So I am feeling quite nostalgic about leaving on Tuesday. I haven’t had time to post anything as yet. I am looking forward to my adventure and yet feeling melancholy about leaving friends and family behind. Thought I would show you a few of my old photos to remind you of all the cooking and living that went before I finally got to this point.
So Bon Voyage to me and I will have some interesting things for you to read soon.
I bought the new Gourmet Traveller Magazine as an iPad app for the first time. While it is not the same as the feel of paper under your fingers, I have enjoyed the animations that seem to happen when you least expect them too, and the videos of how to cook some of the recipes.
This has been an incredibly busy week. I am on the count down before I leave for my five months in Paris and there is still so much to do. I have felt overwhelmed at times. This recipe looked so delicious that I just had to give it a whirl. I didn’t have all the ingredients so I changed the recipe slightly from the one in Gourmet Traveller. I used my frozen raspberries instead of the blackberries that were suggested. I especially liked the pastry recipe with the vanilla seeds and lemon zest in it. The Pandowdy turned out a real treat. I am sure it would be a big hit with guests.
You will have to excuse me if my blog posts are not as frequent for the next few weeks. I should be able to post one more before I leave but once I get to Uganda I am not sure if time or the facilities will allow a post. After I arrive in Paris I should be able to start posting again. That is around mid September.
| 4 each | Granny Smith apples and pink lady apples, cut into eighths |
| 300 gm | caster sugar |
| 150 gm | frozen blackberries |
| 40 gm | plain flour |
| Juice | of 2 mandarins |
| Finely | grated rind of 1½ lemons |
| For scattering: | Demerara sugar or crushed sugar cubes |
| To serve: | pouring cream |
| Sour cream pastry | |
| 250 gm | (1 2/3 cup) plain flour |
| 40 gm | pure icing sugar, sieved |
| Scraped | seeds of 1 vanilla bean |
| Finely | grated rind of 1 lemon |
| 140 gm | cold butter, coarsely chopped |
| 120 gm | sour cream |
| 1 | For sour cream pastry, process flour, sugar, vanilla seeds, rind and ½ tsp salt in a food processor to combine, add butter, pulse until small lumps of butter remain (30 seconds). Add sour cream, pulse to combine, turn onto a work surface, bring together with the heel of your hand, wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate to rest (2 hours). |
| 2 | Preheat oven to 200C. Combine apples, sugar, blackberries, flour, juice and rind in a bowl, then transfer to a 24cm-diameter 5cm-deep pie dish. |
| 3 | Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to 4mm thick. Brush edges of pie dish with water, place pastry over filling and press over rim of pie dish to seal, then trim edges with a sharp knife. Pierce a hole in centre of pastry, brush pastry with water, scatter with demerara sugar then bake until pastry is light golden and crisp (30-35 minutes). Remove from oven, break pastry into large pieces with a fork, press down into filling, then bake until filling bubbles up over pastry and pastry is golden brown (20-25 minutes). Stand for 15 minutes then serve with cream.
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The strawberries are especially good this season and very reasonably priced too. I bought two punnets and made strawberry gelato to take up to my parents place in the country. We were having a family lunch which included my three children. This is quite a rare event as one of my children lives interstate now. It was also a chance to get together before we go overseas on our BIG trip, which is two weeks and four days away.
My father said the ice cream reminded him of his childhood ice cream memories which I will take as a compliment. It was so refreshing and light, a lovely way to end a meal.
Recipe
Ingredients
In a blender combine the strawberries, sugar and whole milkand puree until smooth.
Add in the heavy cream and mix just enough to combine (you do not want to whip the cream). Add in the lemon juice. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Refrigerating overnight is best because it will allow the flavor to intensify.
Transfer the mixture into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Serve at once with fresh cut strawberries, if desired, or freeze for up to one month.
