We have been on a bit of a pizza kick at work. I am happy to say I have never been off my pizza kick. Always loved it, always will. I have a fantastic pizza stone that is unrivalled. It is ceramic with tunnels running from front to back and seems to produce a superior product. (Or maybe I’m just a damn fine pizza cook!) Anyhoo, I don’t have any recipes for pizza up here…a grave error, (Recipe? Bread dough, slap on a sauce, topping and cheese and we’re done, right?) and of course, when it comes to this site, the first pizza I come up with is for dessert. Not traditional, but certainly worth the effort. Enjoy!

NEED:

Starter;

1tsp sugar

1tsp granulated yeast

160g bakers flour

220g cold water

pinch sea salt

Base;

1 egg

250g buttermilk or milk

30g butter

400g bakers flour

olive oil

DO:

Place all starter ingredients into Thermomix bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 7. Scrape into non plastic bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave overnight at room temperature. (Cool is fine!)

The next day, place all of starter and remaining ingredients (except oil) into Thermomix bowl and mix together for 6 seconds on speed 6. The dough will appear sticky. With dial set to closed lid position, knead for 2 minutes at Interval speed.

Turn out onto oiled Silpat mat and knead into tight ball by hand. Place into oiled glass bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap so it is airtight. Allow to double, again, a slow rise in a cooler temperature will give you a nicer crumb in the finished base.

Gently tip dough out onto baking paper or Silpat mat and divide into 3 equal pieces. Push each piece into desired shape with finger tips so as to dimple the top of the dough. Do not roll out or stretch out…allow the elasticity in the dough to work for you.

Top with variety of toppings. Bake by sliding pizza straight onto preheated pizza stone and cook until golden and bubbly. (Raspberry, lime option will have a lot of caramelised sauce) Serve immediately with lashings of mascarpone cream cheese or double cream or possibly ice cream.

I did two on this occasion (see below) photographed both and in a flu induced haze, deleted them both off my SD card before saving them, thus the singular pic. Did a cheesecake cherry topping at work…and luckily took that pic at work, so all safe and sound on my desktop, so have included that in the trio. All three were delicious and did not last long.

Topping One;

Press a few raspberries into the base, add thinly sliced lime. Drizzle with grapeseed oil and sprinkle the whole thing generously with organic raw sugar. When eating the lime slices can be removed, tho I quite enjoyed the crunchy caramelised skins.

Topping Two;

Sprinkle base with cranberries and dark mini chocolate nibs. Be quite liberal. Drizzle entire pizza with organic maple syrup.

Topping Three;

Cherry Sauce NEED:
60g sugar
670g jar morello pitted cherries
30g cornflour

DO:

Place sugar into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 10.
Insert basket into Thermomix bowl and pour whole jar of cherries in. Remove basket (with cherries) and set aside.
Add cornflour to Thermomix bowl and cook for 4-5 minutes at 100ºC on speed 4. Set aside.

Lemon Cheesecake NEED:
80g sugar
Zest and juice 1 lemon
2 eggs
500g cream cheese

DO:
Place sugar and zest into Thermomix bowl and mill together for 10 seconds on speed 10.
Add remaining ingredients and blend together for 10 seconds on speed 7. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat.

ASSEMBLE:

Divide dough into two portions and roll out each separately on a piece of baking paper.

Place first pizza onto pizza stone and bake for approximately 7-8 minutes or until starting to brown slightly. The pizza may puff up as there are no toppings, but this is not a problem.

Remove from oven and generously spread half of the cheesecake mixture onto the pizza.

Drizzle with half of the cherry sauce, top with a few of the reserved cherries and return to the oven for 3-4 minutes or until lemon cheesecake topping has set. Serve immediately and make a second one….cos you’re going to need it!

Baked Lemon Rice Custard

It’s not that I’m in doubt exactly, but crazy busy, heading down south tonight (Albany & Kojonup in Western Australia) for cooking classes and some training, so no leisurely cooking for me this weekend. I made this recipe mid week and the plate was practically licked clean. Lemons never fail me…rice puddings I can live without, but between the lemon custard for me, the bulk of the rice to fill the hollow legs of my 6ft 5 (and still growing) 16 year old and his brother (who is desperately trying to catch him), and the speed of the whole dessert, you really can’t go wrong this winter as the nights get longer and darker…

Lemon Rice Custard

NEED:
140g rice

150g sugar

zest and juice 2 lemons

5 large eggs

2 yolks

200g cream

pinch salt

DO:
Cook rice in Thermomix by placing into basket, covering with water and cooking for 15 minutes at 100C on speed 3.Set rice aside. Drain water from bowl and dry.

Preheat oven to 160C and butter a large shallow baking or pie dish. Set aside. (This would be fabulous baked as individual serves in small ceramic ramekins. Reduce cooking time to suit. And for food styling purposes is what I should have done, but of course, I have only just had a thought about that this morning!)

Place sugar and zest into Thermomix bowl and mill together for 10 seconds on speed 10.

Add juice, eggs, yolks, cream and salt and insert Butterfly.

Cook for 4 minutes at 80C on speed 4. Remove Butterfly.

Add cooked rice to custard and incorporate for 5-6 seconds on Reverse + speed 3.

Pour into prepared dish (es) making sure rice is distributed evenly throughout the dish, and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden on top and just set in centre. Serve dusted with icing sugar and fresh berries if available…and as you would know by now, a dollop of fresh cream never goes astray in my life!

Well this post had to happen sooner or later…and I guess it’s officially sooner! I have managed to go through all my posts and look what I found! I could start a tart and pie shop, clearly! Any potential partners out there, send me a message and I’m ready to go!

First up in my self imposed round up, and most recently added, the free form tart with fresh apricots and cherries can be found here. Tart (in the true sense of the word) sweet, a little nutty, and so EASY!

Then there was the fresh fig and honey tart, with a touch of marzipan…and just to add a dimension, toffee topping!

Of course, no Australian food blogger could have a complete site with out the good ole Meat Pie post…enjoy!

Simple, fruity, great pastry…what more could you want in a fruit pie? Well vanilla bean of course. One of my faves…(aren’t they all?)

If you come here often, you will know that Lemon is almost as good as chocolate to me…thus the Lemon Olive Oil Tart…which if you never cook anything else from this site, you must do this one…promise me now!

Got no time? Need dessert quickly? This is the one for you…no pastry, but a flan none the less…and a little international as well!

Oh that’s right…you know how I said the Lemon Olive oil tart was my fave?? Maybe not, maybe it’s this one…Buerre Noisette….Burnt Butter is my new fascination at the minute, seriously good stuff…calories worth eating!

Kind of a cross between a cheesecake and a sweet pie, this will become a family favorite…it would be in our house, if I allowed myself to make it again! Some pies should only be eaten once…for the sake of the arteries that is!

Never shie away from a fruit you don’t know…put it in a pastry shell and voila, easy dessert…(and completely delish!)

Another Lemon slash cheesecake slash pie cross worth eating…(again…aren’t they all??)

OK OK, Chocolate meets almonds head on…and they both WIN! Chocolate pastry, chocolate filling (with almond frangipane) topped with chocolate ganache…can’t really go wrong if you are a chocolate lover!

Now for a rare look at a savoury option…hang on to it whilst you can, there may never be another!

Strawberries, Luscious Lime, crispy pastry, a true summer tart…try it today!

Sorry, but there’s more and of course chocolate is involved…easy peasy, chocolate squeezy!

And here comes another traditional tart…or pie…The quintessential Lemon Meringue Pie.

I could of course keep going, and was in fact surprised (though why I don’t know!) by the sheer number of pastry delights on here…I stopped here as there are many others, but they are less recent and perhaps not as well done as I would like them to be. (Time for an upgrade or two I suppose!) Cut to the chase I hear you cry…recipe recipe recipe….OK!

So to today’s offering…you wouldn’t believe it…chocolate again, pecans are the nuts of choice and not my recipe, but stunning in every way…lactose free, unless butter bothers you. All the components of decadence required by chocolate and nuts and the best darn pastry a Thermomix can mix!

Adapted from Willies famous recipe, it is a chocolate pecan tart. Now before you shriek at the sheer number of sugar grams, remember I was using pure cacao and I have to say, it was a chocolate hit like no other. (Being Easter weekend, I know what I’m on about here folks!)

NEED:

Pastry:

100g raw sugar

200g plain flour

100g unsalted butter frozen and cubed

2 egg yolks

1tsp vanilla essence

Filling:

180g pure cacao (Or reduce sugar and use 70% dark chocolate)

50g unsalted butter

75g caster sugar

160g pure maple syrup

3 eggs

100-120g pecan halves

DO:

Pastry:

Preheat oven to 190oC and butter a 23cm loose bottomed flan tin. Set aside.

Place sugar into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 10.

Add flour and butter and mix together for 6-7 seconds on speed 8.

Add vanilla essence and yolks and mix for a further 6-7 seconds on speed 6 or until pastry forms soft balls.

Tip out onto floured Silpat mat and bring together with hands into large disc shape. Roll out using floured rolling pin and line prepared flan tin. Place in freezer for at least 15 minutes. Remove, line with baking paper and weights (rice, beans or proper pie weights) and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove weights and bake a further 5 minutes until pastry is no longer shiny. Remove and cool slightly before filling with prepared filling.

Filling:

Place cacao into Thermomix bowl and mill for approximately 10 seconds until powdered.

Add butter, sugar, and maple syrup to Thermomix bowl and melt for 6 minutes at 50oC on speed 1.

Add eggs through hole in lid and beat in for 30 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down sides of bowl if necessary and repeat. You will have a thick mousse like consistency.

Place pecans into prepared pastry case, scrape filling on top and spread with spatula. Bake a further 10-15 minutes until set in centre. Chill completely before serving with lashings of cream…kind of necessary due to the dense nature of pure cacao.

Well it IS Easter after all. Slightly healthier than some of the other chocolate options around at the moment, and based on the use of very good ingredients, this should not scare you too much! Risotto is one of the most amazing canvases to which you can add flavour after flavour…and chocolate of course is just a flavour…I have added orange as well as the combination is always fantastic!

If you want to use Cointreau or another dessert wine, simply substitute for other liquid…a spoonful of powdered espresso adds depth of flavour as well. So Hoppy Easter to all, and please, make sure you all eat too much chocolate…cos the next excuse to do so is a looong way away.

NEED:

180g dark chocolate in pieces

zest 1 orange

40g butter

350g Arborio rice

100g Amaretto

1 tsp vanilla essence

1L  milk

1 chopped segmented orange

150g sugar

cream to taste

DO:

Place chocolate and orange zest into Thermomix bowl and mill together for 10 seconds on speed 10. Set aside.

Place butter, rice and Amaretto into Thermomix bowl and saute for 3 minutes at 100oC on Reverse + speed 1.5. (Don’t ask, just find a spot between speed 1 and 2 and relax!)

Add remaining ingredients except chocolate and orange zest, and cream to Thermomix bowl and cook for between 17-19 minutes at 100oC on Reverse + speed 1.5.

Pour in insulated bowl removing any fibrous pieces from the orange, and stir chocolate and cream through. Garnish with white chocolate curls and serve whilst still hot.

OK OK, a little late for that famously Chocolated out day for lovers, but this is just a rework of an oldie on here, and it was for the Steam Oven a long time ago and in another galaxy! Named lust for obvious reasons, (which will become apparent once you have made and eaten this sinful confection!) you will NOT, I repeat NOT ever think of chocolate in quite the same light ever again. Try some of the variations, but (sigh) I just keep going back to the Jaffa Pots.

I need to revisit a lot of content on here, and in light of the fact I am off to Sydney on Sunday (stay tuned in on Twitter) to work with chef Mark Best, as well as tripping off to Singapore the week after that, I felt that a redo was a great option to keep you all coming back!! So here you have it. You can double the mixture quite easily and make sure you tweak a change or two each time you do it!

NEED:

140g dark chocolate in chunks

300g cream

20g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract (or other flavorings of choice, see Options)

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

10-12 small dishes or ramekins

DO:

Place chocolate, cream, sugar and vanilla into Thermomix bowl and heat together for 3 minutes at 50ºC on speed 1.

Insert Butterfly and with lid closed, drop eggs and yolk into hole in lid as you mix for 1 minute on speed 2. Place MC on top and increase to speed 4 after you have added the eggs and yolk.

Divide between small dishes (Dariole moulds work well) and place them into the Varoma dish and tray.

Lightly rinse Thermomix bowl and fill with 1 litre of water. Set Varoma into position and cook for 20 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 2.

Place choc pots into fridge until cooled before serving warm or cold dusted with cocoa and with berry/mint leaf garnish and additional whipped cream if desired.

OPTIONS:

Jaffa Choc Pots: Add zest 1 orange and a dash of optional Cointreau

Coconut Crème Pots: Replace dark chocolate with white chocolate and cream with coconut cream. Add a dash of almond essence.

Baileys Crème Pots: Replace dark chocolate with milk chocolate, omit sugar and add a dash of Bailey’s liqueur.

Espresso Pots: Add a shot of espresso to chocolate whilst melting. Or add 1tsp espresso powder at the same time as vanilla extract.

I know I know, ‘Tarts R Us’…that is what I could call this blog quite easily…and no other jokes in the tart arena are acceptable to me…so watch out! I did this during the week to great acclaim at the office and have to say that the sliver I managed to get before literally turning around and finding the entire thing GONE…was divine…in fact, as with a lot of my better creations, I have been dreaming of another one, so here it is! With dinner guests arriving any minute, this was so quick and easy, seasonal and stunning to look at…I mean really, don’t you think? The colours of the fruit, the vanilla glaze…toasted almond pastry, what more could a tart ask for?

NEED:

100g toasted almonds

40g sugar

110g unsalted butter

220g plain flour

1 egg yolk

1tsp mixed spice

1 tsp vanilla essence

caster sugar to taste

500g sliced pitted fresh apricots

350g pitted fresh cherries

DO:

Place cooled almonds into Thermomix bowl with sugar and mill for 10 seconds on speed 10.

Add butter, flour, egg yolk, mixed spice and vanilla essence. Blend together for a few seconds on speed 7. Continue blending with short bursts on the Turbo button until the mixture forms a crumbly dough. Tip out onto Silpat mat and bring together with hands to form a disc. Place in freezer for up to 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Roll pastry out using cornflour to prevent sticking to a large round on baking paper. Place sliced apricots and cherries into centre of pastry and sprinkle liberally with caster sugar. Fold edges of pastry up and over around the fruit to form a crust.

(It can be quite rough and in fact is very forgiving…so don’t be too alarmed if it looks a little rustic! Stick back together where necessary with a few pinches as needed.)

Bake for 25-35 minutes until pastry is fragrant and centre is bubbling, and fruit is well cooked. Cool slightly before drizzling with a little vanilla essence, some milk and enough icing sugar to form a thick consistency ‘glaze’.

Dust with icing sugar and ideally serve with ice cream and or cream!

Maple Banana Coconut Fritters

Well it would seem that you are all on holiday, while I remain slaving away in the kitchen…come on kids, comments make me zing! We are half way through January, almost the week of my birthday…(yes I have been counting backwards from 40 which will see me reach my very early 30′s!) It has been an exciting week for me professionally with job offers flying left right and centre, plus the goal for my fiftieth year (woops did I really admit that??) is to produce my own cookbook and I have been assessing what is needed to begin that process. (Clearly not the least of which is a professional behind the camera! The point and shoot school of photography will hardly satisfy!) It will be on sale this time next year as I turn the actual FIVE OH…no!

SO to the task at hand. I have my family joining me for Sunday dinner as usual and I also have some bananas that need eating, as well as some to die for homemade Vanilla bean ice cream churning happily away. (Does anyone else recycle their vanilla beans??) What better to accompany Vanilla bean Ice cream than a light banana and coconut tempura fritter? Nothing I can think of!

Tempura is best made with sparkling spring water, of which I am fresh out, so I used icy cold still water, but nonetheless, excellent results. Tempura is a batter with a ratio of 1:1 and best left lumpy as opposed to having a smooth consistency. The right temperature oil when frying is also important as this will eliminate a greasy end result. Approximately 180oC or 350oF is perfect.

TEMPURA  Batter; the Thermomix way!

NEED:
150g white rice
2 egg whites
1 tbsp icing sugar
200g ice cold sparkling water

DO:
Place rice into Thermomix bowl and mill for 60 seconds on speed 10.
Add remaining ingredients and gently combine by setting dial to closed lid position. Mix together for approximately 10 seconds on Interval speed. If there are still lumps that is fine.
Set aside as you prepare the rest of the dish.

To make Coconut Banana Fritters;
Heat enough Extra Virgin Coconut oil in deep pan to temperature. If you drop a little of the batter into the pan, it should brown up in around 40 seconds. Any hotter or faster and you will get a burnt taste.

Slice bananas diagonally, about 1/2 banana per serving, roll in shredded coconut and then dip quickly in the prepared batter. Put straight into the hot oil and allow to cook until golden. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on a double layer of paper towels.
To serve, place 2 or 3 fritters onto large plate, dust with icing sugar, dollop ice cream in centre, drizzle with real Maple Syrup, add a few shreds of coconut if desired and devour immediately.

Honey Pecan Ice Cream

Well you may have noticed a few changes around here…not least of which is the stunning new site which is still getting altered bit by bit by my very helpful nephew Luke! (Thank you) Of course, being the almost complete computer illiterate that I am, there may be more errors than not, but I believe it has all been brought over from the other site and should look better, feel better and of course, therefore BE better than ever before! So…please enjoy. I have also changed (finally), the name of my site, which was a little dated according to my very helpful fellow foodie Matt and hopefully this will find its mark! Same recipes, same chit chat, but much prettier and easier to navigate. I actually have a new home kitchen to show off on here as well, but that will wait for another day when I have had the professional photo shoot!

Today, as I languished in long awaited sunshine, my thoughts naturally turned to ice cream, and as we have had a recent honey harvest, I knew a honey ice cream would be a real treat…honey and pecan to be precise, so brace yourselves…one serving of this will never do, and it is so easy that I’m almost embarrassed to call it a recipe!

NEED:
3 eggs
75g fresh honey
300g milk
300g ice cold whipping cream
150g toasted pecan nut pieces

DO:
Place eggs and honey into Thermomix  bowl and blend for 1 minute on speed 3.
Add milk and cook for 7 minutes at 90oC on speed 4. Cool completely.
Place cream into Thermomix bowl and whip for 20-40 seconds until holding stiff peaks.
Fold through nuts and cooled custard by adding all to the Thermomix bowl and gently stirring together on Reverse + speed 3.
Place into metal tray or bowl and freeze for several hours until solid. Soften in fridge for around 20 minutes  before serving.

Not very sweet, creamy and oh those toasted pecans…very adult ice cream…the kids will stay away in droves, but that is the idea after all!

Rhubarb Strawberry Pie

Blink and its gone!

(Don’t care what the vanilla has ‘bean’…what is it now??) I am on my first day of leave and the fragrance of a Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie with Vanilla Bean Pastry is wafting through the air as I write. It is almost done and smells absolutely divine…supposedly serving it tomorrow…but that smell is mouth watering, so we shall see! The strawbs are well and truly in at the farm near me and we love it! We probably spend an inordinate amount on strawberries, but no one is complaining, least of all me! The rhubarb was so stunning at the markets that I could not help myself, what beautiful colors!
I had planned to post my raw chocolate truffles, (yes Helen, just for you!) but that rhubarb seduced me! As we power up towards Christmas…going to need to pull out all the stops…also re doing my website, so stay tuned for some big beautiful changes soon! Oh ~ and by the way, I won the judging competition, my answers were as close to the professionals as possible, (whatever that means!!) I have yet to pick up my hamper of goodies…will keep you posted! SO: to the very delicious pie.

NEED:
600-700g rhubarb washed and chopped
100g sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 punnet strawberries hulled and halved
Pastry;
50g sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
200g cold butter cubed
380g plain flour
a little ice cold water as needed

DO:
Place rhubarb, sugar and vanilla bean into Thermomix bowl and add a little water to Thermomix bowl. Cook for 12 minutes at 100oC on Reverse + speed soft. Remove vanilla bean, dry and reserve for another use. Allow to cool completely.
Make pastry by placing sugar and 1/2 vanilla bean into Thermomix bowl and milling together for 10 seconds on speed 10.
Add butter and flour and mix for 10 seconds on speed 6 until resembles bread crumbs and is starting to come together.
Add water through hole in lid while you continue to mix on Interval speed. As soon as the dough starts to form a ball, stop and remove pastry from bowl onto lightly floured baking mat.
Divide into two, a bigger portion for the base and roll out to line a deep pie dish. (20-23cm diameter)
Place in freezer for 20 minutes.
Fill with cooked rhubarb and stud with strawberries. Roll out top and crimp edges. Cut a small cross in the center of the pie to allow steam to escape and cook in pre heated 190oC oven for 30 minutes until golden. Your pastry will have a peppered look, which is a result of the vanilla bean. If you prefer not to have that look, use vanilla extract instead.
It is a deliciously short pastry, and yes, we made it to Sunday before eating the pie, and eaten cold, the pastry was simply like eating a shortbread with a sweet but tangy filling…food superlatives escape me!

As you can see, there was not a lot left as soon as the first cut was made…would have fancied a piece of that tomorrow, but my fellow resort goers will thank me as I lay around the pool next week…yes just rubbing it in! I’M ON LEAVE!

Georgie and me

Chocolate Frangipane Croissant

Well its official, George is a really nice Master Chef! I had the privilege of feeding him breakfast last Friday and although I have put this recipe up here before (in the deep dark recessed archives somewhere!), I persuaded myself that it was almost a Croissant Baklava, thus meeting the Greek requirement, though GC must be completely over being fed ‘Greek’ foods I suspect!

NEED:
Day old croissant…(This quantity makes 6)
110 grams blanched almonds
200g dark chocolate
250 grams unsalted butter
drizzle almond essence
1/4 cup icing sugar
flaked almonds to finish

SYRUP made from 1 cup water and 1/2 cup caster sugar brought together until sugar is dissolved on Induction 6. Can add a dash of rum or brandy at this point. Cool. (Really cool…as in hip!)

DO:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Cut croissant in half and lay in baking dish.
Place almonds into Thermomix bowl and mill for 8 seconds on speed 8.
Add chocolate and mill a further 8 seconds on speed 8.
Add butter, icing sugar, essence and egg and pulse together in food processor. Mixture should be chunky and textured, as opposed to smooth!

When blended spoon onto croissant half and top with other half.
Pour syrup over and allow to soak in.
Sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake until golden. (Around 20 minutes)
Serve whilst warm.