strawberry curd tart

This summer, strawberries have been particularly delicious and thankfully cheap. I have been eating them by the punnet, at least one per week or more if I can get to the store regularly.

I have been adding them to smoothies and slushies, macerating them with lemon and sugar, mixing them into flapjacks in the morning and snacking on them just as they are.

I can’t get over how sweet they are this season. Even the stock standard producers are giving us succulent little beauties that remind me of my mother’s garden.

My mum grew a large patch in our sunny front yard, but it seemed like the skinks always got to them first. Worst of all they were very wasteful skinks because they'd gum a berry then move onto the next one without finishing it. When I’d head outside to pick a few they’d all be squashed and mushed, but still attached to the plant as if it was some hilarious skink practical joke.

I decided to go a little crazy for our New Years Day afternoon tea and with four punnets at my disposal I made this fabulous strawberry tart. The curd tasted amazing, the tart shell was perfectly crisp and the fresh strawberries on top gave a burst of juice to contrast with the creamy filling.

There are three steps to this recipe: the curd, the tart shell and the assembly. If you want, buy a tart shell but don’t cut corners on the wonderful strawberry curd.

Strawberry Curd Tart

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 8-10.

Ingredients:
250g strawberries (about 1 punnet)
1½ cups strawberry curd (see below)
1 vanilla shortcrust tart shell (see below)

Method:

1. Cut the strawberries in long thin slices.

2. Assemble the decorative pattern on a plate to ensure you have enough slices.

3. Fill the pastry shell with strawberry curd. Chill filled pastry in fridge 20 minutes if it needs to firm up.

4. Place the strawberry slices decoratively on top.

5. Eat with abandon!

Note: you can also fold ½ cup of whipped cream into the curd, spread it into the tart base and then freeze it for two hours or so to make a semifreddo style tart.

Strawberry Curd

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes 1½ cups (375ml).

Ingredients:
250g strawberries (about 1 punnet)
½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
4 egg yolks
Juice of ½ lemon
55g (¼ cup) caster sugar
150g salted butter, coarsely chopped

Method:

1. Process strawberries and lemon juice in a food processor to make purée, then pass through a fine strainer to remove seeds. Yields about 200g purée.

2. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, add egg yolks, vanilla, sugar and butter. Whisk to combine.

3. Stir continuously over a saucepan of simmering water until thickened to custard consistency (around 15 minutes).

4. Set aside to cool, then cover and refrigerate until firm (2-3 hrs).

Vanilla Shortcrust Tart Shell

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes a 22cm circular shell.

Ingredients:
175g chilled butter, chopped into small pieces
1 cup plain flour
¾ cup wholemeal flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 egg

Method:

1. In a small bowl, beat egg with vanilla bean paste.

2. Pulse the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor until combined (you will still see flecks of butter).

3. Turn out flour onto a clean working station and make a well.

4. Add egg knead, with hands, until only just combined.

5. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.

6. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180’C and grease 20cm tart tin.

7. Between two sheets of baking paper, roll out pastry to fit tin.

8. Place gently into tin, pressing to fit edges and fixing cracks. Use rolling pin to trim edges making sure not to cut them too close as the pastry will shrink during cooking.

9. Fill the tart tin with baking paper and pie weights (or you can freeze the pastry in the tin for at least 30 minutes and not use pie weights).

10. Bake in oven for 20 minutes then remove baking paper and pie weights and bake another 20 minutes until golden. It’s important the pastry is gold as that’s what imparts the flavour.

11. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from tin.

strawberry, vanilla & rose iced tea

One of my 2011 Food Challenges was to try and cook with tea and make more iced tea.

Now iced tea is a pretty normal drink option, but it’s funny to think not long ago it wasn’t so readily available in Australia.

I used to drink it often as a kid because my American grandfather made a lot of it (and sun tea) and
Australia’s Asian population helped to boost iced tea popularity with bubble tea stores opening up around the country, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that Lipton released an iced tea range and everybody started to enjoy it as an alternative to soda.

Making iced tea at home is so easy and it’s a great way to get creative over summer.

I’ve been coming up with a lot of different combinations and here are some of my favourites:
• Strawberry, Vanilla & Rose Iced Tea
• Lychee, Lime & Iced Green Tea
• Apricot & Earl Grey Iced Tea
• White Peach & Thai Ginger Iced Tea
• Honey & Lemon Iced Camomile Tea
• Mint & Pomegranate Iced Rooibus Tea
• Star Anise, Tangerine & Black Iced Tea
• Passionfruit & Jasmine Iced Tea Soda

I’ll be posting some of them randomly over the coming summer weeks, so stay tuned.

~ ~ ~

This iced tea is just so pretty.

Served in elegant little glass cups it makes for a perfect afternoon tea with the girls, and if you want to be a little naughty you could always add a splash of vodka or strawberry schnapps for the sweet tooths.

The tiny dried rose petals (I use Pariya) need to be added just before serving to ensure the fragrance rises gentle from the glass.

Serve it with a fat slab of sticky Turkish Delight, heavily dusted in icing sugar, for an extreme indulgence.

Strawberry, Vanilla & Rose Iced Tea

Anna's very own recipe. Makes 1 litre.

Ingredients:
2 bags of Dilmah Rose & French Vanilla Black Tea*
400ml boiling water
500ml water
100ml rose syrup
200ml sugar syrup
5 strawberries, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon dried rose petals
Ice, for serving

Method:

1. In a jug, pour the hot water over the tea bags and steep the tea for 30 minutes.

2. Remove tea bags, add the remaining water, sugar syrup, rose syrup and allow tea to cool to room temperature then refrigerate until completely cold.

3. To prepare iced tea, combine the sweetened tea with the strawberries and ice, then stir in rose petals just before serving.

*You could use black tea, vanilla essence/pod and some rosewater to get the same effect.

wholemeal blueberry bundt cake

Wow.

Am I allowed to say that about my own cake?

I don’t care.

Wow.

One of my oldest pals, Kath (who I met at school when I was just 11 but whom I became close friends with after we finished school aged 18), just had a baby. Little Scott came into this world earlier than expected but completely healthy and complication free.

Before his arrival our other high school comrade, Suzy, hosted a baby shower where we devoured sweet and savoury treats and gossiped about babies, childbirth and our distant youth. As part of my tribute upon the Altar of Baby, I baked this wow-inducing cake.

A few weeks beforehand, the friendly boys that run www.cookandkitchen.com.au, offered me my pick of their gourmet online food shop. I greedily snapped up some interesting items like Bitton Milk & Coconut Jam, Australian native dehydrated quandongs and bush tomatoes, smoked almonds, rye flour and this amazing Kialla organic stoneground wholemeal flour.

This flour is made by stone-milling the whole wheat grain sourced from Australian growers with certified organic crops. The final flour is highly nutritious because it contains the bran, germ and endosperm of the wheat. It’s a truly beautiful flour that gives an earthy, richness to your baked recipes.

And the best thing? It's only $5.95 per kilo, which is amazing when you consider the quality.

Having made a very successful apple bundt cake only recently, I decided to stick to a theme that works and developed a recipe using frozen blueberries and the wholemeal flour given to me by www.cookandkitchen.com.au. It was a masterpiece of rich healthy flavours, crunchy exterior, moist crumbled interior, bursts of fresh berry and all topped off with a pretty, pink sour cream glaze.

Although everyone was quite full by the time we brought the cake out, those that did take a slice were just as happy as I was.

If you decide to make it, I hope you’re happy with it too.

Wholemeal Blueberry Bundt Cake

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 10-12.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons (40ml) pouring cream or milk
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
3 cups wholemeal flour (I used Kialla Organic & Stoneground)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt flakes
3 cups frozen blueberries, thawed and strained (but juices reserved)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180’C. Grease a bundt cake tin.

2. In a big mixing bowl, beat eggs.

3. Add sugar, oil, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.

4. Beat in pouring cream (or milk if using).

5. In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, bicarbonate soda, cinnamon, salt and flour.

6. Start adding the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in batches until a sticky mixture is formed.

7. Carefully add blueberries to cake mixture without over mixing and bleeding blueberries throughout batter. To do this, they have to be fairly well drained (or fresh).

8. Pour into bundt cake tin and cook for 45 – 70 minutes (mine took 60 minutes but every oven is different).

9. When the cake is completely cool, drizzle with blueberry & sour cream glaze.

Note: you can easily use fresh blueberries in this recipe without any changes, but just note changes to glaze recipe below.

Blueberry & Sour Cream Glaze

Anna's very own recipe. Makes a lot!

Ingredients:
¼ cup blueberries, thawed & juices reserved
Reserved juices from thawing blueberries from cake
100g sour cream
2 cups icing sugar

Method:

1. Combine blueberries and their juices in a blender and purée.

2. Strain mixture through a fine sieve or muslin to ensure blueberry skins are removed (discard pulp or use in another recipe). You should have about ¼ cup juices.

3. Put icing sugar in a bowl then beat in the sour cream and half the juice. Check for consistency - it should drizzle in a slow stream from the spoon (ie not too firm and not too runny). Adjust with more juice as needed.

4. Taste to ensure a sweet-sour flavour and a buzz of blueberry.

5. Refrigerate to stiffen slightly before pouring over cake.

Note: if you used fresh blueberries for cake and/or glaze you won’t have the excess liquids to make the glaze, therefore just add a tablespoon of water to the blender.


Kialla organic stoneground wholemeal flour supplied by the friendly folks at the gourmet online food shop www.cookandkitchen.com.au

cherries in amaretto syrup

Day 6 of Seven Days of Cherries

Suddenly I have changed from detesting almond and marzipan flavours to adoring them.

I think it was the amaretto pannacotta at Manta that finally turned me, but I had been clearly heading that way to even order it in the first place.

This simple recipe is a testament to my newfound love. Sweet spiked almond syrup is a lovely match to fresh or poached cherries.

Don’t make the mistake I did for my first batch by not adding enough amaretto and not refrigerating these beauties. The two jars I gifted to friends turned into fermented messes for the garbage, not the beautiful desserts I enjoyed though my second attempt.

Cherries in Amaretto Syrup

Anna’s adaptation of this recipe. Makes 2 jars.

Ingredients:
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
½ cup amaretto
2-3 cups cherries

Method:
1. Give each cherry a shallow cut to allow the syrup to permeate.
2. Pack cherries tightly into preserving jars, trying to fill all the spaces.
3. In a saucepan, stir the water and sugar over a medium heat until sugar dissolves.
4. Boil syrup for 2-5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Remove from heat
5. Pour the amaretto into the syrup, stir then pour over cherries.
6. Seal the jars tightly then allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating.
Note: Eat within a few days (2-4) of making. Serve over vanilla yoghurt or ice cream.

cherry vinegar

Day 5 of Seven Days of Cherries

You could hardly say I “cooked” this next recipe but the results are quite superb.

Overuse of balsamic vinegar in my home has led me to dislike this sweet, syrup Italian gem. While Jonas laps it up like mother’s milk, I rarely touch the stuff these days.

But this new version might entice me again.

By steeping smashed up cherries in supermarket balsamic, you end up with a brightened version that’s thick with cherry colour and flavours.

Use in place of regular balsamic for salads, bread or over fresh berries.

Cherry Vinegar

Taken from this recipe. Makes 600ml or so.

Ingredients:
2 cups (approximately) smashed ripe cherries, with pits
500ml inexpensive balsamic vinegar

Method:
1. Smash up the cherries (with pits) and pour them and their juices into a sealable glass jar.
2. Cover with vinegar, seal and steep for two weeks, agitating every second day or so.
3. Strain and pour into a bottle for long term storage.

cherry & vanilla jam

Day 4 of Seven Days of Cherries

Cherry and vanilla is a match made in heaven.

They work so well together because the kernels inside cherry pits have a natural almond-vanilla flavour. The spice mahlab (also known as mahleb, or mahlepi) is actually made from the dried kernels of St Lucie cherry pits and it’s traditionally been used to flavour breads and desserts in the Middle East, Mediterranean and Levant the same way Europeans use vanilla.

There are loads of cherry jams out there, but my favourite two recipes probably come from Not Quite Nigella and David Lebovitz because they are easy to follow and because I love their blogs.

I like the Lebovitz version because it’s a fuss free, no-recipe jam that makes sense and I like the NQN recipe because it suggests using jarred sour cherries and jamsetta.

I didn’t use jam sugar or additional pectin this time because I feel like my jams get a strange taste from these products (it could very well be my imagination, but I don’t think so).

While the flavour of my finished cherry jam was perfectly luscious and edible by the spoonful, it’s certainly a very runny jam. It doesn’t bother me, but some people like their jams firmly set.

Having said this, even with some added pectin this jam isn’t going to gel into sticky clumps like commercial jams and is always going to be just a little runny.

And don’t forget Lebovitz’s jam adage “the best jam is cooked quickly” so once the sugar goes in, gun it!

Cherry & Vanilla Jam

Anna's combination of various recipes from the internet. Makes around 1 litre (4 cups)

Ingredients:
1kg fresh cherries, pitted
1kg sugar
125ml (½ cup) lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
2 vanilla pods
(50g jamsetta, optional)

Method:
1. Chop ¾ of the cherries into smaller pieces and leave the rest, because as Lebovitz says “Leave some cherries whole so people can see how hard you worked pitting real cherries. If you leave too many whole ones, they’ll tumble off your toast”.

2. Quarter vanilla pods by halving once lengthwise and once crosswise.

3. Put cherries into a saucepan with the vanilla pods, lemon zest and lemon juice then cook for around 15 minutes until cherries are completely tender and juicy.

4. Add the sugar and stir until sugar dissolves (around 10 minutes).

5. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Cook for around 5-10 minutes, or until mixture is at setting point.

6. Check to see if jam is ready by dropping a small amount onto a chilled saucer and allow it to set for 30 seconds in the freezer. Run your finger through the mixture. If it wrinkles rather than runs, it has reached its setting point.

7. Remove from the heat and pour into jars, tightly screw on lid and then turn jars upside down to create vacuum seals (takes 30 minutes). Store in a cool, dark place.

Variation: instead of vanilla, Lebovitz recommends kirsch, clear cherry eau-de-vie or a few drops of almond extract to flavour the jam.

pickled cherries

Day 3 of Seven Days of Cherries

This couldn’t be a simpler recipe.

Pickled cherries are a fantastic accompaniment to rich game meat like roast goose, as the original recipe suggests.

Geese for eating aren’t very common in Australia and honestly I’ve never seen goose meat at any of the fancy butchers I’ve visited around Sydney, but there’s nothing stopping you serving these pickled beauties with roast duck or pork. Just as tasty and rich and also requiring a little acidity to cut through the fatty goodness.

Honk, honk! The geese will be pleased.

Pickled Cherries

Recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller Magazine. Serves 6 as a side dish.

Ingredients:
500g cherries
425ml white wine vinegar
12 black peppercorns
350g caster sugar
3 bay leaves

Method:
1. For pickled cherries, place cherries in a sterilised jar and set aside.

2. Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat.

3. Cool, strain, pour over cherries, seal and refrigerate for 1-2 days, inverting occasionally.

cherry almond shake

Day 2 of Seven Days of Cherries

This drink is a perfect vegan smoothie because it is 100% dairy free yet still remarkably creamy.

I used almond milk, which was surprisingly delicious and contains zero lactose or cholesterol. You can buy almond milk from the supermarket or simply make it yourself with some blanched almonds and water in a blender.

The almond milk shouldn’t be pre-sweetened because this will be done by the cherries and the almond syrup.

It’s a very rich shake, so you don’t want too much, and it’s quite elegant and adult in its flavours.

Cherry Almond Shake

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
24 pitted cherries
¼ cup (60ml) almond syrup (orzata/orgeat), or to taste
2 cups (500ml) almond milk, chilled
3 cups crushed ice

Method:

1. Blend cherries, almond milk and ice.

2. Add almond syrup for desired sweetness.

Note: add a shot of amaretto for some alcohol action!

cherry, oregano & feta salad

Seven Days of Cherries

In the week before Christmas I was very, very kindly given a 5kg box of cherries by Moraitis on behalf of The Cherry Growers of Australia Inc.

In exchange for this extremely generous gift, my task was to demonstrate that cherries, one of my all time favourite fruits, are versatile enough to be used in all kinds of ways in the kitchen. It wasn’t hard and I spent the next three days pitting, preserving, macerating and devouring these wonderful cerise orbs.

Here’s what I came up with:
• Cherry, Feta & Oregano Salad
• Cherry Almond Shake
• Pickled Cherries
• Cherry & Vanilla Jam
• Cherry Vinegar
• Cherries in Amaretto Syrup
• Cherry & Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

I will be blogging these recipes every day over the next seven days and I hope you too enjoy the awesome cherry crops while they’re in season.

I stumbled upon this first recipe by accident and am so happy I did. The unique combination of salty-sweet flavours and bright colours are amazing, and I’m pleased this is the recipe that's launching my Seven Days of Cherries.

This salad is wonderful with refreshing bursts from the cherries, earthiness from the oregano, heat and depth from the onions, moreish saltiness from the feta and sweet-acidity from the verjuice.

Cherry, Feta & Oregano Salad

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
24 cherries, pitted & halved
3 baby spring onions, quartered lengthways
1 tablespoon cabernet verjuice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
100g crumbled sheep’s milk feta
Fresh oregano leaves, picked over
Freshly milled black pepper

Method:

1. Dress cherries and onion quarters with verjuice, olive oil and black pepper.

2. Mix through oregano leaves.

3. Plate then crumble over the feta before serving.

ispahan cupcakes

Tomorrow (Saturday) my dear friends, Kath and James, are getting married.

Parisian extraordinaire Pierre Hermé invented the ispahan flavour during his time at Ladurée and the lychee, rose and raspberry combination was named Ispahan for the gorgeous pink blush of a Damask rose.

So when Kath, the sweetest friend I know, was having her hen’s afternoon tea I just had to make these cupcakes for her and the girls.

They were a symbolic fit, given Kath had made rosewater cupcakes with me for my own engagement party. And suitably, Kath's hens night theme was Parisian Glamour as she and hubby-to-be were heading to Paris for the honeymoon.

Ispahan Cupcakes
Lychee & Rosewater Cupcakes
Recipe by My Tartlette. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1½ cups self-rising flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup ground almonds
250g unsalted butter, softened
2 cups caster sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup milk
40ml rosewater (2 tablespoons)
24 lychees, stoned and chopped

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180’C. Spray 24 cupcake liners with cooking spray and set them on a baking sheet.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flours and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.

4. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk, lychees and rosewater. Do not overbeat.

7. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

8. Carefully spoon the batter into the liners, leaving space at the top for the cupcakes to rise significantly.

9. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
Based on a recipe by CookSister. Makes 1½ cups.

Ingredients:
100g butter, room temperature
1¼ cups icing sugar
¼ cup raspberries purée

Method:
1. Cream the butter, then add the icing sugar and cream together.

2. Add the puréed raspberries a little at a time until the right consistency is achieved.

3. Use a piping bag or a palette knife to ice the cakes.

Roses are my Weekend Herb Blogging theme ingredient this week, hosted by Astrid from Paulchen's Foodblog, a Viennese food diary.

Roses are a flowering shrub from the family Rosaceae, a group that also includes apples, cherries, peaches, pears, raspberries, strawberries and almonds.

Most of the roses we’re familiar with are Asian natives, with smaller groups hailing from Europe, North America and northwest Africa.

High in Vitamin C, rose petals, oils and waters never fell from favour in the food of the Middle East and Asia, and roses are now see a revival in European cooking too, where they were used lovingly from ancient times until as recently as the late 1800s.

I remember my mother was an avid rose gardener. She would lovingly tend to her roses all year long and relish the short, flowering season when the bushes would droop with the heavy petals and the garden was filled with their heady scent.

I remember, after my impossible request for a blue rose, my mother sourced the Blue Moon, a tea rose that would perfume my room with its adorable lilac blooms.

Rose have always represented love and beauty, perhaps because the flower is so delicate and sweet-smelling, but so short lived and balanced carefully on a dangerously prickly stem.

As my two friends tie the knot, I’m reminded of the poet-philosopher Kahlil Gibran whose words on roses are a pithy observation on relationships themselves:

“The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.”

red wine, sour cherry & chocolate cake

I do love Lindt chocolate so it’s not hard for me to tout Lindt’s Excellence range. My particular favourites to eat are Sea Salt, Orange and Mint, but 70% is fantastic for cooking.

As a lucky member of the Lindt Lovers group, I have been invited to participate in their Excellence Recipe Challenge and this flavoursome chocolate cake is what I’m offering up.

Studded with red-wine-soften dried sour cherries, this velvety cake is a superb version of a typical flourless chocolate cake recipe.

I just hope all the Lindt Lovers love it too!

Red Wine, Sour Cherry & Chocolate Cake

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 15.

Ingredients:
100ml red wine
250g dried sour cherries, chopped
400g 70% Lindt chocolate, chopped
200g unsalted butter, chopped
8 eggs
½ cup caster sugar
Pinch of Murray River pink salt flakes


Method:
1. In a small bowl, soak cherries in red wine for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 160’C. Grease and line a 20cm spring form baking tin.

3. Melt chocolate with butter until smooth and glossy.

4. With electric beaters, whip eggs, sugar and salt until pale and creamy.

5. In batches, fold the chocolate mixture and cherry/wine mixture into the eggs, combining completely before adding the next batch. Continue until both mixtures are fully combined.

6. Pour into the prepared baking tin and place inside a larger baking tray.

7. Pour boiling water into baking tray until it reaches halfway up the sides of the baking tin.

8. Bake for 40 minutes or until set.

9. Remove from water bath but cool completely in baking tin before turning out to serve. Serve in very thin slices (it’s very rich).

spiced cherry pie

My old man turned 65 last Saturday.

It’s kind of scary when your parents get older because by this stage you’ve grown out of your teenage rebellion and really appreciate them.

Suddenly your parent’s careful concern doesn’t seem so annoying.

Like the time your mother firmly refused to allow you, at age 13, to wear to school more eye-liner than a coal miner.
Or the time your father eyeballed you anxiously when you brought home one of his old school chums and introduced him as your new boyfriend.

Yes, parents do have a certain wisdom.

So now my Dad is 65, and for his birthday I baked him a cherry pie.
I used my pastry and filling recipe, with Chez Pim's addition of ginger, cloves and nutmeg.

This spiced cherry pie went very nicely with the amazing Sweet & Smoky Barbecued Pork Ribs that are my father's crowning culinary achievement.

Happy birthday Dad!

Cherry Pie

Anna’s recipe, influenced by Chez Pim. Serves 6-8 people.

Ingredients:
Filling
1kg sweet cherries
2 teaspoons cornflour
½ cup vanilla sugar
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of clove
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Pastry
350g chilled butter, chopped
3½ cups plain flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 egg, lightly beaten
Sugar, for dusting

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease pie dish.

2. Sift flour and pinch of salt. Rub in butter until crumbly. Add sugar. Add 2-4 tablespoons of water. Mix.

3. Gather dough. Divide into two balls. Flatten balls and roll into circles large enough to line pie dish. Put one circle in base of pie dish. Wrap and chill remaining circle.

4. In a pan combine the cherries, spices, sugar and lemon juice, and heat over a gentle flame.

5. Scoop out ¼ cup of the liquid that has gathered in the pot and mix with the cornflour until dissolved.

6. Add cornflour mixture to cherries and stir over low heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

7. Pour filling into pie dish, cover with remaining dough and cut edges with a knife to remove excess pastry from sides. Remember the pastry will shrink, so don’t cut off too much.

8. Roll out excess pastry and use cookie cutters to shape decorative cut-outs, using the beaten egg wash as glue. Glaze pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

9. Prick or slice pastry to allow steam to escape during cooking. Bake for 40 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and crunchy.

Note: My pastry tears very easily and is very, very difficult to manoeuvre. The pay off for your patience is that it’s crunchy and delicious when you eat the pie.
Note: My original blueberry pie recipe used only half the pastry ingredients but upon making this for my cherry pie I didn't have enough pastry. The measurements you see above are the doubled version which I think will be much better and allow excess for decoration.
Note: You can make the filling and pastry the day before. I would refrigerate the base already fitted to the tin and the lid rolled out flat onto the plate. Bring everything to room temperature before pouring the cherries filling into the pie base and ensure your pastry lid is malleable to fit and seal. Bake as above.

Cherries are my theme for Weekend Herb Blogging this week and I've blogged the history and uses of these wonderful plump fruits before (check it out).

Check out all the recap and other WHB recipes from this week at Katie's Eat This!.


M&M's cherry recipes:
Cherrylicious (cocktail)
Duck w Cherries
Meggyleves (Hungarian sour cherry soup)
Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (German black forest cake)

From the M&M archives:
2009 - Sahlap (Turkish orchid milk)

batida morango

I could drink this Brazilian strawberry cocktail rain, hail or shine.

It's amazingly delicious and Jonas makes a mean one.

Coming home, after a long day at work, to a smiling husband and a fat batida is too good to be true.

Batida Morango (Strawberry Brazilian Cocktail)

Jonas' very own recipe. Makes 1.

Ingredients:
4-5 strawberries
½ lime, cut into wedges
60ml cachaça
15ml sugar syrup
Crushed ice

Method:

1. Muddle the lime and strawberries in a cocktail shaker.

2. Add the sugar syrup and cachaça then ½ cup crushed ice.

3. Shake until chilled through then pour into a glass and serve immediately.

strawberry & white chocolate mousse

Sometimes being a blogger is pretty wonderful, and one of those occasions was when Green & Blacks offered me some samples of their delicious organic chocolate. They didn’t just want me to eat it, although that would have been pretty good, they wanted me to cook with it and see how I found the results.

What can I say? This chocolate tastes amazing on it’s own, so it tastes just as wonderful cooked into desserts.

Today, for Valentines Day, I made Jonas this fruity mousse. The pretty pink colour is a tribute to the Lovers’ Day and the vanilla infused white chocolate enriched the velvety mousse perfectly.

It was a match made in heaven.

Strawberry & White Chocolate Mousse

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
250g strawberries
1 tablespoon Cointreau
½ cup whipping cream
100g white chocolate
2 teaspoons agar agar

Method:

1. Wash and hull strawberries. Purée with Cointreau in blender.

2. Heat strawberry purée over a medium heat until bubbling.

3. Add agar agar and stir until dissolved. Place saucepan in a bowl of ice water and allow to cool (but so much it sets).

4. Melt white chocolate and set aside to cool a little.

5. Whip cream until stiff peaks form.

6. Add cooled white chocolate and whip through.

7. When strawberry purée has cooled, whip into cream-chocolate mixture.

8. Divide into serving dishes and refrigerate for a minimum of 3hrs before serving.

Note: I used Green & Blacks white chocolate which is infused with vanilla beans.

Stay tuned for other Green & Black’s organic chocolate recipes, or just go out a buy a bite size bar for yourself. They are delicious just on their own too.

duck w cherries

This recipe came from Australian Gourmet Traveller’s 40th Anniversary Issue where they reprinted some of the recipe over the years in a decade-by-decade history of food trends.

Duck w Cherries was firmly wedged in the 1960s along with Black Forest Cake. From the 1970s we got steak tartare and fondue, the 1980s gave us flaugnarde and neenish tarts and the 1990s was all about laksa, pannacotta and sticky date pudding.

Ahhh the memories (OK, so I’m only old enough to have memories of 1½ of those decades, but you get the idea).

I love sweet fruit sauces with meat, as you’ll see in a few weeks when I post a recipe for pigeon & plums or my archives of kangaroo & quandong, emu & rosella, venison & blueberries and pork w prunes & apples.

But for now enjoy the duck!

Duck w Cherries
Recipe from Gourmet Traveller (August 2006). Serves 4.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1.8kg duck, quartered
125ml light-bodied red wine
500g cherries
1½ teaspoons cornflour
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
1. Melt butter in a large casserole over medium heat.
2. Add duck and cook for 4 minutes on each side or until browned.
3. Add wine and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour
5. Drain excess fat from pan and add cherries, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
6. Combine cornflour in 1 tablespoon of water and mix until smooth.
7. Remove duck and cherries from pot then bring juice to a boil over a medium heat
8. Add cornflour mixture, whisking continuously for 1 minute or until thickened. Strain.
9. Divide duck and cherries among serving plates then spoon sauce over.
Note: frozen cherries can be used, but should be added 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

The area of Turkey, today called Giresun, was once known to the ancient Greeks as Kerasous and is the origin of most European words for cherry.

Greeks and Romans imported cherries from this area of Anatolia and called the fruits κέρασος (Greek) then cerasum (Latin) and eventually cereza (Spanish), cerise (French), kirsche (German) and cherry (English).

There are two main types of cherries: wild cherries (prunus avium) and sour cherries (prunus cerasus). Although they originate in the same place, they don’t cross-pollinate.

Cherry trees have silver-grey bark, long slender leaves and, in spring, beautiful pink and white blossoms. The Japanese have made an art out of cherry blossom enjoyment (hanami).

The peak fruit season depends on your location and those in the northern hemisphere enjoy them around June and July whereas in Australia they are best from November to January.

Cherry anthocyanins (red pigment) are potent antioxidants and they are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin E and dietary fibre. They are also being researched for their suspected benefits in combating the progression of cancer, chronic inflammatory conditions, neurological diseases, ageing, cardiovascular disease and allergic conditions (for instance asthma, hay fever, eczema and hives).

Our Weekend Herb Blogging host this week is the lovely Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. If you haven’t visited this blog before, please spend some time reading over Haalo’s recipes: it’s one of my all time favourite blogs out there.

M&M's cherry recipes:
Cherrylicious (cocktail)
Meggyleves (Hungarian sour cherry soup)
Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (German black forest cake)

Other cherry recipes from the blogosphere:
Beef Short Ribs w Cherry Balsamic Sauce - Mrs Glaze's Pommes d'Amour
Black Cherry Iced Tea - Appetite for China
Blue Cheese & Dried Cherry Meatloaf - A Year of Slow Cooking
Cherry Champagne Jellies - Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once
Cherry Hazelnut Loaf Cake - Chocolate & Zucchini
Cherry Jam - David Lebovitz
Cherry Mallow Salad - Eat Me Daily
Cherry Marzipan Tart - Nami Nami
Lamb Chops in Cherry & Port Sauce - Closet Cooking
Macaroon Cherry Tart - 101 Cookbooks
Persian Cherry Pilaf - Tigers & Strawberries
Sour Cherry Almond Frozen Yogurt - Always Order Dessert
Sour Cherry Barbecue Sauce - Habeas Brûlée
Sweet Cherry Pie - Smitten Kitchen
Venison w Cherry Mostarda & Chanterelles - Cook Eat Fret
Warm Cherry Port Sauce - Je Mange la Ville
Zucchini w Sour Cherry Couscous - Fig & Cherry

From the M&M archives:
2008 – Ecuadorian tuna & yuca soup
2007 – garlic scape pesto
2006 – mangosteen sorbet

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry
http://www.cherries.org.au
http://www.freshforkids.com.au/fruit_pages/cherry/cherry.html