a 180 degree oven for about 15minutes. Set aside to cool and finish setting then place in the fridge.

Individual Potato Bakes

Potatoes

Cream

Garlic

Chives

Parmesan Cheese

Slice potatoes and place into cupcake tray. Combine cream, garlic, chives and cheese. Pour mixture over potatoes. Top with extra parmesan cheese. Cook in a 180 degree oven for about an hour until brown on top.

Gooey Apple Crumble

So, in keeping with the "healthy lifestyle choices" I have been trying to search for desserts that aren't so full of tasty, delicious calories and fat. I've been making a lot of high fibre things lately - bran muffins, fig loaf....recipes coming once I get them right.

With "healthy" in mind I've been stocking up on fruit and vegetables and had some apples and pears that just didn't get eaten - there's only so much fruit I can eat each day! They were beginning to turn slightly mushy which I HATE! I love fruit but overripe fruit, even slightly, puts me off straight away.

Instead of throw away my squishy fruit I decided it was time for a (maybe slightly healthy?) dessert. It has fruit in it!

Gooey Apple Crumble

Apples

3 or 4 apples (I also had a pear so I chucked that in too!)

55 grams of butter

2/3 cup of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons of rum

You can peel the fruit if you want, last time I made this with pears I peeled the skin and it was ok. I left the skin on this time and I think it just adds something to the texture. Plus all the best bits of fruit are in the skin. Cut the fruit into small chunks and discard the cores.

Now, this is important, use a big saucepan. As fruit cooks it oozes out all of its aromatic, delectable, flowing juices. If you use a small saucepan it becomes aromatic, delectable OVERflowing juices which are annoying to unstick from, well...everywhere. Put your butter and brown sugar in the big saucepan on a medium heat, stir slowly as they melt together.

Add the fruit, lemon juice and rum to the butter mixture in the saucepan. The fruit will ooze out it's juices so let the whole mixture sit and simmer. This can take anywhere between 15 and 40 minutes depending on how much fruit you have ALSO it depends on how juicy you personally like things. I like my fruity desserts to have a bit of juice because I think it makes it nice when it's all mixed together with buttery pastry and cream but some people prefer desserts like this more dry...up to you. Just watch it and mix it until it is gooey enough for you.

Crumble

1 cup of plain flour

2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup of rolled oats

chopped nuts (probably walnuts but I used peanuts, I seem to be having some weird reaction to walnuts at the moment!)

100 grams softened butter

Meanwhile, while your fruit is stewing into caramelised goodness, turn the oven on to 180 degrees and combine all the dry ingredients. Add the butter and it's time to get a little messy. Use your fingertips to crumble the butter and dry mix together. Eventually it will look like large breadcrumbs.

When your fruit is ready (gooey, sticky and juicy to your liking) pour the fruit in to a pan or, if you want to try something cute, use ramequins so you have individual portions....this also helps to avoid immediate overconsumption! (If you choose the ramequins make them about 1/2 to 3/4 full of fruit so they don't overflow in the oven and ruin your crumble.)

Spoon the crumble mixture over the top, how thick you make it is up to you. If your fruit is nice and juicy make it thicker to soak up all the tasty juices. Put it all in the oven for about 20minutes until the crumble starts to turn golden and crisp on top.

Let the apple crumble cool before eating...if you can wait that long. Serve with cream or ice cream or both. It is gooey, appletastic goodness.

Memory Food

I’ve been quite sick, off from work with a virus. Mr B. is away for work (again) so, excluding the occasional visits from friends with offers of assistance (and frozen meals), I have been left to my own devices.

Most of my days have been spent walking from the bedroom to the medicine cabinet then back to the bedroom. Only occasionally detouring to the back door to let the dogs out because, lets be honest, the main reason to have a dog is to have something to cuddle when you’re alone and sick.

Amazingly I have had the experience of having a good doctor. Being so remote often means sacrificing good medical services but I have been very fortunate. He is not only a doctor but an avid writer and gave me a book, “My Father’s Compass”, to read in my down time. The tone of the book well….it got me thinking about my own father.

There are certain foods that we attach to life experiences. There are foods that we have when we are hot, cold, bored, sad, in love and sick. These are the “memory foods”.

My mother’s vegemite toast, whose buttery goodness mimics the way my heart used to melt whenever she made this for me when I was little.

Jess' Nachos. The food of friendship. A late night snack sitting on tiles, beside the hot oven chatting about nothing and everything.

Potato Gems at South Bank with Mandy. Calling them tater tots and watching people step on them. Juvenile pranks late at night.

"Cookie Moments"

Gelato and Kez. Lying by the river until it’s too dark to even make out the water. All you can hear are the sounds of the night and the city.

And baked goods – the food of my father.

My father worked hard but every Wednesday was his ‘day off’. Every Wednesday afternoon he made a point of driving to my school (with my little dog) to pick me up and take me out for an afternoon together.

Our afternoons always began at the Bakery. The aroma of an old-fashioned bakery is something I would love to bottle. I can’t even describe the combination scent of pastries, breads, cakes, cookies, meringues, pies and sausage rolls. After getting something savoury and, always at my father’s insistence, something sweet, we would head to the park across the road and eat while watching the ducks, turtles and eels in the pond until the sun went down.

These are some of the best memories I have of my father. He was a different kind of man on Wednesday afternoons. This was a tradition of ours for only a few years but remembering this is something special to me.

Old-Fashioned Sausage Rolls

300 grams of mince

A tiny portion of diced onion

Dried parsley

Dried mixed herbs

1 egg

Dash olive oil

Puff pastry

Turn the oven to 180 degrees and thaw the puff pastry sheets.

In a mixing bowl combine the mince, onion, oil, parsley and mixed herbs. Lightly whisk the egg and add to the mince mixture.

Halve a sheet of puff pastry and spread a portion of the mixture onto the sheet. Ensure it is spread evenly (lengthways) and not too thick so it doesn’t ooze out everywhere. Roll up the pastry sheet to enclose to mixture. Cut into portions and place on a baking tray and into the oven for around 25 minutes.