Chocolate Chiffon Tart

Chocolate Chiffon Tart is a light and airy dessert confection with a chiffon style filling similar to a chocolate mousse. It is a delight to just sit and savour over this tart as you eat it. I find it is much more enjoyable than a tart filled with pure chocolate ganache, which I find can be quite sickly and too sweet.

Mackay Lime Tart or Key Lime Pie

This sweet and tangy lime tart is simply sensational to eat, and is so easy to make. The filling rests in a baked biscuit and butter case, and the cooked tart keeps well when refrigerated and can also be frozen. Using freshly juiced and zested limes brings so much authentic flavour to this dessert. When life gave me fresh limes, I made this tart. Serves 12 people.

Portuguese Custard Tarts cooked in my Pie Maker amid Cyclone Jasper

Why  travel to Lisbon or anywhere else in Portugal to enjoy their famous Portuguese Custard tarts, when you can make them in your own kitchen at a fraction of the cost, and honestly they are just as delicious. We holidayed in Lisbon about 15 years ago, and we really did enjoy their custard tarts, note the plural, every morning with our espresso coffee along with the locals, but now I am just happy to cook and eat them in my own kitchen. It's cyclone season here in Far North Queensland, and Cyclone Jasper has been and gone.

Creamy Curry Chicken Pot Pie

Pies in Winter, oh yes please. We have been struck with a very surprising Wintry cold snap here in North Queensland. Which means, it's perfect weather for making and eating pies, and lots of them. I made this pie in Cairns, before the cold snap really set in even though it was cool, but now that we are all rugged up, I want to make it and eat it again and again. It is a really delicious and healthy chicken and vegetable pie, and the left overs taste even better. When I saw this recipe on Lorraine@Not Quite Nigella's instagram feed it was a cold wet day, and I just knew I had to make it. A Chicken pie makes a nice change to the iconic Meat Pie with Mushy Peas and Worcestershire sauce or Tomato sauce which is a Queensland tradition, and during this cold snap I assure you that a lot of those are being consumed by hungry workers for lunches and dinners. There are still a few Pie Carts to be found waiting for hungry customers on the suburban roadsides in Mackay, and at some workplaces, and for some strange reason a Meat pie bought from one of those Pie Carts has always tasted better than from the shop.

Temperatures plummeted down to 7 degrees, even in Cairns when it was raining. We arrived home yesterday, after driving  halfway in the rain to Home Hill, a sleepy little sugar cane  town just over halfway to Mackay and it was freezing there. The motel room was very cold, the reverse cycle air-conditioning wasn't working, so we were in bed very early. Thankfully though we were able to Chromecast to Netflix on their TV, and the motel owners were serving delicious hot pizza to our room. That was after a long phone call to France to wish our much loved 6 year old Grandson, Hugo, happy birthday and watch him very excitedly open our presents to him.  So special, and thank goodness for technology. 

Thankfully the sun was shining yesterday for the rest of the trip home, even though it was still down to 6 degrees when we left in the morning.  Our maximum at midday today is 21 degrees,  which for me is perfect Winter weather, with the sun shining. Thanks so much Lorraine Elliott for this recipe, I've changed it  slightly, but it is a cinch to make even though it takes a little time and can't be rushed, and it is now firmly embedded in my repertoire of favourite meals. I would love it if you could make this pie, and let me know of any variations you make and what you think of it.

LET'S COOK:

Ingredients:

Feeds 4 people

1 cup/150 g / 5 oz diced carrots 

2 cups /300g / 10 oz diced zucchini

4 tablespoons / 80 ml / 3 fl. ozs. vegetable oil

1 leek, white part finely diced

50 g /1.7 ozs butter

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely diced

2 teaspoons / 4g / curry powder

500 g /1.11 lbs. chicken meat, thighs, tenderloins, breasts cut into bite sized pieces

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup/250 ml milk (full cream)

1 cup / 150 g frozen peas

1 cup / 175 g / 6 ozs drained tinned corn or frozen corn

1/2 cup / 50 g grated parmesan cheese

2 sprigs parsley, leaves only, chopped

Salt and pepper for seasoning

1 sheet / 180 g / 6 ozs butter puff pastry

2 tablespoons egg wash ( 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon water)

Method:

(I generally prepare the filling the day before I plan to bake it, so that it is cold before adding the pastry, and it all saves time on the day of serving. However if the filling is made in the morning and kept in the refrigerator all day, it should be cold by the late afternoon when you want to bake the pie.)

Preheat your oven to 180 deg. C/350 deg. F prepare your baking tray for roasting the carrots and zucchinis. Line the tray with baking paper.

Tip the carrots and zucchinis onto the lined baking tray. Drizzle over 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil, and bake for 25 minutes. 

While the carrots and zucchinis are baking, start cooking the rest of the ingredients.

Saute the leeks in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan, and until they are soft and golden.

 Add the garlic, throw in about a quarter of the butter, until the butter softens and melts, add the curry powder and fry until fragrant, and then add the chicken.

 Continue until chicken is cooked but not browned.

Now it's time to make the white sauce, but in the same pan. Move the chicken to one half of the pan, then on a low heat add the rest of the butter, wait for it to melt, then add the flour to make a roux. 

Give it a stir, and add the milk and stir until it becomes thick and creamy. You are aiming for a creamy white sauce.

Add the peas and corn, the chopped parsley, and the cheese. 

Then add the cooked carrot and zucchini, give it a light stir, season to your taste, and allow this to all cool completely.

Your delicious chicken pie filling is complete.

Because the filling needs to be cold before adding the pastry to the top, the simplest idea is to add the chicken mixture to the baking dish, cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for the next day, when you  are ready to put the pastry on top. 

Prepare a sheet of puff pastry to fit the top of your baking dish.

Brush the surface of the pastry with egg wash, cut a small hole in the top, to allow the steam to escape,  decorate with small pieces of pastry cut into shapes if you wish, and then place the dish back in the frig until the oven heats up to 220C/440F. The uncooked pie needs to remain cold until it is placed in the oven, to ensure the pastry will rise beautifully.

Bake the pie for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Bon appetit,

Pauline

In My Kitchen, August 2021

It's been a very good Winter for citrus this year, and we've been given bush lemons, limes and cumquats by friends which I've really appreciated, and which I've loved being able to cook with in various ways.

Lemon Delicious Pudding is a very popular self saucing pudding here, and I used a couple of the Bush Lemons I was given to make this during the week, however any lemons will be suitable. This recipe produces a luscious and creamy lemon sauce topped with a soft lemon flavoured sponge which is an absolute joy to eat. It is also a cinch to make. The recipe is straight out of the iconic Stephanie Alexander's cookbook, The Cook's Companion. Some Lemon Delicious Puddings don't create enough sauce for my taste, but this one does. It is also very easy to prepare quickly, and can be placed in the oven when the main course is resting. I love puddings that can be cooking while we are eating our main course, they are so easy to coordinate.

The Best Lemon Delicious Pudding recipe:

Ingredients:

Juice of 2 lemons and the zest of one

60 g butter

1 1/2 cups castor sugar

3 eggs, separated

3 tablespoons self-raising flour

1 1/2 cups milk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 deg. C. and butter a 1 litre ovenproof basin or serving dish. 

Zest 1 lemon and juice both.

In a food processor, cream the butter with the zest and the sugar, then add the egg yolks.

Add the flour and milk alternately to make a smooth batter.

Scrape the mixture from the side of the processor bowl and blend in the lemon juice.

Tip all of this mixture into a bowl.

In a separate dry bowl whisk the egg whites until firm and creamy and fold them into the prepared basin.

Stand the basin in a baking dish and pour in hot water so that it comes halfway up the sides of the basin.

Transfer the basin and dish carefully to the oven and bake for 1 hour. Check it however after 45 minutes, and when the sponge is browned and firm to the touch, it is cooked.

Serve when it has cooled slightly.

It is delicious served with ice cream or pouring cream.

I posted the recipe for my microwave lemon curd recently and here is the link to that if you missed it. I've frozen a couple of bottles which should last 12 months in the freezer, and I made these lemon curd tartlets using some bought sweet pastry shells for convenience, and decorated  them with dehydrated slices of cumquat. They were fun to make and delicious to eat. Lime juice makes delicious curd as well.

Speaking of citrus, I also made some delicious cumquat marmalade last week and here's the link to the recipe if you missed it.  That's the end of my story about citrus.

Cumquat Marmalade

 We've been spending a lot of time in the garden, as its been a perfect month for gardening with lots of Winter sunshine, and this orchid flowered a few weeks ago which was a real surprise for me. It's still in flower which is the nice thing about orchids, they stay in flower for a long time. I bring it inside to the kitchen for a couple of days and then take it outside again for some extra light.

 

We have a nice selection of herbs growing in sunny spots in the garden. Parsley and basil are growing close to our back door in large pots. This basil plant is nearly finished but I have a few more sweet basil plants growing in the courtyard. Shallots are also growing well here.

Sweet basil, parsley, lemon thyme, oregano, and sage are growing in pots in our sunny courtyard. I use a selection of these most days in my cooking. They are very easy to grow in full sun as long as they are watered every couple of days.

Some cheery marigolds provide a burst of colour near the herbs.

My two Phaius tankervilleae or Swamp Orchid plants, have long spikes on them, the best yet, so I am hopeful they will flower beautifully this year. The bugs eating them have been a problem in the past.

Small pies are an economical way to use up leftovers and make great comfort food. I had made a batch of chill con carne mince, very tasty and not very spicy, and it made a delicious pie filling for some Sunday night pies. We bought a pie maker when we were on holidays in Cairns a few weeks ago, just a reasonably priced one from K Mart, and made 30 small beef stew pies the first time we used it up there. There were 6 people for dinner and they all disappeared, the pies that is. I don't feel guilty at all using this occasionally as the pies are delicious and I feel as if I am having a night off when I use it.  Pies always seem to be a treat.

Fill the pastry base, top it with a circle of pastry, wait about 8 minutes and these delicious pies are the result.

The Pie Maker

Given what is happening in the southern states at the moment with lockdown, and the virus showing no signs of slowing down there, I feel as if I have a lot to be thankful for. With almost 300 new covid cases a day in New South Wales, the lockdown will continue there for a while longer, and could continue into the regional areas. Melbourne is into their sixth lockdown, which has been so disruptive, and very difficult for school children with their end of year exams looming. Hopefully the lockdown in Brisbane finishes this weekend. We are well here, we can move around freely without wearing masks, we have our own lovely home to relax in, and a garden which we enjoy, and lovely friends to spend time with, and Locky, our Border Collie dog who brings a lot of joy to our lives. When we have our second Covid injection in a week's time,  I will feel a lot happier though, and more confident about taking a holiday within Queensland when lockdown finishes. If only it were easier to travel overseas to visit our son and grandchildren who we adore. Hopefully that will be achievable in 12 months time, however there are many other grandparents in the same situation. I just have to be strong. Meanwhile, we are enjoying a simple life, and also hope to start another beehive in a couple of weeks, which we are looking forward to. We finished our last bottle of our own honey last week, so now we are buying it from a local beekeeper, who was very supportive when we had our own bees and lost them to disease.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event.  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens. 

Sending love and hugs to you wherever you are,

Stay safe,

Pauline

Lovely Frying Pan Lemon Tart

This Lemon Tart is packed with delightful lemon citrus flavours and is luscious and light to eat, at the same time reminding me of a Lemon Delicious Dessert cheesecake, without the lemon sauce. The only equipment requirement is to have a 20 cm frying pan with an oven proof handle, and a good oven mit, which is needed to lift the pan from the oven. This is originally David Herbert's recipe, cooking columnist in the Saturday Weekend Australian which I found a long time ago, and it continues to be a favourite.

Easy Pecan Pie with Maple Syrup to enjoy for the Holidays

Pecan Pie is a traditional American dessert and Thanksgiving favourite, and whilst there are stacks of recipes and variations out there, this one is so simple without compromising on taste or quality. I really encourage you to give it a try, as it is just so quick and easy and delicious. My only concession is to buy a frozen shortcrust pastry base, as I am baking this in Tropical Cairns, and the thought of making pastry in the Tropical Summer heat of 33 deg. is rather challenging. I  bought a frozen pastry base which can be used for both savoury and sweet tarts, as I like the contrast of a slightly savoury base with the sweet filling.

Traditionally Karo Syrup is used when making Pecan pie in the U.S., however the maple syrup works beautifully and some books say it was used before Karo Syrup, a form of corn syrup,  became the preferred choice. Texas claimed the Pecan Pie as it's official dessert in 2013, as the Pecan nut is  the official nut of Texas. Just a little bit of history there.

The biggest challenge with this is being very careful with the pastry so that it arrives home and into the freezer without being broken. I bought two just in case. Well Murphy's Law prevailed, I don't know how it happened, but one ended up in lots of small pieces and the other one stayed in tact, thank goodness. Not to worry though, because as my daughter Shannon said, the second broken one can still be baked and sprinkled over other desserts, ha, ha. Waste not, want not.

While the pie is baking, the pecans rise to the top, leaving a gooey layer of sugary custard below almost like a light caramel, which contrasts well with the crisp nutty surface. To be honest, I haven't baked a Pecan Pie for a long, long time, although I had eaten this particular one before when my friend Chris made it. She very generously gave me her recipe. I think it will become a family favourite. I was cooking this for Shannon and Dan, and of course Mr. HRK, and as Dan is originally Canadian, I thought that he would appreciate this traditional dessert, and he certainly did.

This only took me about 10 minutes to assemble before placing it in the oven, and as I was also making lasagna for the main course, it was great to make a very easy dessert.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Sweet short crust pie case (frozen)

3 eggs beaten

1/2 cup sugar

½ cup maple syrup (the real stuff, not imitation)

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

Method:

Preheat oven to 175 deg. F

Mix eggs, sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla together.

Spread chopped pecans over your pie base and pour mixture over the top. (Sometimes the brand of pie case can be a little small for the mixture if the eggs are extra large and some spillage can occur so place pie on a tray.)

Bake in a moderate oven for 30-45 minutes. This depends on how hot your oven is. At home, I probably would have cooked this for 40 minutes, however Shannon's oven is quite hot and I took it out after 35 minutes as I didn't want to risk burning it.

Serve with a delicious ice cream.

Pecan Pie straight out of the oven

I was a bit worried about taking the pie out of the alfoil case as it was the first time I have baked a frozen tart shell, and I didn't want it to risk breaking it up. However next time I make it I will be brave and remove it from the alfoil, ha, ha.

Thanks for dropping by.

Best wishes

Pauline