Roasted Summer Stone Fruit

Kath November 1, 2018

This is a great no fuss dessert that makes the most of the delicious stone fruit that are coming into season right now.

We make this a lot all year round, and during the colder months use pears instead. It is often made on the weekends when we make more time for dinner and it is always a nice way to end a meal (and the leftovers are always good too!).

When I’m making this with stone fruit, I like to use a variety of plums, nectarines and white and yellow peaches as the combination creates wonderful flavour and look to the dessert.

Roasted Summer Stone Fruit

Ingredients:

1-2kg stone fruit (e.g. peaches, nectarines, plums)

45g butter, softened

2 tbsp panela sugar (or brown sugar)

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 tsp ground cinnamon

125ml Moscato

50g slivered almonds

thick cream to serve (I use Little Big Dairy Co’s Pure Double Cream)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and cut the fruit into wedges, removes the stones or cores. Place fruit in a large baking dish.

In a small bowl mix together the butter, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and scatter teaspoonfuls of the mixture over the fruit.

Pour the wine over the fruit and bake for about 30 minutes or until the fruit is beginning to soften. Briefly remove the fruit from the oven and scatter over the almonds and continue baking for another 10 minutes or until the almonds and the fruit are golden.

Serve warm with cream (or ice cream).

Reference: ‘Bill’s Italian Food’ by Bill Granger (HarperCollins, 2013), p.229.

Honey Ice Cream

Kath October 16, 2018

I started making this ice cream a year ago. I thought what a great idea it would be to make a ‘breakfast appropriate ice cream’ and serve it with fresh berries and homemade muesli (which is why some of the photos in this post have jars of muesli in them!). Only for special occasions of course. In theory it was all a great idea, until you have a massive sugar rush before 9 am.

Despite this, I would still recommend this ice cream for serving with waffles or pancakes (or these ricotta hotcakes) for brunch. And of course it is divine on its own as an easy dessert. I would also pair it with the Apple & Honey Cake I posted recently, with my Duck Egg Pavlova, or a fruit crumble (or maybe at a stretch my Muesli Breakfast Crumble if you were feeling a little indulgent!).

My massive sugar rush ‘breakfast’ - honey ice cream with homemade muesli and berries!

For this recipe I used the Honey Malt and Vanilla Milk from Little Big Dairy Co. I love this milk as not only does it taste great (and is truely addictive!), but all Little Big Dairy Co’s products are single source. This means everything is produced from their farm in the Central West of NSW. Having tried a few of their products now, I truely believe you can taste the difference. Everything just tastes so good compared to other milks or creams, in a way that makes me think I hadn’t tried really good quality milk or cream until I tried Little Big Dairy Co.

I buy some of their products from Harris Farm Markets (including the milk used for this recipe), and they are also available in the Food Hall at David Jones in the city (I have been known to take cooler bags and ice bricks into the city and carry some of their products home on the train!).

If you can’t find the Little Big Dairy Co Honey Malt and Vanilla milk, regular full cream or skim will work well too.

Honey Ice Cream made using Little Big Dairy Co Honey Malt and Vanilla Milk

Homemade Honey Ice Cream

Honey Ice Cream

Ingredients:

40g white sugar (Panela Sugar also works well)

175ml milk (preferably Little Big Dairy Co Honey Malt and Vanilla Milk)

125ml pouring cream

150ml Greek style yoghurt

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

160g mild flavoured honey

Method:

Whisk the milk and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and the milk has become frothy. Then add the cream, yoghurt, vanilla and honey. Whisk until well combined and the mixture has thickened a little.

Transfer mixture into the bowl of an ice cream machine, and process according to machine instructions. I find the churning process takes about 10 minutes (weather depending), and is ready once the ice cream has thickened, slightly frozen and is clinging to the paddle of the ice cream machine.

Transfer ice cream to a freezer safe container (at least 1L capacity) and freeze overnight.

Remove from freezer when ready to serve - due to the yoghurt in the ice cream it does not freeze as hard as other ice creams and is easy to serve straight from the freezer.

Honey Ice Cream

Reference: ‘Lomelino’s Ice Cream’ by Linda Lomelino (Roost Books, 2015), p.13

Homemade Honey Ice Cream

Honey Ice Cream made using Little Big Dairy Co’s Honey Malt and Vanilla Milk

Rose & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Rose & Vanilla Bean Ice Creams (Egg Free)

Kath July 17, 2018

This is one of those super Summery recipes that I just can’t get enough of. Having said that, yes I know I am posting this while we are in the middle of Winter here in Australia, and feeling particularly cold if I do say so myself.

I first made these late last year, when we were at the beginning of what felt like one of the hottest and longest Summers ever. I was inspired by a milkshake I used to order at one of my favourite city haunts, The Tea Salon. Rose and vanilla is a winning combination for me, and in the Summer months it was always nice to have a good alternative to a hot tea. I met up with friends there often, it really became our go to place.

Located in the Sydney City Westfield it was easy to get to and ticked the boxes in terms of the menu, and the pretty pink decor didn’t hurt either! The Tea Salon closed down a few months ago, much to my friends and my dismay. It felt like the end of an era, and I’m not quite sure what will replace our regular city haunt yet.

Rose & Vanilla Bean Milkshake at The Tea Salon

Until we find somewhere just as good, I will have to be content with this recipe being the legacy of our many catch ups over the years at The Tea Salon. And while now doesn’t feel like the opportune time to be posting a recipe for ice cream for most of us here in Australia, it is definitely the perfect time for everyone in the Northern Hemisphere who seem to be enjoying endless Summer days.

Not being a warm weather person, I am certainly not jealous of the weather everyone up there is having. I am however loving all the beautiful Instagram posts with all the Summer blooms, beautiful fashions, and fun outdoor activities. Summer in the UK in particular, through the lens of Instagram, looks utterly delightful compared to the hot and humid, sometimes almost 40 degrees days we can have here in Sydney.

I can definitely see myself enjoying some of this ice cream again later in the year when the weather warms up, and maybe reminisce over some of the good times this recipe was inspired by. But for now I’ll just leave this recipe here till then, and continue to enjoy my warming cups of tea, soups and multitudes of blankets.

Rose & Vanilla Bean Ice Creams

Rose & Vanilla Bean Ice Creams (Egg Free)

Ingredients:

165ml milk

6 tbsp white sugar

250ml pouring cream

1 vanilla bean seeds scraped or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 tbsp rosewater (or to taste)

Dried rose petals chopped, optional

Method:

Whisk the milk and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and the milk has become frothy. Then add the cream, the vanilla, and rosewater. Whisk until combined and the mixture has thickened a little.

Once ready, transfer to a large piping bag and pipe into ice cream mould. Sprinkle some of the dried rose petals over the top, insert food safe wooden sticks into the centre of each one and place in the freezer. To keep the sticks in place I often cover the whole mould with a couple of layers of plastic wrap. Alternatively, transfer ice cream to a freezer safe container (at least 1L capacity) and freeze overnight.

If making the individual ice creams, carefully remove them from the mould when ready to eat, the ice cream will melt quite quickly in the warmer Summer months! I found it easier to remove all of them from the mould once they were properly frozen and individually wrap them in plastic wrap to store in the freezer.

Makes 10 individual ice creams or about 1L of ice cream.

Rose & Vanilla Bean Ice Creams

Reference: ‘Lomelino’s Ice Cream’ by Linda Lomelino (Roost Books, 2015), p.13

Rose & Vanilla Bean Ice Creams

Dried Rose Petals

Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

How to Make Homemade Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Kath November 17, 2017

Since I have been using this simple ice cream recipe, there seems to be no end to the number of adaptations I can make with it. This caramel version came about when I was making a Carrot Cake for my Dad’s birthday in August, the recipe coming from the blog My Name is Yeh.

The carrot cake called for making caramel. I can’t say I make caramel that often, it’s one of those things I feel can go wrong so easily. But after making it for this cake, and finding it went much more smoothly than I remember, I decided to make some more and add it to my favourite ice cream recipe to serve with the cake.

I have made it again since then, and I am so enjoying making (and eating) this new adaptation of my favourite ice cream recipe. And with the holiday season coming up soon, I am thinking this may need to be on our Christmas menu.

Speaking of Christmas, I am currently working on a festive baking e-book, filled with our family favourites for the holiday season. Anyone who is already a subscriber to my email list will receive a copy once the e-book is released - so if you aren’t a subscriber sign up now so you don’t miss out!

Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Ingredients for the Caramel:

75g white sugar

1 tbsp water

65g heavy/double cream

55g unsalted butter cubed, at room temperature

Ingredients for the Ice Cream:

165ml milk

6 tbsp white sugar

250ml pouring cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

To make the caramel, place the sugar into a small saucepan, and stir in the water. Cook over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar until it starts to bubble. Then stop stirring (and don’t stir again or the caramel will crystallise), and leave to cook for a further couple of minutes or until the caramel has turned amber in colour. If the caramel isn’t cooking evenly, swirl the pan to encourage the caramel to colour evenly.

Reduce the heat to low, and add the cream. Stir until the cream has combined with the caramel. Continue to stir and add the butter little by little so each piece has time to melt before the next is added.

Once all the butter has been added and is well combined, remove the caramel from the heat and allow to cool.

Ensure the caramel has cooled right down before using to make the ice cream. Alternatively, make the caramel the day before, store in the fridge and bring down to room temperature before using to make the ice cream.

To make the ice cream, whisk the milk and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and the milk has become frothy. Then add the cream, the vanilla, and the caramel. Whisk until combined and the mixture has thickened a little.

Transfer mixture into the bowl of an ice cream machine, and process according to machine instructions. I found the churning process took about 10-15 minutes. When ready, the ice cream should have thickened, be softly frozen like a soft serve ice cream, and be clinging to the paddle of the ice cream machine. When ready, transfer ice cream into a freezer safe container (at least 1L capacity) and freeze overnight.

Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Reference: ‘Lomelino’s Ice Cream’ by Linda Lomelino (Roost Books, 2015), p.13; Carrot Cake with Hawaij and Tahini Caramel by My Name Is Yeh.

Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Duck Egg Pavlova with Fresh Honeycomb

Kath October 13, 2017

As you may have noticed from the number of times I have posted a recipe for Pavlova on this blog, I love Pavlova! It was my favourite thing my Grandma made, and I seem to be unable to stop coming up with new adaptations to it.

After making a Duck Egg Sponge a little while ago, I knew that next time I was able to find duck eggs I would try and bake something different. So when I finally found them again, I decided to make a duck egg Pavlova! A quick Google told me that duck eggs make great Pavlovas so I was keen to try it out. The flavours for this Pavlova are inspired by the honeyed cream from the Duck Egg Sponge I made. Adding honey to whipped cream is just about the most simple thing to do, but it tastes so good! I also love fresh honeycomb, so I couldn’t resist using some to decorate the Pavlova.

I buy my honeycomb from a farm stand in the north western suburbs of Sydney, and it is super fresh, and not too expensive ($15 for 500g). Fresh honeycomb is the purest form of honey you can eat as it has not gone through any filtering processes. The comb of the honey is fine to eat, and actually contains many beneficial properties. The honey this particular farm stand sells is amazing as well, and is also raw so all the good things are left in the honey rather than being striped out.

I have found these types of honey’s have a more complex and interesting flavour than the honey sold at supermarkets, and buying it straight from the producer means you can buy it in larger quantities and at a better price than honey’s sold at gourmet food stores. Depending on where you live, you might even be able to find fresh duck eggs at farm stands or farmers markets, its always worth keeping an eye out!

Duck Egg Pavlova with Fresh Honeycomb

Ingredients:

6 duck egg whites

375g caster sugar

1.5 tsp white vinegar

1.5 tsp vanilla bean paste

30g cornflour

To decorate:

300ml pouring cream

90ml honey

fresh honeycomb

dried edible lavender

edible flowers, to decorate, optional

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Separate the duck eggs adding the whites to the bowl of a stand mixer. Duck egg shells are tougher than chicken eggs, and take a little more effort to crack, and I have found in the process the shells won’t crack ‘cleanly’. I suggest cracking each over a glass then separating the yolk and the whites over another glass or small bowl so you keep as many shell fragments contained and away from the pavlova mixture as possible!

Beat the egg whites for 5-6 minutes, whilst gradually adding the sugar. Add the vinegar and vanilla and beat until the mixture is stiff, glossy and holds its peak (for an example of what this looks like see this video on my Facebook page).

Sift cornflour over the mixture, and gently fold to combine.

Use a little of the mixture to help keep the baking paper in place. Spread the mixture into a rectangle, approximately 20 x 35 cm (this will depend on the size of your tray). If you want a pavlova with a more marshmallowy centre, make the rectangle smaller than 20 x 35 cm, so it will be thicker rather than wide. Try to keep the edges a little higher than the middle so any filling can sit comfortably later.

Turn the oven down to 125 degrees Celsius, and cook undisturbed for 1.5 hours.

After 1.5 hours, turn the oven off and leave the pavlova to cool completely in the oven (or overnight).

Just before you are ready to serve your pavlova, whip the cream until it has thickened and is forming soft peaks. Add the honey and whisk until combined. Spread the cream over the centre of the pavlova. Decorate with a small sprinkling of dried edible lavender, small chunks of fresh honeycomb and some edible flowers.

Note: If you are preparing the pavlova in advance of serving it, or know you will have left overs, I suggest serving the honeycomb on the side as the honey from the honeycomb will start to drip away when stored in the fridge.

Duck Egg Pavlova with Fresh Honeycomb

Citrus Tart

A Cirtus Tart & Surviving the 9-5

Kath August 31, 2017

I found this recipe in Catherine Phipps' book ‘Citrus’ and found the book, via the podcast ‘Stir the Pot’ by Edd Kimber. I have really taken to listening to podcasts in the past year, after my initial introduction to Cherry Bombe magazine’s ‘Radio Cherry Bombe’, my list of favourites has grown. At first these podcasts, were my way of doing something for myself on my commute to and from a job I really didn’t want to be doing anymore. My emotional health was suffering a lot because of this job, and having something that was just for me on a topic I am obsessed with made each working day a little easier. I had a little bit of a walk from the train station to my old work, and I will always remember the sense of dread I felt once I got closer to work. I would turn the corner and the knowledge that my time was up, until 5pm, would hit me. The following 7-8 hours were all about spending time in an often toxic environment, doing a job that was literally going nowhere.

The highlights of those work days mostly involved food. Apart from the podcasts, what I planned to eat at lunch, what ingredients I would buy on my lunch break or having a quiet lunch with other like minded colleagues were the moments that kept me going. I also stress purchased many a cookbook from the couple of bookstores in the area, which is where I found ‘Citrus’. I had listened to Edd Kimber’s interview with Catherine on his podcast, and had made a mental note to keep an eye out for Catherine’s book. During the interview they had discussed cooking with citrus, and to my delight, cooking with bergamots (see more on my bergamot obsession here). When I found a copy of the book, I instantly knew I had to buy it. I hadn’t been expecting to find it so easily, and being so unhappy in my job made my weakness for buying cookbooks all the more feeble.

There are so many good recipes in ‘Citrus’, covering all types of food and occasions. This tart comes from the Desserts section, which also includes recipes for a Blood Orange and Rhubarb Meringue Pie, Bergamot and Rose Turkish Delight Pavlova (be still my heart) and a Earl Grey and Rose Parfait (was this book actually written just for me?!). I love Catherine’s flavour combinations, and the information on how to use particular and less common citrus.

You don’t need a food processor for the pastry in this recipe, which I loved as we no longer have one (we weren’t using it so gave it away!). I used a selection of citrus for the filling, lemon, lemonades and bergamots. You could just use one type of citrus, it just depends what you feel like. However as a guide, the original recipe stipulates the zest of 2 lemons and the juice of 3 lemons for the filling - use this as a guide re the quantities of juice in particular as for example, a large orange will hold more juice than a lemon.

Winter Citrus - Lemons, Bergamots & Lemonades

Citrus by Catherine Phipps

Making the Pastry

Cooked Tart Shell & Making the Filling

Citrus Tart

Ingredients for the Pastry:

200g plain flour

pinch of salt

125g unsalted butter, cold & cubed

50g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

Ingredients for the Filling:

6 eggs

300g caster sugar

250ml heavy cream

finely grated zest of 2 citrus (lemons, lemonades, bergamots etc) and the juice of three citrus (lemons, lemonades, bergamots, small/medium oranges etc)

Method:

To make the pastry, put the flour and salt in a bowl, and rub in the butter until it looks like almond meal. Stir in the icing sugar, then add the egg yolks and mixing it all together with your hands. If the dough is too crumbly at this stage, add a small amount of ice cold water to help bring it together. Shape into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap, and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Once the dough has rested, preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and lightly flour a work surface. Roll out the pastry, dusting with extra flour if necessary. Roll it fairly thinly, however don’t go so thin that it will easily break when you are placing it into the tart tin. The pastry needs to have the circumference to line a 24cm tart tin (approx.). Gently place the pastry over the tart tin, and gently push it in to the sides of the tin, trimming the edges that hang over the sides. Keep some of the left over raw pastry for later in case you need to patch up your tart case after the blind baking process.

Put the raw pastry case in the freezer for 10 minutes, then prick the pastry all over with a fork. Crumple up a piece of baking paper, then place it over the tart and fill with pastry weights. Bake the tart for 15 minutes, then remove the pastry weights and the baking paper and bake again for about 5 minutes. At this stage you don’t want any of your tart shell to be raw. Leave the tart shell to cool while you make the filling, and turn down the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

To make the filling whisk the eggs and caster sugar together until they are well combined, then whisk in the cream and citrus zest and juice. To fill the pastry case, place on a lined baking sheet and pull out one of the oven racks and place it on the rack. Gently pour the filling into the case from here (best to use a jug for this), then gently push the oven rack back in and bake for 30-40 minutes until the tart filling is just set (it will still wobble slightly). Leave the tart to cool before serving, and store in the fridge if there are leftovers!

Citrus Tart

Reference: Citrus by Catherine Phipps (Quadrille, 2017), p.168.

Citrus Tart

If you are struggling at work…

I would highly recommend one or more of these books/podcasts. While I am no longer working in the environment I mentioned in this post, I still find these resources immensely valuable.

Winter Citrus

recipes

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Pistachio & Rose Nougat 🌹.. . . This is my first attempt at making nougat, and I’m pretty happy with the result! I think the colour is a little golden, however I have been told using a lighter colour honey will help with that. I used the recipe from @nadineingram’s book Flour and Stone and added more pistachios and some crystallised rose petals from @esntlingredient. I also used some of the bright green slivered pistachios I got from the Persian food shops I visited last week. I really like the colour that these pistachios along with the rose petals give the nougat.. . . If you are planning on making nougat at home I would definitely recommend using Nadine’s recipe as your guide. She provides great instructions and really walks you through the whole process.. . . And if I were someone who bought into the whole Valentine’s Day thing, I would say these would make a lovely gift! But I won’t since I think giving thoughtful gifts to those you love (and just being thoughtful generally) should be a more regular thing than just one day or so in the year. 😘😊

These are my Rose Biscuits, made with much inspiration from those sold by Fortnum & Mason in London. They are consistently one of the most popular recipes in my blog... . . Up until now, I have made them using homemade crystallised rose petals which I made whenever I came across fresh edible rose petals. I always made them this way as pre-made crystallised rose petals seemed non existent here in Sydney. The last I had seen any was in a wonderful gourmet food shop in Paris in 2014. And I regretted not buying any since then.. . . Now I’ve had trouble finding fresh edible rose petals so making these biscuits has been few and far between. Until I was searching @esntlingredient online store and happened upon them! Finally! So now I will able to make these much more often!.. . . If you want to have a go at making these, the recipe is on my blog! 🌹

Just tried the Pistachio Cake I made today (see Stories!) - I used @noya.nutbutter Pistachio Butter and a recipe from the @alameredefamille cookbook. It has a nice subtle flavour and is really easy to make. I’m not quite sure if it compares to the Pistachio Cake pictured (recipe by @mollyyeh!), which is dense and lovely and has a tangy lemon icing too. Maybe I need to make it again just to make sure it is the best?! 😂😋

Did anyone else go to see @ottolenghi at @sydneyoperahouse this week? I thought it was a great night and an inspiring interview. I really liked hearing Yotam’s theory around cooking vegetables vs meat (that veggies have endless ways to cook them whereas meat only have a few) and learning more about the concept surrounding his newest book ‘Simple’ 🍋... . . I have had ‘Simple’ just about two months now and both my Mum and myself are really enjoying cooking out of it. Stand outs so far have been the Bridget Jones salmon and the Chicken Marbella - one of the ingredients for which I found in a Persian food shop today (see my Stories for more!) 👍🏻... . . I seem to find endless inspiration in Ottolenghi’s many books and I love how each seems to have a distinct theme and personality. Next step now is to actually dine at one of Yotam’s restaurants in London!.. . . The cake in the third photo is the Coconut Almond and Blueberry cake from ‘Sweet’ by @ottolenghi and @helen_goh_bakes. It is delicious and very easy to make and I can vouch for it being a great cake to freeze for ‘cake emergencies’.

Homemade Elderflower Cordial recipe is now on the blog! Along with the recipe for my Elderflower Strawberry & Rose Cordial which uses the homemade Elderflower Cordial (but you could of course use a bought one). Links to the recipes are in my profile, along with one for the Rose Cake recipe I posted about on my Stories today. I hope everyone is having good long weekend and is staying cool in this heat!! ☀️☀️☀️

Is Pavlova an essential for anyone else’s Australia Day long weekend? Not that I need much excuse to make a good Pav! ... . . I put a few links in my eNewsletter that went out this morning for some long weekend baking ideas - if you missed out or want some more inspiration I have put a link in my profile that will take you right to them (and more!). I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend, and stays cool in this crazy heat!

Has anyone else’s year started off super busy? I feel like it’s been go go go for a couple of weeks now, and there is no end in sight! Not even enough time to make cake!! Now that’s just too busy if you ask me! I will try and rectify that this weekend, as there is a recipe I have had my eye on since I got the book Suqar a few weeks ago... . . For tonight I am going to try out Anna Jones (@we_are_food) recipe for ‘Bright Pink Pasta’ from The Modern Cooks Year. I think it sounds decidedly pretty and delicious (the pasta is colored with beetroot and I love beetroot!), and will tie in with the pretty pink theme, like in this photo, rather well I think.

The end of a busy busy week calls for cake. Seriously feeling like a slice of this Apple & Honey Cake from my eBook - will have to settle for something else right now, luckily I still have some of my Christmas stash from @bakedowncakery 👍🏻, that will get me through! Now to rest up this weekend for another super busy week next week 👊🏻.

I did a scary thing today. I actually put on my site the photography and recipe development services I offer 😬. The link to the page is in my profile if anyone is interested. And if you are looking for someone to take photos of your products or develop recipes with them send me an email or DM! .. . . I also added my Seasonal Cakes & Bakes eBook back onto my site - which includes recipes like this Cherry & Almond Cake. I made this cake a few weeks ago when I was knee deep in cherries and it was wonderful. 🍒 I hope everyone is having a good start to the year so far!

Anyone else’s bookshelves need a little reshuffle after Christmas and the Boxing Day sales? 🙊📚.. . . I was very lucky and received 10 new cookbooks throughout December (my birthday is in December too!), including one bought by me after Christmas. So this shelf does not look like this anymore! Some serious rearranging had to take place recently, take a look at my Stories to see how I had to fit everything in! Also had to squeeze a few more books into the kitchen too - now I just need to remember where each book actually is when I go to use it! .. . . My favourites from this gift giving season have been Flour & Stone by @nadineingram, Simple by @ottolenghi and Suqar by @gregmaloufchef and @lucymaloufwriter.

Roasted Summer Stone Fruit

Honey Ice Cream

Rose & Vanilla Bean Ice Creams (Egg Free)

Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Duck Egg Pavlova with Fresh Honeycomb

Citrus Tart

If you are struggling at work…

Kulinary Adventures of Kath

Recipes & Baking Tips From A City Girl Baking Her Way to a Slow Life