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.

Broccoli & Beetroot tart

One evening last week, I was struggling with time ( story of my life!) and wanted a quick simple dish, with ingredients in my fridge/freezer.
I had been in a dr's waiting room and saw this recipe in a women's magazine, a quick and simple weekday meal, you can substitute with other vegetables if you want.


A can of beetroot (drained and dried well)
2 sheets of frozen puff pastry
1 small head of broccoli cut into florets
2 eggs
1/4/ cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 Tbl flaked almonds

1. Pre heat oven to 200c, light grease a 20x30cm  slice tin
2. Join pastry sheets together, overlapping, creating a seam. Using a sharp knife score a 1cm edge around the pan, bake for 8-10 min and lightly golden
3. Reduce the oven to 180, blanch the broccoli in boiling water and drain and dry.
4. Whisk the eggs, parmesan and sour cream in a jug and season well, pour over the pastry.
5. Top with broccoli and beetroot and bake for 15-20 min until just set, sprinkle with almonds and serve, you can have this warm or cold.

 

Enjoy!

 

Till next time

 

Ashia

Coffee and Walnut cake

This very simple, gorgeous recipe was given to me by a friend in the UK, you can bake it in a 20 cm tin like I did or alternatively you can divide it into smaller tins (they have to have upright sides) and they ill take less time in the oven 12-15 min, make sure they spring back when touched and the skewer comes out clean.

175g Salted butter
175g Golden caster sugar
3 Eggs beaten
175g Self raising Flour
1Tsp baking powder
100g chopped walnuts
2 Tbls cooled strong coffee
Butter Icing/Frosting and walnuts to decorate

1. Preheat oven to 180
2. Grease and line 2 (20 cm) cake tins or smaller tins if you prefer
3. Beat butter and sugar until  pale & fluffy, gradually whisk in the eggs one by one until blended, add the coffee making sure it all come together
4. Sift in flour and baking powder and fold the mixture with the walnuts
5. Bake for 20-25 min, or until cooked

Leave to cool, sandwich with coffee flavoured butter icing 200g butter, 400g icing sugar and 2 tbls strong coffee. Decorate with walnuts....divine. Thanks Susan hart for the lovely recipe.

 

Enjoy!

 

Till next time

 

Ashia

Adam's 13th birthday

Well another year has passed, it's been another busy one. As always, deciding to make yet another birthday cake, more challenging as they get older, but this time with help from Adam.
He chose the colour and designed the cake.
I started with making my no fail chocolate cake, works every time, it's moist and keeps well. I made two 23cm cakes.
I then made butter cream to sandwich and crumb coat the two cakes. I usually ice with buttercream but this time Adam wanted fondant. ( He has a bit of a sweet tooth!)
He chose the colour, but I couldn't find it in any of the cake shops, so I ended up using white fondant and colouring it with gel colour. It was perfect. We then cut out strips and spots out of black fondant and using edible glue stuck them on the cake.

The result was great!

Enjoy!

Till next time, hopefully sooner than this post.

Ashia

Easy, mild lamb curry with fragrant basmati rice

 It has been a long winter, I have found that people hibernate in New Zealand, so you don't entertain or see friends very much. Kiwis are very 'outdoor' people and I don't just mean that in the sporting sense, but also entertaining and eating outside. Its so easy to fire up the barbie and throw a salad together, and enjoy dinner al fresco. However, in the colder months everyone stays indoors  and I think this recipe is perfect for the cold weather, comforting and wholesome, with a little spice to warm you up!

 An easy, mild Lamb curry, this is a superb dish for those in the family that don't or cant eat hot and spicy food. My children don't really like the hot stuff! So this is ideal, they are not great meat eaters either, so this curry is lovely as the meat is quite tender (depending on which method you use to cook it).  I cooked this in a slow cooker but you can use the oven or on the stove top.

700g boneless lamb shoulder (fat removed) roughly diced into bite size pieces
2-3 tbl Oil (your preference)
1.5 Tsp Ground cumin
1.5  Tsp Ground coriander
1 Tsp Tumeric powder
3-4 Cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
Tip -:  If you have an Indian food suppliers that you can get to , they have ready made , fresh garlic paste and garlic & ginger paste that is kept in the fridge, fantastic if you use these ingredients all the time.  If you are using this, add 2 heaped teaspoons.
2-3 medium sized onions, finely sliced
150-200 mls of Chicken or beef stock (depending on how much sauce you want.
1/2 -1tsp chilli flakes (optional)
200mls of fresh cream
Salt & pepper to taste
Fresh coriander to garnish

1. Add oil to a large lidded casserole dish or a heavy based saucepan (if using the stove top) add onions and cook until pale and slightly golden, add the lamb and cook until browned.
2. Add the spices and chilli, and the ginger and garlic.  Add the cream and stock, bring it to the boil and then immediately  on a very low heat, simmer for about 1 hour.
3. If using the oven (preheated to around 150) cook the steps 1 & 2 in a large frying pan or wok and then transfer to a casserole dish, cooking for an hour or until the lamb is tender.
4. My favourite way is using the slow cooker, then you know you are getting beautiful, tender meat that melts in your mouth, again, steps 1 & 2 on the stove top in a large frying pan (hold the cream) which you can add  10-15 min before serving.

For the Basmati rice -; See an earlier blog entry for recipe, add 1/2 tsp of whole cumin when you add the water, and then  chopped coriander to garnish.

 

Enjoy!

 

Till next time

 

Ashia

Indian rice pudding with flaky puris

This is a gorgeous version of rice pudding, I have memories of eating this when I was growing up, we had it mainly at religious festivals, or in the month of Ramadan.
When I crave something sweet that reminds me of home, this is my go to reciepe, it is easy and tastes divine with little hot puris.


Rice pudding (kheeraj)

1Tbl butter/ghee
2 pints milk
2pints water
½ mug rice (Basmati)
1 small tin condensed milk
¼ cup raisons or sultanas
1 small tin nestle cream or fresh cream (optional)

Wash and soak rice for an hour so before you start
Put milk, water and rice in a large saucepan with the butter
Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat, cook until all the liquid has evaporated.
Once cooked take off the heat and blend with a hand blender
Add the tin of condensed milk and return to the heat, giving it a good mix.
Add raisins and then cream if desired.

To make the puris…
1 mug plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tbl oil
Oil to shallow fry

Mix the dry ingredients with the oil
Make a dough using cold water, adding slowly until the dough is soft.
Divide into ? roll into small balls
Roll out in to 10cm diameter rounds
Heat oil in a small deep saucepan and fry the puris in small batches until they are all cooked, put in a plate with some kitchen towel so it soaks up the excess oil.

Serve the Kheeraj and puris together.

 

Enjoy!

 

Till next time

 

Ashia