Food, Finds & Forays

Hey there....

Hope you’re having a great week. First and before anything else I need to apologise for the broken link from last week. Judging by the messages it seems you were all super curious to see what hubby was getting for his birthday so for those of you still wondering Here you go. He gets home tonight from a work trip so we’ll present him with his gift later, I’m sure he’ll love it.

Now to this week’s catch up. 

As I write rain is pouring outside in a steady stream. The kind of rain that descends in a dense straight fall, large orbs of raindrops bursting as they hit the ground pooling everywhere. It’s the fore-rain, apparently, preceding Thurday’s ‘rain event.’ It’s not cold but extremely wet. The radio is murmuring away in the background while I type, callers reporting in on how the weather is affecting them. Berry farmers bemoaning the extended wet weather worried for their crops fearing the water will burst the buds and limit the crop’s success after a few years of varying challenges. A bowl of left-over blueberries sits next to me, my fingers dipping into the dark sapphire blue spheres to nibble on while I work. The early season produce has arrived from further up the coast from where I live, sweet and bursting with juice. Delicious a couple weeks ago in compote I’ve still been craving more blueberry dishes and offer you, this week, my Blueberry and Cardamon Spiced Frangipane Rye Galette. Sounds like a mouthful and indeed it is…a delicious mouthful. And I make no apologies for the struggle it comes with…the struggle to stop at just one slice at a time.

Thankfully we escape the rain soon on a little mini break to celebrate our 25th anniversary. And as is always the case with our jaunts I have plans (she says, steepling fingers like a malevolent villain). I promise they’re far from evil plans, more along the line of the culinary variety.

And as always a few little foodie tidbits from the week.

While we’re off exploring next week I’ll be taking a little break from our letter but will be back in your inbox for Thursday brekky the following week.

Hope you have a great couple of weeks,

Cheers and thanks for reading,

S x

Food 

In the way I spoke about creative block a few weeks ago, this week the creativity was free flowing but the frustration ever strong. I knew what I wanted to create and I knew the basics and mechanics of those elements and was sure it should have worked. Sadly though the frangipane wasn’t set. The flavour was exactly where I wanted it but the texture was all wrong. Falling away from perfect at the outer it was sludgy in the centre and frustratingly oozy. I love Frangipane and have made it many times so you can imagine how annoyed I was. It took me back to my twenties when I was trying all sorts of new cooking techniques and recipes in my own home and my own first small and humble kitchen. With a much narrower skill base but boundless interest and motivation the breadth of things I would try and create was almost as great as the depth of failures. I would have, what amounted, to tantrums almost. Sitting at the table with my then boyfriend (now husband) sullenly eating a meal I could see in my mind’s eye but not taste at the end of my fork, almost annoyed at his fervour for the meal he had been presented with and his lack of acknowledgement of my ‘catastrophe.’ This frustration was most probably the catalyst for my cookbook collection and my passion for cooking. An interest and persistence born out of frustration pushing me ever forward.

The irony is not lost on me that blueberries feature at the core of the frustration of a few weeks ago rising up as the resolution to my rut then and this week as the source of my frustration. Their sapphire like spherical form are one of nature’s cleverest creations. Rich deep hues, sweet almost lolly like flavour reminiscent of blue heaven milkshakes and crowned with a flower like window where the bud has bloomed into berry. Likewise their delicateness is frustrating farmers at the moment as their buds soak up the relentless rain. Though they remind me of giant cabochon gems they’re not quite as tough. A reminder that whilst eating seasonally can be fraught with the fragility of being at the mercy of nature.

They require a gentle touch in cooking. My first attempt at this tart was laden with fruit it’s flesh collapsing to a jamlike puddle in the centre. Whilst this sounded like a good idea it’s ooze moistened the frangipane hampering it’s setting. Much googling and a few tweaks and we have a moist set frangipane, or almond cream as it’s also known. I’ve also used rye flour in the pastry to add a delicate nuttiness to the flavour of a short crisp casing. While the blueberries are indeed flavoursome at the moment, they can always be enhanced. The marriage of blueberries and rye had a Nordic air about it which led me to lace the frangipane with cardamon and lemon zest, creating an almost citrusy fragrant freshness.

You can enjoy still warm with a lovely vanilla ice cream, drizzled with a thin stream of lemon icing swished all around like ribbons or plain with cream, my favourite.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

120 gm plain flour
80 gm rye flour
20 gm caster sugar
100 gm cold unsalted butter, cubed
60 gm sour cream
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
1 egg yolk 
Pinch of salt

Frangipane:

80 gm butter softened
125 gm caster sugar
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
½ tsp of ground cardamon
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla
125 gm of ground almond/almond flour
30 gm plain flour
Pinch of salt flakes

200 gm fresh blueberries
1 egg extra beaten with a splash of milk for pastry glazing
1 tsp demerara sugar

Method:

Pastry
In a food processor or blender combine flours and butter and pulse on high until combined looking like breadcrumbs, some lumps are fine. In a small bowl beat together sour cream, egg yolk, vanilla and salt and add to food processor/blender. Pulse again until just combined. Tip it all out onto floured bench and bring together with your hands. Knead briefly until just smooth and form into a thick disc. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 180c.

When ready, roll out to a round sheet roughly 30 cms round, this should be around 3-4 mm thick. Gently lift using the rolling pin and lower onto a tray lined with baking paper, set aside.

Frangipane/Almond Cream

In a stand mixer beat the butter on med-high on it’s own until lighter in colour and starting to turn fluffy. Add the sugar, vanilla, lemon rind and cardamon and cream together until light and fluffy again. Add egg and beat until it resembles custard. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in the flour and almond. 

Spread the Almond cream mixture over pastry in a circle roughly 2-3 cms from the edge of the pastry disc. Evenly sprinkle blueberries over the cream and fold edges up as pictured. 
Brush pastry edges with egg wash and sprinkle with demerara sugar. 
Bake 45-50 minutes checking half way through cooking time.

Finds & Forays

Thankfully the Mr stuck with me even after the early cooking tantrums. Over our 25 years of marriage and the years that preceded our wedding we’ve seen all the usual ups and downs of a quarter of a century, living from one end of the country to the other. We’ve produced two beautiful sons and a huge bank of memories. Something definitely worth celebrating. We’re going to take a jaunt up the Hume Hwy heading north to NSW. We’ll get a few hours drive under our belt and stop at our favourite border hotel. It’s cool and funky and with a great restaurant onsite and always affordable. Most importantly it's just a few doors down from a great breakfast and coffee spot. In the morning I’m only going to grab a coffee and snack though because we’re heading to Jugiong and visit a café I’ve had on my mental foodie list for a long time and enjoy brunch. From there we’re ticking another destination off our list and heading here for a few days of luxury and a fabulous meal. We’ll amble home along the coast after a few days relaxing, wandering down one of our favourite stretches of coastline back home where hopefully the house will still be standing and the cat will have survived.

In the spirit of the blueberry conversation when I was doing my research I found this cool chart for southern hemisphere readers. So handy when planning shopping given produce in season is always cheaper and tastier. 

This was in yesterday’s newspaper, such a great collection of tips from some Australia’s best.

While both our boys are great cooks I’m a feeder and can’t help myself so might still leave the boys a couple of meals. Maybe this one and this.