Orange Frangipane Tart

 Oh how did I not understand frangipane before now!?

We fell in love with a walnut tart a while back, so when I read a recipe from @NZLife for an orange tart I knew I needed to adapt it to be frangipane too.

So here it is- an orange frangipane tart that is perfect for mid winter, while we have the sublime locally grown navel oranges in abundance & for picnics. Last week we had a wonderful wandering adventure out in Havelock North. Our afternoon tea under a leafless oak tree up at Keirunga gardens simply comprised of an orange frangipane tart & a tea of rose petal, hibiscus (sabdariffa), linden & double pink hawthorn blossom that was light & floral & perfect.

So to make the tart:

Pastry: 125 gms of chilled, cubed butter, a pinch of salt if it's unsalted like ours

1 1/4 cups of flour- I used 1 cup of wholemeal spelt & 1/4 white spelt flour

1 rounded tbsp of jaggery or brown sugar & a 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

2 tbsps cold water.

Either process the mix to a fine crumb & then pulse in the water, or rub the butter through the flour & sugar & mix the water in. Chill while you get organised- like turning on the oven to 180 degrees C 

Bake for 10 minutes in a 23cm tart tin lined with baking paper, or several smaller ones 

Filling: soften 75 grams of butter & a large tbsp of jaggery, raw or brown sugar, beat together 

Add 1/2 cup of lovely honey

Beat in 4 eggs one at a time

Add the grated zest of a good rough (easier to grate) large orange so that you have at least a tbsp of zest

Add the juice of the orange, a tsp of lemon zest & the juice of half a lemon

Then stir through a cup of ground almonds & a tbsp of flour

Pour in to the par baked shell. Add mandarin segments in a pattern on top if you like.

Bake 180 degrees for 10 mins & then 20- 25 minutes at 160 until the tart is golden & set.

Cool before removing from the tin/s

Katie X

Apple, Raisin and Oatmeal Biscuits

 I don't bake a lot of biscuits but these apple, raisin and oatmeal biscuits are great.

See alternative recipe below made with sweet persimmon.

The recipe makes loads of good sized biscuits. They keep surprisingly well considering they have apple in them, they are really satisfying and best of all they are perfect for picnics.

In a large bowl mix

3 cups of rolled oats & 1 cup of flour- I prefer white or wholemeal spelt flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 

1/2 tsp of cinnamon.

In another bowl cream 170 grams of butter (cut up & soften) with 3/4 cup brown sugar or jaggery.

Add an egg, a tsp of vanilla extract and 1/3 of a cup of milk.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together along with a large grated apple and 1 1/2 cups of raisins or sultanas. 

Bake in a preheated oven at around 160 degrees C on baking paper for 15- 20 minutes until golden.

I used generous tablespoonfuls of mixture. They don't spread particularly so you can bake them quite close together.

Cool on a wire rack.

June 2024 and we are still loving these biscuits. Right now we're in the middle of persimmon season. To be honest, I prefer sweet persimmons just as they are but lots of people have been telling me about using them in other ways so, when we decided to head off for an adventure on Monday- King's birthday, I decided to have a go with persimmon not just apple & they are fabulous biscuits indeed.

I made a variation of the above

In to one bowl put:

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup of shredded coconut

1 cup of organic flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups raisins (or cranberries, apricots etc

1 tsp each cinnamon & ground ginger

1 tbsp chia seeds (add some sunflower seeds if you like too)

2 grated persimmons

calendula flowers- three or four flowers just the petals

In another bowl add:

170 gms butter- soften

3/4 cup brown sugar cream together

Add 1 egg 

1 dsp vanilla essence

Add the above dry stuff in to the bowl plus 1/3 cup milk 

Mix altogether.

Spoon out large spoonfuls of mixture- shape & flatten a bit.

Bake for 20 minutes at 160 degrees just the same.

Katie X

Sweet Persimmon Chutney

It's never really occurred to me to actually "make" anything with sweet persimmons before, but this season I have discovered that they slow bake brilliantly, that they also make a unique and delicious chutney & they're jolly good in a loaf. 

To slow bake them simply slice them through as evenly as possible- no need to peel them, lay them out in a baking dish on baking paper & bake at about 140 for around 40 minutes. Once cool they keep really well in the fridge uncovered.

The sweet persimmon and turmeric chutney I came across at This NZ Life. 

I had a few misgivings about the recipe but decided to more or less follow it the first time round- cooking it in a pot, but also reducing the enormous volume of fresh turmeric (2 cups full!) and tweeking a few other aspects. Even then it tasted like an odd kind of jam thing as it had no vinegar in the recipe. Nice but strange.

So, the second time round I made it in a baking dish & cooked it in the oven and what a difference that makes.

I think that it needs to be a loose recipe- use what you've got and adjust to your own taste.

This last batch was made with around 8 pretty ripe, but not squishy sweet persimmons. No need to peel. Cut them all up fairly finely and add to the baking dish.

Add 1/2 apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar or white balsamic vinegar.

1 cup of mango juice- yip you can taste the mango flavour in and it works

1/3 cup of jaggery, or other sugar

A large tsp of good salt

1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon (cinnamon stick if you prefer) 1 tsp cardamom, a pinch of cayenne pepper or a little chilli 

3 fresh turmeric roots, a knob of fresh ginger grated

1 cup dried cranberries & a cup of dates if you like, but I prefer golden raisins.

Mix altogether & bake in a moderate oven stirring occasionally for around an hour or until it tastes amazing and looks about right to you. Adjust the the balance if you need to- more salt, spice etc.

Pour into sterilized jars and pop the lids on. Hot or cold doesn't seem to matter.

Label!

Katie X

Passionfruit or Feijoa Chia Pudding

Last week I kept looking at the lovely wrinkly passionfruit sitting on the bench wondering what I could use them for before they go off and I waste them, when I suddenly thought of chia pudding (don't know why they have to call it "pudding" but there you go). It is so easy to make and incredibly delicious. 

So I put a 1/3 cup of chia seeds (any colour) in to a small agee jar (500mls) then added 

1/2 tin of Kara coconut cream

1/2 cup of thick natural yoghurt

5/6 passionfruit scooped out

And a large tbsp of honey

Mix thoroughly and leave to sit until the chia seeds swell and the whole thing goes gloopy.

Add more yoghurt or coconut cream if it's too thick.

Probably best left overnight in the fridge. It's brilliant poured in to small jars so then it can be taken to work, school or just to serve one person. 

Serve the pudding with fresh fruit or eat it from the jar.

Feijoa chia pudding is so amazing and very feijoary!

If you're making this you're probably at the stage in the feijoa season where you're wondering what else you can do with all the fruit, so scoop out a whole lot into a pot and cook on a low heat, adding nothing else at all, until the feijoas have made their own juice and then cook a little more until they've thickened up a bit. While they're still warm add a large tbsp of honey and stir it in.

I love to add a dash of rose water too.

To make the pudding choose a jar or bowl that works for you and add 1/3 cup of chia seeds

Then 1/3 cup of coconut cream (Kara is great) and 1/3 cup of natural yoghurt.

Stir altogether very well.

Now stir in the cooked feijoas- as many as fills the jar or whatever seems good to you.

Mix again.

Pop in t the fridge to soak for an hour or overnight.

Check the thickness and add more coconut cream, cream, milk or yoghurt if it seems too stodgy.

Once you've got the hang of this I am sure you could experiment with all kinds of different fruits.

You can also make it with whatever you like- nut or oat milk, coconut yoghurt etc.

That's it! 

Feijoa chia pudding with apple, sweet persimmon and red clover flowers and a glass of nettle infusion.

Katie X

Feijoa Jelly

 A few weeks ago when a man gleefully bought himself a large bag of feijoas from our wee stall he paused to chat and told me about how he likes to make a delicate jelly with the fruit. He uses a whole can of condensed milk to the blended fresh feijoas and them sets the liquid with gelatine. I just can't quite bring myself to use a tin of condensed milk so instead I used 1/2 can of Kara coconut cream, some honey and a little rose water. I soaked some gelatine in a little of the liquid, heated it gently to dissolve and then stirred some feijoa/coconut cream mix in to the warm gelatine stirring all the time- mix it all in together and then pour in to jars, small bowls or a larger one and leave to set in the fridge. It's quite gritty- feijoas will do that, but it's delicious. Adjust the amounts to suit. and gosh, use condensed milk if you want to!

Katie X

Walnut Caramel Tart and Baked Pears

Ooh this tart is amazing & just perfect to bake in April when you've gathered up a whole pile of walnuts & started drying & cracking them. I found the recipe originally @ thisNZlife, made the tart, loved it & then promptly lost the recipe again. Absolutely no other walnut tart recipe will give you a sublime result like this- truly. Thank goodness the recipe surfaced again a year later.           

Walnuts, ground almonds, honey & eggs make this tart sublimely delicious, light, nourishing & not too rich.

Before you begin making the pie- roast/toast 1 1/2 cups walnut pieces in the oven that you've turned on to bake 180 degrees C & when done set aside.

The pastry: 1 1/4 cups of flour 

2 tbsp of icing sugar, brown sugar or a fine jaggery

125 grams chilled butter cubed

2 tablespoons cold/chilled water

Either pulse altogether in a food processor, or rub the butter in to the flour & sugar & then mix in the water to form a firm dough.

Press in to a 23 cm greased/baking paper lined pie tin or several smaller ones.

Bake for 10 minutes in a moderate oven.

Filling- put in to a pot: 

75 grams butter

1/2 cup of lovely honey 

1 large tbsp of jaggery or brown sugar 

Gently heat together to dissolve the sugar & melt the butter. Cool.

Add 4 beaten eggs

3/4 ground almonds & mix altogether

Add 1 cup of toasted walnut pieces & mix in

Pour the filling in to the pastry. Now arrange another 1/2 cup of walnut halves or bits in to the filling.

Bake at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes & then for another 20-25 minutes at 160 until the pie is golden & firm to the touch. Cool before removing.

 

Oh Lordy- this was the time we made the tart 'cos Nina & Luca were coming & we ate it with green cheese!

A perfect accompaniment to the walnut tart- baked pears & soft cheese.

To bake the pears- halve, scoop out the core with a teaspoon, slice a little off the bottom so that the pears sit flat. Then scatter toasted walnuts over each half, drizzle with maple syrup & bake for 20 minutes until tender. Firm pears like Beurre Bosc are great for this recipe. Figs work brilliantly too.

The pears make a wonderful autumn breakfast food. Here they are served with thick natural yoghurt with loads of cinnamon mixed through it, a pretty begonia (edible), a baked fig & an elderberry, blackberry & hibiscus immune boosting pastille. You can find the pastille recipe just here.

Katie X

Hawthorn and Blackberry Ice Blocks, Jelly and Pastilles

Late summer in Hawke's Bay means that it's time for both blackberry picking 

& the gathering of hawthorn berries. 

Both are deeply rewarding but also rather challenging to harvest with all those thorns & prickles, providing a great opportunity to slow down & enjoy the experience.

So it's lovely to realise that there are so many delicious things to do with them both. Last summer I came across a brilliant little recipe for "ice pops" over at Learning Herbs. I have adapted the recipe to make use of blackberries, rather than raspberries. It is so worth reading the whole article about reducing inflammation & managing the heat of summer.

To make the basic mix: simmer 1/2 c haws & 1/2 c (or a little less) hibiscus sabdriffa in 2 cups of water in a medium sized pot for around 10 minutes, add 1 cup of blackberries & simmer for another 10 mins. Strain. While still warm add 1/2 c honey & a pinch of salt & stir to dissolve the honey.

When cool stir in 1/2 tin of coconut milk or cream. We prefer Kara coconut cream.

Stir altogether & pour in to ice block moulds. Freeze.

Any extra can be set in to a jelly with gelatine.

Or the same mix can be used to make a larger dessert like below.

Simply take a 1/3 c of the liquid before you've added the coconut cream/milk & add 1 1/2 dessertspoons of gelatine. Stir. Leave to swell for a few minutes. Microwave for 12 seconds & stir to dissolve. Pour the gelatine mix in to the main liquid & stir well. Now mix in the coconut cream.

Pour in to a pretty bowl, small bowls or little jars with lids. Pop in to the fridge. 

Each time we make this fabulously simple dessert it comes out a different colour. It naturally layers itself much like Spanish cream which is fun.

The final option is to make a batch of immune boosting, gut nourishing pastilles: use the same original recipe but leave out the coconut cream & add fresh or dried elderberries.

The amount is a little less so in to a medium pot add 1 1/2 cups water & 1- 1 &1/2 cups of a mix of hawthorn berries, blackberries, elderberries & hibiscus sabdariffa. Simmer gently for 20 minutes. Strain. Add honey to taste.

 Take out a little of the 1 1/2 cups of liquid & add 3 tablespoons of gelatine. We really like Nutra Organics natural gelatine. Pop in to the microwave for 15 seconds (or use a small pot on the stove). Stir to dissolve. Pour the gelatine into the main liquid stirring well. Pour in to moulds or a small tin lined with baking paper. A syringe is a great tool to get the liquid in to small moulds. Leave to set- around 20 minutes. Press out shapes or use a biscuit cutter to make hearts etc, if you'd like to. 

Will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Best left uncovered to deter moulding. One or two eaten each day from late summer into autumn make a delicious seasonal support for old & young a like. 

 

Both pictures by Margaret Tarrant

Katie X