French Custard Caramel Pie

French Custard Pie, at Robert Blanc Mountain Refuge (Originated from Brittany), en route Tour Du Mont Blanc, France.

After walking over 1500 metres up and down over the highest pass I have been on, we arrived late afternoon at Robert Blanc refuge. No walkers were there. Just Adriano, a french boy and an amazing cook!

He cooked us mountain soup with fromage (tomo de prezzo local cheese; we were near the italian border), wine and roast chicken with champignon and herb rice. We were so impressed and grateful already, then eh came out with this huge delicious custard pie, a recipe from his family in Brittany.

Ingredients

6 Eggs

1 cup Flour

1 cup Milk

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup pitted prunes

Method

Whisk all ingredients together except the prunes.

Pour into a deep pie dish.

Chop the prunes and scatter in.

Bake for 1 hour at 150 C or till golden on the edges.

Serve with caramel cream and salted caramel sauce!

Pumpkin Chia Bread Rolls

Ingredients

7g active dry yeast
150ml lukewarm water
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup mashed roasted pumpkin

300g white bread flour
100g wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt


Method

Combine the yeast, water and honey in a mixer bowl. Leave for 5 minutes.
Add the pumpkin, golden syrup and olive oil.
Add the flours and salt and mix with a dough hook for 8 minutes, or 10 minutes on the bench.

Note: you want a sticky dough that just sticks to the bottom of the mixing bowl when the dough hook churns - you dont want it dry enough to form a ball that bounces around in the bowl. If too dry, add a few drops of water at a time to get the desired stickyness. Same concept for a dough that is slightly too wet.

Leave covered for 1.5 hours in a warm place to prove. Fold halfway through the proving.

Shape rolls from the dough (approx 6) and place on a tray lined with baking paper and dusted with semolina flour.  Cover with plastic to prove another 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees C.

When ready to bake (fully proved), the rolls should be 1.5 times their original size and when pressed gently with one finger the dough should spring back about 90%. Brush the tops with milk and scatter with chia seeds.

Place in the oven and spray with water to create steam.

After 10 minutes turn the oven down to 200 degrees C. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until the rolls are dark brown and sound hollow when tapped beneath.

These were very nice; savoury but sweeter than normal bread of course. They had a warm nutty flavour and were lovely toasted with tasty cheese and pickled cucumbers.

photo to come :)

Woodfired Pizza

at Geoff and Jess's Place

Geoff had some nice olive oil dough ready to go

Laura's Gluten Free Pizzas were also great

Shawn made a supreme

Anthony made an avocado and cheese - Bellissimo!

Tacheen - Almond, Pomegranate and Coriander

Ingredients

Basmati Rice

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Handful of green beans from the garden.

Toppings of your choice (see below)

Method

Place rice (about 3 cups for 4 people) in saucepan and rinse will water runs clear.

Fill rice saucepan with water again and add a pinch of salt.

Bring rice to boil on stove till just slightly cooked (still has a slight hardness to it)

Remove rice and strain.

Place butter and olive oil in pan (*non-stick deep saucepan is important)

Add 2 tbsp water and swirl round the bottom.

Pack half the strained rice into the base and press down.

Pile the rest of the rice in a pyramid over the base and make a few deep holes to allow steaming.

Cover with a lid and bake in the oven for up to 1 hour.

Add green beans to the top 5 minutes before serving to steam them.

To serve, upturn the Tacheen onto a wide plate and observe the amazing "Tahdeeg" the crust!

(In ancient persian feasts this was fought over for its deliciousness!)

Place lovely toppings over the crust - pomegranate seeds, fresh coriander,

roasted pine nuts and pistachios and a few cranberries.

It is also lovely served with fresh yoghurt and mint.

dukkah

Ingredients:

250g raw cashews

250g raw macadamias

250g raw slivered almonds

150g raw shelled pistachios

1/3 cup sesame seeds

2 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 tablespoon dried mint leaves

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon baharat (cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg)

2 tbsp salt

Method:

Spread all the nuts on a baking tray and bake for approx 8-10 minutes in the oven at 180 C.

Watch them! So they dont burn.

Once cooled, pulse in food processor. Dont do this while they are warm because they are still soft.

Spread out again on the tray with sesame seeds and place in the oven on very low (50 C) heat.

Meanwhile, dry roast coriander seeds till just fragrant. Bash in Mortar and Pestle.

Do the same for the cumin seeds and black peppercorns.

Add the bashed spices and the other ingredients to the nuts and toss together.

Turn off the oven to allow to cool with the door ajar.

Store in airtight containers and use within the month!

Nice with olive oil and any kind of crusty freshly baked bread.

Autumn Meals: Lebanese Cooking at Andarra Farm

Last Saturday I had a lovely autumn morning running Manuka round the Macquarie River bike track that now does a big loop past the zoo and Dundullimal Homestead before crossing back over the river. Before I left I took a bowl of Pain a l'ancienne out of the fridge and left it to warm in the study where Dan was working. When I got home I shaped baguettes, mini rolls and a plaited loaf for dinnertime.

I then travelled to the Farm of Rosie and Richard Hicks named 'Andarra' with a bag of fresh vegies and my camera. Rosie had planned a whirlwind of family Lebanese recipes to teach me over the afternoon.

Our Menu :

Roasted peanut kernels w cayenne pepper & salt

Kibbi – balls and diamonds

Madjudra (lentils & rice)

Cabbage rolls

Tabbouleh

Lubban (or Leben)

B’learwa (guttural sound – like “Bucklawa”)

Lavendar and Rose Tea

First we started with the dessert! Layers of fillo, butter, cashews, pistachios and cinnamon, with a rosewater sugar syrup poured over the top at the end. This was a lovely subtle flavoured and delicious dessert.

Rosie pouring the syrup over a spoon.

We then started to make Kibbeh. This involved soaking course bourgul in boiling water and then mixing it with raw lamb mince. Then, we cooked minced onion with pine nuts and more minced lamb, with generous amounts of cinnamon. This cooked filling was placed inside patties we made from the courgul mince and rolled to form these torpedo shapes:

We also made a layered meatloaf with the same ingredients, sprinkling a little extra water over the top as the bourgul keep soaking up the water as they cook.

We then fried them in Ghee and roasted them in the oven.

We served these with cabbage rolls which we made by wrapping more cooked lamb mince, onion and cinnamon with medium grain rice in blanched cabbage leaves and baking in a shallow pot covered in tomato puree. The Lentils and Rice were cooked in the canned lentil water with onion salt and pepper, and were delicious in their simplicty (my favourite). Tabbouleh and Labne were refreshing side dishes.

We couldnt wait to try the Baclari!

The Rose Tea was beautiful - we just added rose petals and buds to hot water with a few drops of rosewater.

Thanks for the wonderful afternoon Rosie and Richard.

Cambodian Pumpkin Pudding

My sister Julz gave me this recipe. She tried the dessert at a multicultural food event in canberra last week and said it was amazing. I happen to have a glut of pumpkins, so I'm making it.

 - Photo coming soon.

Ingredients


1 Japanese pumpkin that fits in your steamer.

10 cups of water (for steaming)

5 eggs

1 cup of Coconut Milk

1/3 cup of Coconut Palm Sugar

Pinch of Salt

Pinch of Cinnamon

1 Tsp. Vanilla extract


Method

Cut out the pumpkin just like you would for Halloween. Cut out the top, remove all the seeds and the stringy insides

In a mixing bowl crack the eggs, add coconut milk, salt , cinnamon, vanilla and palm sugar. Stir well till the palm sugar is blended into the mixture

Pour the mixture into the pumpkin

Bring water to a boil in a steamer. Then place the pumpkin and the pumpkin lid inside the steamer basket. Don’t cover the pumpkin with the lid. Set the pumpkin lid in the steaming basket off to the side so it cooks too.

Now place the basket onto the steamer and cover the basket with the lid.

Steam for about 45 minutes.

When you think it's time, open the steamer and stick a fork into the custard to check if it is done. If the fork comes out all wet and runny you need to steam it a little longer.

Remove the basket from the steamer and let the pumpkin cool down.

When you are ready to serve , take a knife and cut a wedge out of the pumpkin just as if it were a pie. The custard should be firm enough to stand on its own and not be runny.