Summer Berry Tarts

A couple of days before the end of 2014, it's been another busy year, with cooking and writing and having an article published with Taste magazine. And getting ready to write another one for NZ House & Garden, which will be published early next year.

Having realised three years ago that this ( foodie projects) is what i am passionate about doing, it would be amazing to spend all my spare time doing this. Unfortunately, "life" gets in the way, and my foodie plans, made with good intentions go out the window!

I envy people that make a career out of doing something they love, it will happen some day for me, of this I am sure, and don't they say ..... Good things come to those who wait .... I truly believe that.
I do feel blessed though, having my gorgeous family around me for support and encouragement, and my parents and three sisters on the other end of the phone and Skype for advice with food and life in general. Sometimes I do wonder how I cope without my extended family literally on the other side of the world! But with the love and support of my gorgeous kiwi husband and two rapidly growing children (13 & 9) I get through ok.

As I have been a little slack in keeping my blog up to date I felt that now I am relaxed and on holiday in sunny Ohope beach I can post a couple of entries, that have been waiting to be uploaded.

So I decided to end the year with a very easy summer berry tart, which is inspired by a recipe in Taste magazine in the autumn, I used ready made shortcrust pastry ( you can make your own but the emphasis here is easy)

2-3 sheets ready made shortcrust pastry tarts ( I used Edmonds sheet pastry )
500g mixed berries, raspberrys, blueberrys, strawberries, blackberries and cherries ( you can use late summer fruits, peaches, nectarines and even apples and pears
1 Tbls cornflour
1 squeeze of 1/2 a lemon
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 beaten egg
Raw sugar to sprinkle

Pre heat oven to 180
1.Taking each pastry sheet use a 20-22 cm cake tin and cut out a circle.
2. Halve the strawberries and place all the berries in a bowl, add the the other ingredients and mix well.
3.using a slotted spoon scoop the fruit and place in the middle of each circle, place the cherries on top of the fruit leaving the stalks on, try not to get too much of the syrup on the pastry and making sure you leave a 2-3 cm space around the pastry.
4. Gather the pastry in towards the fruit, encasing it, egg wash the tarts and sprinkle sugar.
5. Bake for 25-30 min or until golden

Serve warm or cool with thickened cream or mascarpone, a perfect summer treat.

Well with this easy summer treat, I wish you all a happy and relaxing summer holiday, keep reading and sharing my blog, and in the new year I have plans for a website so all the Instagram, blog and articles can be accessed in one place.

Happy new year!

Enjoy, Ashia .

Gifts from my kitchen

Well, it's been another busy year, I have neglected my blog :-( but still busy cooking and baking and writing.

I was asked again by NZ House & Garden to write another food feature for an issue early next year, so thrilled to be able to do this.

The photo shoot was a couple of weeks ago, and I headed off to Matakana where I met Bernadette Hogg, one of the food writer/ stylist whose work I have admired for many years. It was great to finally meet her, and see her collection of eclectic dishes, platters and props for the various food shoots she has worked on.

I was excited to be involved in the process, the photography was done by Manja Wachsmuth, who did an amazing job, again. We were thrilled with the result, which will be published in the April issue 2015. So watch out for it.

Christmas has been and gone and the run up to it has been busy, as usual, as we prepare for the end of the year and summer holidays. I decided again to do some baked gifts for the children's teachers and some friends.

A lovely shortbread which is so easy to bake, and so traditionally Christmassy. It's one that my mother in law makes, simple with a bit of Christmas sparkle.