Yoghurt Orange Tarts

Jamie Oliver has a lot to answer for... All of a sudden my bf is using cook books and wanting to try things he sees on tele. This is good. JO might not be everyone's cup of tea but he's certainly making being a decent cook a challenge that macho men are accepting. My fella is however not a macho man. But he cooks now. And this is good.


We were watching JO's 30 Minute Meals on tele and I saw him make some stupidly easy custard tarts. I quite like these tarts, so I thought that I would give them a go, and I ended up making them for my Tapas for Life fundraiser, since Jamie made them look so easy. Let me tell you, they are SO easy and a crowd pleaser. 

I came across a small hurdle though, in that when I went to make them, I realised I was a noob and had no cream or creme fraiche (as the recipe calls for). Hm. A quick look in my fridge and I have low fat Greek yoghurt. I can't be arsed going to the shops and neither can S, so I decided to just use it. Great choice - they were awesome.


Here's what I did... This recipe makes 6 (I tripled it though, and made quite a few!)


Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry
ground cinnamon
125g Greek yoghurt (approx 1 cup)
2 eggs (I had 42g eggs, really small)
1 tsp vanilla paste/extract
3 tblsp sugar plus extra for sprinkling
4 tbsp sugar (for the caramel)
1 orange (zest and juice)


Preheat oven to 200C.


Method 
1) Take your puff pastry sheet and sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar, then roll it up.

See those layers of cinnamony, sugary goodness? Yum.

2) Cut the roll into 6 pieces (about an inch each), and then pop each piece into a muffin tray, layered side up. You then use your thumb to squish the pastry down, and then stretch it out and up the sides to make a little cup. 


3) Pop the tray into the oven (bottom shelf) and leave them for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.


4) In a bowl, combine well the yoghurt, zest of the orange, sugar, vanilla and eggs.


5) Using a dessert spoon, pour a little of the yoghurt mix into the little pastry cups. These aren't meant to be big - the pastry will have shrunk down a little, so you shouldn't need more than a spoonful of mixture per cup.


6) Put the cups back in the oven for 8 minutes.


7) Add 4 tbsp of sugar to a pan with the juice of the orange and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and keep an eye on it, it will start to turn golden brown after a few minutes. When its a golden brown colour turn the heat off - by this stage your tarts aren't far off being done, so the caramel won't go hard.


8) Once you've taken the tarts out of the oven, spoon the caramel over each tart. Make it as neat or rustic as you like.

My oven is much hotter at the back than the front, I discovered. 

Naked tarts.

These are delicious tarts. They aren't that pretty, they're "rustic" little things, but still great! They aren't too sweet, they taste a little like ricotta cake. The orange really comes through, however I couldn't really get much of the cinnamon - next time I'll add more! Once the caramel has set, it kinda bleeds a little all over the top of the custard - this is good, as it covered up the shoddy caramel job I did! It doesn't stay hard for long though. These are best eaten the day after making them, the flavours come together and work themselves out. They're great straight out of the oven, but better if eaten cold, later on. I can imagine this being awesome with orange blossom water too.


This is also my entry to the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop! The theme this month is Layers upon Layers - and puff pastry is layers! As well as the way the bases are made, layering the cinnamon through the pastry... It fits the bill!

Spiced apple muffins

I realised at about 7pm that I was meant to bring something to school tomorrow for morning tea... We spent the day out, checking out Sculptures by the Sea at Cottesloe, wandering Fremantle buying books, and then having tapas at Duende for dinner. I really couldn't be bothered, but I had pretty much everything I needed to bake, and it was better than leaving the house again to buy something. And really, homemade is so much better... I know there will be a spread of last minute shop bought cakes, party pies and chips/dip. I'm totally ok with the party pies though.


I had a quick look through my cookbooks and found a Bill Granger recipe for crunchy topped pear muffins which looked easy and I had all the ingredients. Cept for the pears, cinnamon, pecans and yoghurt.... Its ok, I subbed apples, allspice, slivered almonds and milk. They turned out pretty great! They're the kinda bake that tastes a lot better the next day, as I ate one when it was still pretty hot and I wasn't impressed. An hour later, I ate the other half of it, and it was much better! Hot tip - bake these the day before you need them!

The recipe stated that it made 6 muffins. 6? That's not many... so I doubled the recipe. It made 12 muffins and a cake. I think Bill was using a mega muffin tin! Its OK though because now we have muffins that can be chucked in the freezer ready to be eaten whenever we need em, and I'll take the cake to work! Bonus!


The following recipe is my adaption of Bills recipe, from Holiday.


Crunchy topped spiced apple muffins

Makes 12 cupcake sized muffins

1.5 cup plain flour
3 tsp bicarb
2 tsp allspice
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup canola oil (or any flavourless oil)
2 apples, peeled and diced into 1cm pieces

Topping

brown sugar
slivered almonds (I didn't measure them I just poured until it looked right!)

Method

Preheat oven to 180C and line/grease your muffin tin.

1) Add flour, oats, bicarb, allspice, and half the sugar into a bowl and combine.

2) Add the eggs, milk and oil into another bowl and mix thoroughly.

3) Combine the wet and dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix.

4) Fold in the apples gently.

5) Spoon them into the muffin tray, filling them pretty close to the top.

6) Combine the topping ingredients and put a heaped tsp on each muffin.

Pre bake

7) Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Post bake

I doubled this recipe, and ended up having enough for a small cake - this took about 30 minutes and turned out looking gorgeous! I prefer it to the muffins! The muffins didn't rise as much as I thought they would, but they are still light. 

Will I make these again? Yes. But with cinnamon instead, and a little more sugar in the batter, it'll make a world of difference!

Were they easy to make? Yes.

Should you make them? Yes!

Relay for Life - Tapas evening!

After the success of the Breakfast with Benefits event I held in November, my little sister asked me if I wanted to help her out with another event, this time for her Relay for Life team. Obviously I said yes, but I wanted to do something a bit different - so I've gone for a tapas evening! There will be all manner of delicious things, from Chorizo, Jamon, and Manchego cheese, to Sangria, and Rioja! The food and drink will be as local as possible, and where we will be using imported products (Spanish wine etc) then I will be using Australian, preferably Western Australian, companies.

It will be held on the 25th March, and will be capped at about 25 guests. 


So far we have a carton of delicious Custard Cider and 2 bottles of apple port, donated by the very generous and talented brewers at The Real River Company, so already on day 1 of looking for sponsors for the event - we have a carton of the best cider in WA to keep the punters happy! 
Red Hot Spatula, caterer extraordinaire will be donating a voucher for 30% off a cooking class for 6 - which is awesome, I've been to a class of hers and they're FAB, and the food was amazing! 
El Asador, makers of fine Argentinian produce, have also jumped on board again to donate some of their delicious goods - including their delicious chorizo!
The Organic Collective have agreed to be on board again, supplying us with some gorgeous organic potatoes for our patatas bravas and Spanish tortillas!
Urban Locavore are an awesome new business in Perth who gather a collection of Western Australian products and delivers a tasting box full of goodies right to your door! We'll be getting one of these boxes to raffle off!
Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar Mt Lawley is on board again too, with vouchers for their delicious pizzas!



There will be more details to come, and this post will be updated when we get more donations/sponsors. Having prizes and products for the evening donated means that we can spend less on running costs, and make more of a profit to donate to the Cancer Council - so please give generously! Jenni has set up a webpage for her team, and if you'd like to donate you can do so HERE, either directly to the Cancer Council, or you can donate straight into a PayPal account to help cover costs for the fundraising events. ALL PROFITS will be donated directly back to the Cancer Council, and we are trying to get as much donated as we can so our profits are higher!


The relay itself will be held in Katanning (we raised $100 000 last time! Not bad for a small town!), however all fundraising events will be held in Perth.

At the moment we are half booked out already - so if you're interested get in quick! Just send me an email/comment and I'll put your name on the list! Breakfast with Benefits had a waiting list, so get your name down!!

Use Twitter? Look out for the hashtag #tapasforlife!

Must Wine Bar - Margaret River

After a 3 hour drive down the Margaret River, Must Wine Bar was our very first stop for a late dinner. The staff were all very accommodating considering it was 9pm when we came in! There were loads of people ordering late as well so we didn't feel too out of place!


We ordered the charcuterie plate, and the french stick with olive tapenade to start with, and while the boys ordered beers, the girls shared a bottle of local shiraz.

Please excuse the horrible photos! All I had was my phone camera...


Anyway the charcuterie plate was really nice, there was a pickled pork and parsley terrine, pork rillette with cornichons, olive tapenade and pate en croute with chutney. All were delicious! I don't even like pate and I could eat theirs... The standout for me was the rillette, it was creamy and tasty, and tasted delicious with the cornichons. The terrine was nice, plenty of fresh parsley and was great on crusty bread.


For mains I ordered duck with spinach, black pig bacon, apple and an apple vinegar sauce, and S ordered the burger which came highly recommended from TFP and Juji Chews! 

The duck was tasty, and it fell off the bone it was so tender. The sauce wasn't as sharp as I would have liked but was still good, esp with the potatoes that were hidden under the duck! The bacon was salty and crispy, which went really nicely with the spinach which was plain, but delicious!


S loved his burger! I had a bite and was a bit jealous. It was delicious. The standout flavour was the char on the patty, it was just so nice! It didn't fall apart and the fillings were juicy and moreish. Food envy.

We figured that since we're all away on holiday, we should push the boat out, splurge a bit, indulge! So we went for dessert. I chose the cinnamon creme brulee with green apple sorbet, S got the triple choc brownie with raspberry swirl ice cream... The desserts in my opinion were the best thing we had. Everyone tried my green apple sorbet and decided that it was totally amazing. It was so appley and fresh, but without being sharp.. It was creamy, but still maintained a refreshing flavour... It blew us all away, but then to have some paired with the cinnamon creme brulee, was like dessert crack. It was amazing! There is the obvious pleasure in cracking the caramel surface, followed by the creamy cinnamon custard... yuuuuum! Mix the 2 together and it was like the best apple pie EVER!

Everyone died a little bit when they tried some of the brownie. It was moist, chocolatey, rich... all the things you need a brownie to be. Theres not much to be said about it to be honest. It was just delicious.

I'd go back to Must, its expensive but its one of the better eating establishments in Margaret River. My usual dining options when I head down that way is to stock up on nibbles, cheese and small goods and drink my wine at home, but I might head to Must for dinner again!

Eat Drink Perth 2012

I am pretty excited about the prospect of a months worth of foodie events in Perth, and that is exactly what Eat Drink Perth will be providing for us, the hungry public throughout the month of March! Most things look great to me, and I haven't seen one event that I haven't wanted to go to myself, or at least recommend to someone else!


The events kick off today, the 1st March, with the Margaret River Chocolate Company and Providore opening their Perth city store, at 317 Murray St. Providore is always a must stop for me when I go to Margs, I love their organic kitchen garden and the free tasters that they offer, on many of their products. I recently came home with some dukkuh, and my roadtrip partner Carolanne came home with a basket load of goodies! 


They have some great free guides available for download, such as the Coffee Appreciation Trail, which gives you an insight into 13 of Perths best cafes, including a map so you can navigate your way around and find them all, and a chance to win 6 months worth of coffee, if you vote for your fave cafe! They also have a Small Bar Guide, which, like the coffee guide, gives you info on 13 of the best small bars in Perth, and a map to stumble your way round with! It includes places such as The Bird, 1907 Cocktail bar, The Brown Fox, Ezra Pound and many more! Those will def get printed out and used one weekend!


High tea anyone!? There are a bunch going on, the Mad Hatters High Tea at Northbridge Piazza for $29 (less for children) where you can also get unlimited iced tea for $10, or at the Hyatt Regency for $45 with continuous coffee, tea and sparkling wine! The George High Tea is $36 (you get an upgrade to the Prestige package when you mention EDP!), and C Restaurant is holding a high tea for $30 as well! Fancy something Parisian? The Pan Pacific Hotel are holding a Parisian inspired high tea for $55 with 3 tiered stands and macarons! Last but not least, the Maj, in their Edwardian splendour are also getting in on the action - you get a glass of house sparkling on entry, and the tables are shared - $45. Check the website for dates as some of them are on more than once!


Fancy some market/stalls action? The City Food Fair on Murray St, Twilight Hawker Markets at the GPO, the very kid friendly Food-a-rama at the Northbridge Piazza (they have chefs on stilts and a cupcake decorating station!), William St Festival (One of the events of the program in my opinion! Live music, stalls, food, drink the lot!), Yum Cha in the Park (Dragon Palace, Golden Century and Xin Tian Di taking their yum cha carts onto the streets of Northbridge! Ill be going to this one! Theres lion dancing!), The Butchers Picnic at Northbridge Piazza (A carnivores delight! Ill be taking the bf!), and the Coles Gluten Free Food and Healthy Living Expo at the Convention Centre for $15. The Claisebrook Carnivale and Duck Derby for Telethon is another kid friendly event with face painting, animals, arts and crafts, live entertainment and more - if I had kids, Id take them here! The International Student Festival sounds pretty interesting too!


I haven't even mentioned the degustations/dinner events yet... There are loads... Where do I even begin!? Origins Restaurant have a 5 course meal for $120pp, showcasing WA's best produce, and the Cheeky Sparrow will host 4 differently themed 3 course meals, Spanish, Australian, Italian and French - canape style! All $30 and a bit of a bargain I think, Im really keen to head to one of these! If you fancy blue cheese and dessert wines head to Frasers at Kings Park for a night of 6 cheeses and matched wine for $55! For the gluttonous amongst us, the What the Pho - Pho eating challenge is back! $25 for a massive steaming bowl of Pho, if you finish it you get a $50 voucher and a shirt! Dinner with Maggie Beer probably sounds alright too! For $150 at the Parmelia Hilton, you get to celebrate the launch of her new book with a 3 course dinner. Head to Metro Bar and Bistro on the full moon for a 3 course dinner (plus wine!) for $70 or head to the long table lunch at the Brewery - $120pp, 5 courses matched with beer and wine at the Old Brewery. Amphoras Bar in West Perth have a 5 course tapas dego with matched wines and sherry for $55! There is a 6 course Raw and Living dinner party at CNR Cafe for $65 (menu is on the webpage!), or head in to make your own 4 course meal in their kitchen after hours($135)! One of the highlights is sure to be the Restaurant Amuse Dessert Degustation ($95pp)! There's the unique Earth Hour Dinner, which is a 3 course meal using organic produce and cooked using energy saving methods, all to be eaten by candle light! The Quarter are offering a 6 course dego with matched wines for $130pp!


Coffee lovers are well catered for too, and you'll be brewing like a boss once you're done! Origins are offering a pin the origin on the bean comp, where you'll get free training on how the distinctive flavours in coffee from unique locations - then you guess where they're from! Play with the Rolls Royce of coffee machines at European Foods, then check out the WA Coffee Championship weekend!Learn about different brewing methods at the Warehouse Brew Bar, or head into Cafe 54 for coffee tasting ($10). To learn the basics of brewing coffee then you can't miss the Barista Basics Course at Howard St Coffee - normally $120 this course is just $90 when you mention EDP!


Dinner and a show? Head to Friends Restaurant for dinner and a show with Austen Tayshus for $135 or pop into Rigby's who are holding 2 events! The first being Twisted Vaudevilles Dinner Cabaret, which gets you a 3 course dinner and a show for $50, or pop in for their wine conversation club hosted by Piano Gully Wines. Feeling musical, then head to Friends again for Mick Thomas from Weddings, Parties, Anything who'll be singing away while you enjoy a 3 course meal.


The City Farm Food Film Festival sounds so interesting, for $15 you can see films about food that inform and inspire! There are a bunch of movies being played at Northbridge Piazza, including Guilty Pleasures Film Season, and Wednesday Night Date Night which includes 30min short love films followed by feature length films from 8:30. 


Last but not least, the tours! Get a small bar tour of the the CBD, a 2 hour blitz of Chinatown, or the more lengthy Northbridge Chinatown tour or check out the iconic Kakulas Bros!


aaaaand breathe. There is SO MUCH going on... and this is just EDP! Have a look at this post from the lovely Eat Meets West for even more awesome events happening around Perth!


What are you going to check out!?

Low Fat Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins

I have a cold. I need nourishment! I've had an up and down day, I've felt pretty crappy, and have stayed in my PJs - its 4:30pm. I need chocolate, antioxidants, something baked. I have some great chocolate, and cocoa nibs, and I'm going to use them!

I went on a trip down to Margaret River recently and paid Gabriels Chocolates a visit. They were the very first single origin bean to bar chocolate maker in WA, and a visit to their factory in Yallingup is worth it!

When you walk in the first thing you notice is the smell - it's awesome! You can try their chocolates, read the tasting notes on the back of the packet, see the cocoa beans and nibble on the crushed cocoa nibs. 

The woman working there has told us cocoa nibs has 300 times the amount of antioxidants than blueberries! That is crazy good for you! I grabbed a bag straight away! A quick google confirms the cocoa nibs status as a superfood - its all over the place. They taste very slightly chocolately, nutty with a hint of bitterness. 

I also grabbed a 3 pack of their dark chocolates, all 72% - their highest was 85%! I can imagine that being amazing in a sauce over game meats or a steak in winter!

Steve and I had cracked open the blue one to eat a few bits, and so today while my body was having a battle with the flu, I decided that there was nothing else for it than something baked with chocolate. Something easy, something that required only what I had in the cupboard. Muffins.

I looked for a bunch of recipes, and eventually David from Food Blarg sent me a really basic Stephanie Alexander recipe which I pimped out with inspiration from Kirbie's Cravings and her post on the best chocolate muffins! They turned out really well, considering I forgot to put the oil in. That's what made them fat free! They're pretty grown up muffins, they're not that sweet because of the dark chocolate, paired with the cocoa nibs - and I only added about 1/4 cup of sugar. So they're actually pretty good for you! If you used spelt flour or something similar it would be even better!

I decided to use the Rio Caribe, from Venezuela - 72% chocolate, with flavours of coffee, almonds, red fruits and pure cocoa.

The hot chocolate mix I used was a spanish one I got from Kakulas Sisters in Fremantle. Its in a beautiful tin and tastes amazing! Its got  a bit of sugar and vanilla in it too.

Ingredients

Makes 6 large, or 12 mini muffins

1 cup of SR flour
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

40g of high quality chocolate (I used 72%), chopped

2 heaped tsp of good quality hot chocolate mix 

5 or 6 frozen raspberries

oats for garnish

cocoa nibs for garnish


NOTE: I would also add vanilla (I didn't have any), and for a yummy twist, omit the raspberry and add some instant coffee and cinnamon - finish it off with a coffee glaze for a spiced mocha muffin!

Method

1) Preheat oven to about 180C, grease your muffin tin. 

2) Mix all dry ingredients into your mixer.

3) In a seperate bowl mix all the wet ingredients together, then add to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

4) Add the chopped chocolate, and crumble in the frozen raspberries.

5) Pour the (very runny!) mix into the muffin tins, pretty close to the top, and sprinkle the top with a tsp of cocoa nibs and oats.

6) Bake the muffins for about 30-40mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

7) Leave them to cool in the tin until they're manageable and then allow to cool on a tray.

Eat with guilt free pleasure!

Oven baked wraps with spicy mince

It was pancake Tuesday the other day, and everyone else was making pancakes. I've never been sold on them really, always a bit stodgy, bit full on, bit sickly... I don't love the texture of sugar so pairing it with lemon juice has never been my thing. But given that it was Shrove Tuesday, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon... somewhat. I was planning on making some savoury crepes, but by the time I got home, I really couldn't be arsed with a crepe batter, and the dishes that went with it! I decided to make some spicy mince and wrap them up in tortillas (my crepe alternative!) and cover them in a rich tomato sauce and bake them, enchilada style!


I'll give you the recipe, but when I make spicy mince or chilli con carne I never measure anything, so this will be a guess-timation as to the quantities! I also use flavoured oils in my cooking, out of pure laziness mostly. The Cobram Estate flavoured oils we buy are great, and so full of flavour. It just means that I can skip a step here and there! Obviously, if you'd rather, use whatever oil you have in the house, and garlic.


Oven baked wraps with spicy mince


Mince
500g beef mince
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
Chillies to taste, chopped
Garlic oil


Tomato sauce
2 cans tomatoes
1/2 capsicum
Garlic oil
Ground cumin
Tabasco sauce


Tortilla wraps
Cheese, grated


Method
1) Add oil into the pan with the onions, chillies, cumin, and celery seeds and paprika, and stir, make sure it doesn't stick. Cook till the onions are softened.


2) Add the beef and cook until it's browned, then transfer to another bowl and set aside.


3) Add the oil, canned tomatoes, capsicum, ground cumin (to taste, I added about a tsp), and as much tabasco as you like! Give it a good stir and cook it down a bit so its not so watery.


4) While you're waiting, oil a baking tray lightly, wrap the mince up in the tortillas and tuck them in snugly! 

5) Pour the tomato sauce over the wraps, get it into the cracks and spaces, and grate some cheese over the top.


6) Put it in a hot oven until the cheese and sauce are bubbling and golden.

I served it with a chunky garden salad, dressed with a generous squeeze of lime and seasoned with S&P.

We both really enjoyed it, more so the next day! These 4 tortillas were quite big and so one each is enough, we had leftovers for dinner the next day, otherwise, this would serve 4. The tomato sauce was quite rich, it had a great tang which went really well with the mince, which had great savoury, smokey flavour. There was no sauce on the bottom so they were nice and crisp, which was a nice contrast to the softer texture on top with the sauce and cheese, which we both thought was comparable to pasta, just a little chewier. Don't worry about sogginess! If you've reduced the tomato sauce down enough you shouldn't need to cook it too long in the oven...

This is so easy to whip up, uses everyday ingredients that you're likely to have already. Its a real crowd pleaser, as its so easy to scale up, or down and its simple to put together.


*Note - sorry about the average photos, it was the night before that my SLR memory card had a fit and died, so these are just camera pics!*