Bitter chocolate, almond and coconut tart

A really nice rich bitter chocolate tart to have on a special occasion with some double or thick whipped cream.

 

Ingredients and method

 

Mix the following together for the crust, then press into a nice flat bottomed pottery dish (can cook for a drier crust in the oven, otherwise just use raw)

• ½ cup (40g) unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
• 1 ½ cups (190g) almond meal
• 2 tablespoons (30g) coconut oil, melted
• 2 tablespoons (30g) maple syrup
• ¼ tsp salt

Whisk the following together for the ganache, pour over crust, then refridgerate

• 1 cup (240ml) canned coconut milk, refridgerated, cream scooped out and heated (drink the leftover coconut water)
• 340g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sprinkle on top

• handful toasted coconut flakes
• handful roasted unsalted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
• pinch of sea salt flakes

 

 

Lebanese Easter cookies - maa’moul

My friend Jean-Luc gave me a wonderful sweet pastry last week, made all the way in France by his mother. It is a Lebanese Easter cookie called 'maa’moul'. A lovely delicate pastry with nuts or dates inside.

I found some recipes and while not essential, traditionally a maa’moul mould is used to shape them, which is made out of wood. I am making one with Rimu wood and my dremel. I made some maa'moul on the weekend.


Ingredients

400 grams fine semolina,

200 grams frozen butter,

10 grams refined flour,

1 tsp baking powder,

100 grams icing sugar + extra for dusting,

2 tbsp milk,

1 /2tsp orange rind,

Filling 1:

175 grams of a mixture or walnuts and pistachios,

50 grams sugar,

¼ tsp cinnamon powder

1 tbsp. rose water

Filling 2:

300g  pitted dates (if dry, soak them with some hot water for 30 minutes then drain)
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of cardamom
1 tbsp. rosewater

Method

Mix together the semolina, flour, baking powder and icing sugar in a bowl.

 

Cut the frozen butter into cubes and add it to the dry ingredients and work it in with your fingers till it resembles bread crumbs. Add the milk and orange rind and make a dough. Let it stand covered for about 3-4 hours. This is an important step as it makes the dough workable.

Preheat the oven to 180^oC.

 

Filling 1: Blend the nuts, rosewater, cinnamon powder and sugar 

Filling 2: Blend the dates, rosewater, cardamom and cinnamon

Take two dough balls one small and one big. Take the bigger dough ball and flatten it into a disc and make a slight depression in the centre. Flatten the smaller dough ball into a disc too. Place some filling in the depression of the bigger disc and place the smaller disc on top and seal the edges. Shape into a flat cookie.

If you want to dust the finished cookies with cinnamon sugar (for a sweeter cookie) then make ridges on the cookie using a fork or traditional maamoul wooden mould.

 Bake for 25 minutes at 180^oC

Paua from the Catlins coast

Jacks bay

Tom and I went exploring and got some Paua from Jacks bay down the south coast and cooking them nicely this way.

Ingredients
3 Paua
butter
salt and pepper
juice of 3 lemons
6 cloves garlic chopped finely
1 small onion diced
100ml chardonnay
300ml cream
200ml chicken stock

Method
salt and pepper the Paua
heat butter till browned in a skillet and sear the Paua for 1 minute on both sides
Set aside then slice thinly.
Saute the onion and garlic in a pan with olive oil and then add the other ingredients.
Reduce the sauce while cooking some fettucini
add the Paua back into the cream sauce and mix with the fettucini
garnish with parsley and parmesan

Collection of kitchen ideas

I love to establish a kitchen and good pantry with minimal waste. I like a welcoming, good smelling kitchen with spicy sections and a view out a window to living things; a garden. I like the smell of drying chillies and garlic on the windowsill, the everpresent infusion of tea to the air, the smell of fresh baked bread coming from the oven often!  Really good sharp knives are oiled in their home; a knife rack specially handmade. The are used every day and kept sharp to cut beautiful home-or locally grown organic vegetables. A sink is outside to wash and cut vegies and feed extras to the chickens. Beneath everything; there is also a slight hint of the raw smell of uncooked meat, the compost almost ready to be taken out to the chickens, pig or compost heap, piquant red wine residue still in the bottom of a glass, lemon rind and honey, and gentle cinnamon lingering. Honeycomb from the bees would sit in containers ready to be cut onto fresh bread as a tea break from work outside.

I love home made furniture, places to do craft, home-made cushions, rugs, natural bush colours, tea mugs, pots hanging on hooks, I like to see them. Other useful items like pottery and cookbooks lining the underside of benches. On winter mornings sun streaming in through north facing windows like in my childhood home, and on winter nights an aromatic stew would slowly braise on the stove. In spring, rain is comforting on the roof at night, maybe sleep in for once and have a tea then read in bed a bit longer... The smell of fresh cut grass and nectar would enter through the windows or beneath doors once the sun came out. During summer there will be pottery bowls full of fruit ripening and smelling, there will be baskets and jars full of berries. Warm sourdough often rests on a wooden chopping board many nice mornings of the year, each time I like making it a little different. Things are tidy and well organized but still, herbs hang and tea ingredients dry, prosciutto and bresaola are curing hung from the ceiling, and its a kitchen where no-one is worrying about 'mess', just living and being connected with the land outside and being deeply content in this.

Pea and Ham soup on the farm

soup

Ingredients

1 Havoc Farm Smoked Bacon Hock
2 bay leaves
3 cups dried split green peas, rinsed and checked for stones.
salt and ground black pepper
Parsley

Method

Place hock in a large pot with bay leaves and 14 cups (2½ litres) water. Bring to the boil, skimming off and discarding any scum that rises to the surface. Cover and simmer for 2 hours.

While the meat cooks, place the split peas in a separate pot, cover with 6 cups water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until the water has almost evaporated (about 40-45 minutes).

Lift ham or bacon hock out of cooking liquid, discard the skin, fat and bones and finely dice the meat. Return meat to the pot containing the cooking liquid and add the partly cooked peas, salt and pepper. Simmer gently until peas are fully broken down (about another 40 minutes).

Adjust seasonings to taste and serve with Wholemeal seeded rolls.

Apple and sage sauce

Serve this with BBQ grilled Havoc Farm Pork and steamed garden vegetables.

Combine the following ingredients in a slow cooker.
10 medium apples, peeled and cut into large chunks
Up to 1 cup packed brown sugar (depending on sweetness of apples)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 cloves
squeeze of lemon juice

Cover and cook on low 10 hours or until apples are very tender.

Press mixture through a sieve using the back of a spoon. Give pulp to chooks or worms.

Return apple mixture to slow cooker with the some finely chopped purple sage.

Cook, uncovered, on high 1 1/2 hours or until mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. Spoon into a bowl; cover and chill up to a week. Or preserve.

Spiced farm garden chutney

To do this weekend

 

225g onions chopped finely

500g apples cored and chopped
400g tomatoes chopped

110g sultanas, raisins or chopped dates

15g ground coriander

15g paprika

15g mixed spice

15g salt

340g granulated sugar

425ml pints malt vinegar