Pastry, is wonderful. 
Sweet or savoury, anything presented with a crisp and flaky pastry shell is pretty much impossible to beat.
A cruchy lid magically transforms a leftover casserole into a delicious pot pie. 
A lovely buttery envelope of pastry folded around the well-drained contents of a tin of peaches makes a dessert anyone would be proud to offer up any night of the week.

Ingredients
250grams plain flour
pinch of salt
250grams cold butter
150ml iced water
extra flour to dust the bench

large mixing bowl
vegetable grater
rolling pin or a clean bottle

Method
In a large bowl combine flour and salt.
Use the vegetable grater to grate the butter into the flour mixture.
The grater makes the butter easier to deal with and easier to rub into the flour.
Using your finger tips rub the butter and flour together until roughly combined.  There should still be some streaks of butter visible here and there.
Add half of the iced water and mix well, add the water a little more at a time until the dough has just come together.
Put the bowl in the fridge for about 30 minutes to rest.
 
Sprinkle a little flour onto a clean bench and turn the pastry out of the bowl.
Sprinkle a little more flour onto the pastry and onto your rolling pin (or bottle) so it doesn't stick to the pastry, and gently roll the pastry out into a rough rectangle shape.
To help the pastry become flaky and puff up, you need to start folding.
Fold the pastry in half and give it a quarter turn on the bench. 
Roll it out into a rectangle again, fold and turn.
Do this two or three more times, dusting gently with flour now and again to prevent sticking. 
Wrap the pastry in some plastic and place it back in the fridge for about 20 minutes before using it to top your pie.

Bake in a 180 degree Celsius oven 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and flaky.  

Slow-cooker Butter Chicken Curry

At the recent Party Pie Party, this recipe was my favourite of the pies that came out of the oven.
This chicken curry is delicious served with rice, or in a crispy
pie, or indeed on a sandwich. It's yummy and simple if you have a few spices ready to go in your pantry.
Use a slow cooker or let this curry simmer away very gently in a 130-140 degree C oven

*I like to use a mixture of breast and thigh pieces, on the bone if it's for a traditionally-served curry (with rice and naan bread), or boneless if you intend using it as a pie filling.

Ingredients
1 kg chicken pieces (*see note above)

Marinade
125ml tub of natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons fresh crushed ginger
2 cloves crushed garlic

1 tablespoon oil
60 grams butter
1 chopped onion
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 stick cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
150 ml stock or water
60 grams cashews ground
1 440 gram tin tomato
60 ml cream or natural yoghurt

Method
Combine chicken with all the marinade ingredients and set aside covered in the fridge for at least 4 hours, overnight is better as the flavour will continue to develop over time.

Place the chicken and marinade in the slow cooker and turn it on following the manufacturers instructions.

In a frying pan heat the oil and butter over moderate heat.
Add the onion, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf and paprika and gently fry until the onion is beginning to soften.
Add the stock to the pan and stir to remove any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat and pour contents of the frying pan into the slow cooker with the chicken.
Add the ground cashews and tin of tomatoes and simmer on the lowest setting for 4 hours. 
When ready to serve, stir in the cream or yoghurt, and spoon the curry over steamed rice.

To use this filling in pies, wait for the curry to cool in the fridge before adding to pastry.  A hot filling will melt the pastry and cause the pies to be soggy and uncooked on the bottom.

For a simple pastry recipe click here.

Packed with goodness, the perfect snack or breakfast on the go.

The "ants pants" muesli slice

This recipe is super-simple and takes less than ten minutes to pull  together. This is also one of those recipes you can adapt easily to suit your mood or, cook with little kids to encourage them to get busy in the kitchen.  Switch out some of the muesli for rice bubbles, or corn flakes, or even unsalted popcorn to keep things interesting.

If the kids are helping out, get them to roll the mix into balls instead of bars - food's a lot more fun when you can play with it!

60 grams butter
2 heaped tablespoons honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 heaped tablespoons smooth peanut butter

3 cups of your favourite muesli.

Large saucepan
Cake tin or roasting tray

Line a small cake tin or roasting tray with baking paper and set aside.
In a large saucepan over low heat melt the butter with the honey and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
Add the peanut butter and stir until well combined.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the muesli.
Stir well until the muesli is coated in the sweet, buttery mixture.

Pour the muesli mix into the lined tray and press well into the corners.
Alternately roll the mixture into golf ball-sized balls and set aside on the lined tray.

Refrigerate for 45 minutes and turn out of the tray.
Use a sharp knife to cut into portions.
Store in the fridge for up to a week - if you can make it last that long.

If life gives you lemons... make a pudding! 
 

I prefer to shy away from anything too pretentious when I'm cooking for friends and family.  I don't mind a bit of a gourmet twist, but simple and traditional will always beat truffle oil-scented, vine-ripened, microscopically-portioned cheffy food - no contest.  
[download a free PDF of this recipe here] 

Mali - a puppy with personality
[watch the video recipe]

 

[watch the video recipe]

 
 

[Download a PDF of this recipe]

Just about everyone has a story of confused waiters or waitresses, and misunderstandings in cafes and restaurants.

One I was reminded of just the other day when I dug out this recipe was the slightly fuddled backpaker (let's call him Johan for convenience sake) at a cafe in Sydney's Newtown.  Johan couldn't quite explain the difference between the self-saucing pudding and the one you'd have to sauce for yourself.

The poor love was quite rightly confused firstly by a chef who'd given us customers a self-saucing sticky date pudding as a special that night, secondly by working in a busy cafe with English quite obviously as a second language for him. 
He was further bewildered by our table of twelve ordering de-caf, skim and soy variations of every coffee type available.

The difference was of course the self-saucing sticky date pudding came in a little pot that had a thick sweet sauce under the layer of spongy pudding.
The pudding you were to sauce yourself was a slice from a larger pud, served with a jug of butterscotch syrup.

Let's be honest, Johan's tenuous grip on English grammar left him with little hope.

I hadn't really thought about sticky date puddings, or Johan for that matter for a long time until my Aunt produced perfect individually portioned treats as an alternative to a traditional Christmas pudding last Christmas.
It was a brilliant idea.  Less dense and much tastier than any fruit pudding and in individual serves with lashings of butterscotch sauce.

Give these a try. You'll be glad you did - just remember you'll have to add the sauce yourself.


Sticky date pudding with brown sugar butterscotch sauce.
[Download a PDF of this recipe]

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius

The dates
3/4 cup pitted dates
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup boiling water

The pudding
40 grams softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup plain flour

Butterscotch sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup cream
60g butter

muffin tin
mixing bowls
wide frying pan


Grease and line an 8 x 1/3 cup muffin tin.
In a small bowl combine the chopped dates, bicarbonate of soda and boiling water. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes while you prepare the remaining ingredients. 

Combine 4 grams butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar in a mixing bowl.  Beat until the butter is light and fluffy and the sugar is completely dissolved.
Add the egg and mix very well to combine.
Sift the flours into the butter and egg mixture, add the now softened dates and stir until just mixed through. 
Spoon the mixture into muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes.

Allow to cool until they are able to be handled, remove from the muffin tin and set aside to serve.

For the sauce
Over moderate heat add the sugar and brown sugar to the pan and set aside to melt. Do not stir the sugar, be patient and let it melt in the pan forming a light caramel.
Remove from the heat when the sugar has darkened a little. 
Quickly stir in the cream and the butter and set aside to cool just a little and serve over the puddings with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I've been doing the lovely dark green zucchini a disservice for many years.
And I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to realise it.

It's high time the zucchini got the appreciation it so rightly deserves.  
It's been my go-to vegetable, the old reliable ensemble player, the working actor of the vegetable world for a long time now - and is more than capable of a starring role in a recipe. 

The zucchini is always in my fridge ready to step in to add some vegetable goodness to all sorts of stews and casseroles, or to come to my assistance in the valuable understudy role of "emergency green thing on plate". 

So here you are, in the category of Best Vegetable in a Leading Role (ably supported by the Summer's best tomatoes so far), I give you the zucchini. 



Zucchini griddle cakes with tomato and blue cheese salad
(Download a printable version of this recipe here)

2/3 cup plain flour4 or 5 zucchini
4 spring onions 
1 clove garlic
1 chilli
pinch salt and pepper to season
olive oil

3 or 4 very ripe tomatoes
8 - 10 basil leaves
50g blue cheese
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine eggs and plain flour to make a thick paste.
Grate the zucchini into the batter and mix well to combine.

Crush the garlic and slice the spring onions and chilli finely and add to the batter. Add a pinch of salt and some pepper to season. 

Heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan over moderate heat. 

Add the batter to the pan a heaped tablespoonful at a time.  Fry the griddle cakes for a minute or two until golden brown and turn cooking until will browned and cooked through. 

Serve with a salad of sliced tomatoes, crumbled blue cheese, roughly torn basil and a drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar.


[Download a PDF of this recipe]

A simple slice like this is a recipe that most of our Grandma's would have had at their fingertips, and look at us, we were never little butterball kids - get back to making your own baked treats and stave off childhood obesity (or that's the theory anyway)

[read the story here]

Folks in the country share their produce.  

This recipe was on our family Christmas table because a flood washed some mud onto someone's farm.  Read the whole story here