Ocotpus Salad

I must have the octopus salad in Angela's Masterplan Blog
One day!

Bye Bye Honeys

Honey is off to a new home in Sydney. I will miss her - she is the most darling little dog. Unfortunately she doesn't get along with Leo. She is too bossy for him and makes him depressed. Hopefully she is happy in her new home and isn't too traumatised by the move.

Mini Apple Pies with Bry

Perfect bite sized Apple Pies!

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

115g butter

100g icing sugar

pinch salt

zest of half a lemon

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp cold milk or water

Extra cream/milk and caster sugar for basting

Filling

3 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces

1 vanilla pod split and scraped

1 cinnamon stick

1 clove

2 tsp brown sugar

Squeeze lemon juice

dash water

The pastry can be made in a food processor or by hand. Cream the butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a food processor. Add the flour, mix until combined then add the egg yolks. When it looks like coarse breadcrumbs add the milk or water. Keep processing until it comes together in a ball. Wrap in gladwrap, place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Press the pastry into twelve small cupcake sized pans that have been sprayed with oil. Rest in the freezer for about twenty minutes. Blind bake at 180C for about 15 minutes or until pale golden. If they have puffed up press them down gently with a tea-towel whilst still warm.

For the filling combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat with a lid on until soft but not mushy, shaking occasionally to prevent burning at the bottom. Remove vanilla pods, cinnamon and the clove. Ideally the filling should be cooled before going into the shells.

Heap the cases full of pastry then cover with a remaining piece of pastry. Brush with cream and dust with sugar then put two small slits in the lid with a knife. Bake at 180C until the top is golden and the filling is warmed through.

Vanilla Slice with Bry

I have always wanted to make vanilla slice - this one was so moorish. The original recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar. Next time I will be tempted to cut it down to 1/2 cup.

Ingredients

2 sheets of puff pastry

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup cream

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup cornflour

1/2 cup warm water

6 egg yolks

1 tbsp passionfruit pulp

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 - 1 cup of icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the pastry on glad bake on a baking tray, then top with another piece of gladbake and finally another baking tray as a weight. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Press down gently while still warm to flatten slightly. Cool on a rack.

Place the milk, cream, vanilla bean and extract and sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat until hot but not boiling. Mix the cornflour and water together to a smooth paste and whisk into the hot milk mixture.

Remove the milk mixture from the heat and pour slowly into the eggs, whisking continuously. Pour back into the saucepan and return to the heat. Simmer for 6 minutes or until thickened, and the cornflour has cooked through.

Allow the mixture to cool in the saucepan to room temperature.

For the icing mix together the passionfruit, icing sugar, zest and lemon juice to taste to get a thin, pouring consistency.

Spread one of the pastry sheets with the custard and top with the remaining pastry sheet. Drizzle with the passionfruit icing.

This would also be delicious served as a dessert with fresh strawberries or raspberries - my mouth waters at the thought of it, yum.

Spinach and Potato Zuppa

I planted some silverbeet and it is ready to harvest. It is beautiful. Not much beats fresh vegetables from your garden. The photo below is after I had mutilated the silverbeet by picking an armful of it.

1/2 cup olive oil

2 large (600g) brown onions, sliced

6 cloves of garlic, sliced

1.5L chicken stock

6 large potatoes, cut into 8 pieces

1 large bunch of silverbeet, washed and chopped

1 bunch flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup sherry

Juice of half a lemon

Salt and pepper, to taste

Parmesan cheese and crusty bread to serve

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic with salt and pepper until softened and lightly coloured.

Add the stock, spinach, potatoes, and half the parsley. Simmer gently, covered for 1 1/2 hours or until the potatoes are very tender. Add more water if necessary.

Roughly puree the soup with a stick blender or potato masher, leaving it a bit chunky. Add the sherry and lemon and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve hot, sprinkled with extra parsley and parmesan cheese.

Chris?

Chris' portrait. Done by Rob Davis - Christmas 2008.

Angela is getting nostalgic

Angela has been uploading all her pictures to Flickr. She has been sending me them when she gets notsalgic.
Here are the three siblings at New Years Eve ?three years ago in Taormina, Sicily. Chris is not even fake smiling... that is strange!