Kiwisizzler

This recipe is delicious! It is packed with the flavours of fresh dates, bananas and spice and is superb blanketed in a bit of orange custard.

350g Medjool dates – stone removed and roughly chopped

2tsp baking soda

300ml water

300ml bananas

250g sugar

250g butter

4 eggs

350g self raising flour

Vanilla essence

1. Put dates, water & baking soda in a pan, boil.

2. Puree bananas, add to dates, cool.

3. Cream sugar & butter.

4. Beat in eggs slowly & add vanilla.

5. Fold in flour.

6. Add date & bananas. Mix well.

7. Drop into ring or muffin tin (rub with butter & dust with sugar first).

8. Cook for 15-20 mins @ 180c.

For the custard, make your usual packet mix or creme anglaise and add some orange zest to the milk to infuse.

This recipe is fantastic as a starter or even as the main event for a relaxed lunch with friends. Perfect with a fresh rocket and parmigiano reggiano salad, drizzled with aged balsamic and extra virgin olive oil.

For the Red Onion Marmalade:

2 Tbsp olive oil

600g red onion – sliced 3mm thick

2 bay leaves

125g demerara sugar (or better still – dark muscavado)

100ml balsamic vinegar

100ml port

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a low heat.
2. Add the onions and bay leaves. Sweat over a low heat, stirring regularly until soft and starting to sweeten. This should take at least 20 minutes.
3. Add the sugar and cook until any liquid is evaporated, around 40 minutes. Stir regularly. You should have only 25% of the original volume of onions at this point.
4. Add the balsamic vinegar, increase the heat and reduce until nice and sticky. Stir regularly.
5. Add the port and reduce until nice and sticky. Stir regularly.
6. Allow to cool until you are ready to use the marmalade.

For the Tart:

350g short pastry

Flour for dusting

Blind-baking beans (I use rice)

Red onion marmalade

100g blue cheese (I used a delicious British cheese called ‘Blacksticks Blue’)

2 large eggs

150ml single cream

Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 165C.
2. Roll out the pastry on a well-floured bench.
3. Roll the floured pastry around the rolling pin and unroll onto a lightly greased flan tin.
4. Give the pastry lots of slack as it will have stretched during rolling. Make sure the pastry is pressed into the corners of the flan tin.
5. Trim the edges of the pastry but leave around 1cm of excess around the edges. This can be trimmed after cooking.
6. Cover the pastry base with cling film and rice or baking beans. Blind bake the pastry for around 10 minutes, remove the beans or rice and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until base is set and lightly golden.
7. Cover the base of the pastry with onion marmalade – you may not need all of it. Keep the rest to serve with your favourite pate.
8. Dot the cheese randomly over the onions.
9. Mix the eggs and cream and season with salt and pepper.
10. Pour the egg mix over the onion and cheese.
11. Bake for around 20 minutes or until egg is set and golden.
12. Allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Here’s a great recipe for using rhubarb. If you don’t have rhubarb then try using plums, summer stone fruit or even apple will work fine. The recipe may look like a big deal but each step is simple and the result is well worth the effort!

For the pastry:

250g flour

1g salt

150g butter

1 eggs – beaten

60g caster sugar

1. Sieve flour and salt together.

2. Rub in butter to give a granular texture.

3. Make a bay in centre, add the eggs and sugar and mix the ingredients into a light, smooth paste.

For the tart:

400g rhubarb

100g caster sugar

1 recipe sweet shortcrust pastry (or 350g if pre-made)

1 whole egg & 2 yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 Tablespoon flour

300ml cream

1. Cut the rhubarb into 1 inch pieces. Put in a pan over a low heat with half of the sugar. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat.
2. Roll out the pastry and line a fluted tart or flan tin, preferably with a removable bottom.
3. Blind-bake the tart base in the oven at 175C for around 15 minutes, remove baking beans and return to oven for a further 5 minutes.
4. Mix the remaining sugar with the eggs, vanilla and flour. Add the cream and the juice from the rhubarb.
5. Lay the rhubarb on the bottom of the pastry and pour the custard mix over the top.
6. Return the tart to the oven and increase the temperature to 190C.
7. Cook the tart for around 15-20 minutes, until the top of the custard is set. Top with the topping and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes, until the topping is golden and the custard is fully set.
8. Chill in the fridge until ready to eat.

For the topping:

50g melted butter

50g demerara sugar

50g rolled oats

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1. Mix all the ingredients together.

Whenever I go back to New Zealand one of the first things I do is buy a pie. Not Mrs Macs or even a BP Zip pie. It has to be a pie from the local baker, where mum’s and workmen indulge in an everyday treat.

With Kiwis consuming an average fifteen pies per year (I make every effort to cram my quota into the 3 weeks I’m in NZ!) we know a good pie. In London you are more likely to eat a Cornish pastie than a meat pie as us Kiwis and Aussies know them but we are lucky to have some antipodean alternatives being Jumbucks in Shepherd’s Bush and Square Pie. One of the classic London dishes is ‘pie, mash and liquor’ (along with ‘jellied eels’) but it can be a bit hit and miss – I’ve had a few really good ones and one particularly terrible one from a ‘traditional’ pie shop in the East End.

Fear not, humble expat (and those back home). My mates in London enjoy a good pie, so here’s my recipe.

Enjoy!

This recipe will make as many pies as you like dependant, of course, on your mould. If you use a shallow muffin tin you will get heaps of mini pies, great for parties. You may be lucky enough to have some proper pie moulds – you should get at least 6. I used tin takeaway containers from my local catering supply store since they didn’t have real tins and I got 5 big ones from this recipe. You can also store them in the freezer in these containers. It may look a little daunting but it’s pretty easy – make the filling (a day in advance is a good idea) then make the pie. Sweet as!

Mince and Cheese Pies

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 medium onions

200g carrot

2 sticks celery

1 kg minced meat – beef, lamb, venison…your choice

2 bayleaves

1½ Tbsp tomato paste

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

500ml beef or lamb stock

1 cup frozen peas

2 Tbsp plain flour

Salt and pepper

Some yummy cheese

500g short pastry

500g puff pastry

1 egg and a dash of milk for the eggwash

1. Dice the onions, carrot and celery.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pot.
3. Add the onions, carrot and celery and sauté over a medium-high heat until lightly golden.
4. Add the mince and break up with a wooden spoon. Stir until browned and broken up nice and small.
5. Add the bayleaves, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and stock.
6. Mix well, reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook for around one hour or so, stirring regularly until tender.
7. Add the peas and sprinkle the flour over the top of the sauce, mixing well.
8. Continue cooking a further 10 minutes until thickened.
9. Taste and season with the salt and pepper.
10. To assemble the pie, make sure the filling has cooled to room temperature.
11. Lightly grease your moulds.
12. Roll out your short pastry on a floured surface (after sprinkling with a bit more flour so the rolling pin doesn’t stick) and cut out slightly larger than your moulds, so you can line the interior right up the sides.
13. Put your filling in but don’t fill it completely. You need space for the cheese!
14. Top with a slice of cheese (Monteray Jack is nice, or maybe a bit of Port Salut).
15. Roll out the puff pastry the same way as the short pastry and cut out to fit the top of your pie.
16. Brush the edges of your top with eggwash and place egg-down over the pie.
17. Seal the edges with a fork dipped in flour (so it doesn’t stick) and trim with a knife.
18. Brush the pie top with eggwash, poke a few hole in the top with a knife to let the steam out when they cook.
19. Cook at 180 degrees celsius for around 20-40 minutes, depending on the size.
20. Eat.

While the concept of a layered cake is nothing new, Tiramisu in its current form may well be. One common theory of its origin is that it comes from 1600′s Siena, where it was made to honour Grand Duke Cosimo III De’Medici, but historical cookbooks from the time don’t mention it and it is also not mentioned in several more recent gastronomique works of note, including La Scienza in Cucina (published in 1891), Il Talisamno della Felicità (published in 1929) or La Mia Cucina, a comprehensive 10-volume set published in 1978.

Although the origins of tiramisu appeared in the 1600′s as the precursor to English trifle, using a custard cream instead of the more modern marscapone, the earliest mention of tiramisu in its current name and form reputedly date back to only 1971, when it was created by the restaurant Le Beccherie in the city of Treviso, Italy.

When I first learned to make tiramisu, I was taught to use savoiardi or lady finger biscuits, Kahlua or rum, instant coffee and marscapone with beaten eggs and sugar. While these are among the most common ingredients used, I have been fortunate to have been re-educated on a recent trip to Italy by an Italian friend from the small mediaeval village of Vicopisano, in the heart of Toscana. The recipe in question uses pavesini biscuits which are much thinner and crunchier than the traditional savioardi biscuits. They soften nicely once the cake is assembled and, as they are so thin, allow you to get around 5 layers in a 7-8cm deep dish, giving the cake more integrity and structure. It has also been suggested by some that the alcohol is not traditional, instead using only strong espresso to dip the biscuits into. The version I would like to share with you also includes the delicious touch of grated dark (71% cocoa) chocolate between each layer. Simple. Delicious. Will make you popular! ENJOY!!!

Tiramisu – by Massimo Lenzi

500g marscapone
5 Tbsp sugar
5 eggs
Pavesini biscuits
Dark chocolate
Cocoa powder

Whisk the yolks with the sugar until pale.
Fold in the marscapone.
Whisk the whites to soft peaks.
Fold the whites gently into the yolks and marscapone.

Dip the pavesini into espresso for 1 second each.

Layer with the marscapone and grated dark chocolate.

Dust with cocoa powder or more grated chocolate.

Again, another simple recipe. You should get 15-20 biscuits.

1 ¾ cups self-raising flour
½ cup cocoa powder
110g caster sugar
225g butter – softened to room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups cornflakes

1.    Preheat oven to 180°C (or 170°C if using a fan oven)
2.    Sieve together the flour and cocoa.
3.    Cream the sugar, butter and vanilla essence in a large bowl using electric beaters.
4.    Add the sieved flour and cocoa to the sugar and butter mixture.
5.    Mix together until it forms a dough.
6.    Fold in the cornflakes.
7.    Form the dough into balls the size of golfballs and place evenly on a greased oven tray. Flatten slightly.
8.    Bake 12-15 minutes, or until cooked.
9.    Allow to cool.

Icing:
50g butter
100g icing sugar
10g cocoa powder
1 Tbsp hot water
Walnut ½’s

1.    Melt the butter.
2.    Add the icing sugar and cocoa powder.
3.    Add the water to obtain a spreadable consistency.
4.    Ice the biscuits while the icing is still warm.
5.    Top with a walnut ½.

My recent research into the subject of Home Baking in New Zealand has opened my eyes wide to the fascinating history which has moulded this kiwi food culture. As a precursor to the final article, which will hopefully appear in the August/September issue of NZ Inspired magazine, I present for you a tidbit of info on our iconic ANZAC Biscuit.

The Biscuit

Anzac biscuits were reputedly made by the wives of servicemen of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corp and had to survive the two months it took to reach them in the field. The recipe doesn’t contain any eggs, the main reason being that eggs were scarce at the time as the poultry farmers were a part of the armed forces. Anzac biscuits were originally called soldiers’ biscuits but the name changed after the Gallipoli landing. It is thought that the anzac biscuit was based on the traditional oat biscuits of Scotland. The term ANZAC is legally protected under Australian law but the biscuits have an exemption as long as they are made basically to the original recipe of rolled oats, flour, coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, bicarbonate of soda and boiling water. The sandwich chain Subway tried to sell anzac biscuits in late 2008 but as their supplier could not produce them to the original recipe in a cost effective way, they were dropped.

The Recipe

This recipe makes around 25 biscuits and takes a mere 10 minutes to prepare plus 12-15 minutes cooking time.

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut
100g butter
2 Tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp boiling water

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C (or 170°C if using a fan oven).
2.    Mix the flour, sugar, rolled oats and coconut in a large bowl.
3.    Melt the butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan.
4.    Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water.
5.    Add the soda and water to the melted butter and syrup.
6.    Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.
7.    Roll into walnut-sized balls and place on a greased oven tray, leaving room to spread.
8.    Bake around 15 minutes or until golden.
9.    Leave to cool slightly before removing from tray.

Originally a staple of the Roman Legions, ‘biscotti’ is the Italian word for ‘biscuits’, being the plural of ‘biscotto’, ‘bis’ meaning ‘twice’ and ‘cotto’ meaning baked. It was important to bake the biscuits twice to ensure they would last a long time when the armies were away at war. The most common version of biscotti served today is based on ‘cantucci’, which is often served with a glass of vin santo, a sweet dessert wine. Perfect after a simple dinner digested with a view over the plains of Toscana!

In Australasia and increasingly in the UK, it is very common to find long chunks of nutty biscotti at good cafes. They are a delicious textural match to a well-made coffee and are great if they’re a little on the hard side so they can handle being dunked. Even better, make them with chunks of chocolate, which melt slightly when stirred into the coffee!

Anyway, here’s my basic recipe for almond biscotti. Think about what flavours you have in the cupboard and adapt as you like. Try using other nuts such as pistachios or hazelnuts, chocolate, dried fruit (cranberries and white chocolate is a personal favourite!), more or less citrus flavour, spices such as star anise or fennel seeds – the list goes on…

Almond Biscotti

3 1/2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
90g butter
1 C sugar
3 eggs
1 egg white
zest of 1 orange
1/4 C chopped roasted almonds

1. Sieve flour and baking powder.
2. Cream butter and sugar
3. Add 1. to 2..
4. Beat eggs. Fold into 3).
5. Add zest and nuts.
6. Roll into logs.
7. Bake at 160 C.
8. Cool.
9. Slice and arrange on an oven rack or tray.
10. Dry in a warm oven (around 130°C) for around 10 minutes

Sliced and ready dry

The baked log - flatten before baking!

This fantastic recipe is a culmination of several which I have made in the past, including my mum’s food processor orange cake and a great recipe for lemon drizzle cake by Ina Garten.

Enjoy!

450g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp fine sea salt
250g unsalted butter
400g caster sugar
6 medium eggs
4 lemons – zested
2 oranges – zested
2 oranges – chopped then pureed (including skin!)
125ml orange and lemon juice
1 cup crème Fraiche

For the drizzle:
80ml orange and lemon juice
100g caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C. Line 2 loaf tins with paper.
2. Sieve together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Cream the butter and sugar for around 5 minutes until pale and fluffy.
4. While mixing at a medium speed, add the eggs one by one until incorporated.
5. Mix the lemon and orange zest and juice with the pureed oranges and crème Fraiche.
6. Add to the creamed mix and mix well.
7. Fold in the sieved dry ingredients gently until just combined.
8. Divide the mixture between the 2 loaf tins and bake for 45-60 minutes, until a skewer comes out dry.
9. For the drizzle, heat the juice with the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Once the cakes are cooked, allow to cool for 10 minutes and brush the syrup on all sides.

When it comes to zesting fruit, I recommend getting your hands on a ‘Microplane’. They come in a variety of different sizes and are razor sharp!

This cake will stay fresh in a sealed container for at least a week. It is so moist!

300g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

70 g unsweetened cocoa powder

425 g sugar – caster

250 ml vegetable oil

80 ml hot espresso

330 ml milk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1) Preheat oven to 175C. Grease and line a 23cm cake tin.

2) In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry indredients. Add oil, coffee and milk and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 2 more minutes. Expect batter to be thin.

3) Pour into cake tin. Cook for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out dry. This time may nearly double if you are not using a fan-assisted oven.

4) Cool in tin for about 15 minutes and then cool completely on rack.

Chef’s tip: use the best cocoa powder you can find…I use Green & Blacks. Use a very light and mild vegetable oil such as sunflower to avoid an oily-tasting cake.