pastry – St GEORGIA & Boo

rustic apple and sour cherry pie

I lie abstracted and hear beautiful tales of things and the reasons of things,They are so beautiful I nudge myself to listen.

I cannot say to any person what I hear… I cannot say it to myself… It is very wonderful.

-Walt Whitman, leaves of grass

Rustic apple and sour cherry pie

for the sweet pastry

ingredients: 125g butter softened, 1egg, 90g icing sugar,30g almond meal,250g plain flour

method: place butter,sugar,almond meal,egg in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until well combined, Add the flour on a low-speed until just combined. transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and bring together into a disk, wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 1/2 an hour. Pre heat oven to 180°C. Remove pastry from the fridge, on a lightly floured surface roll out to 4mm thick and gently line a greased pie tin, can leave the edges for a homely look.Put the remaining pastry aside. Bake the shell for ten minutes in the oven before removing and setting aside to cool.

Pie Filling

ingredients: 1tin of pie apples,1 cup of sour cherries drained,1table spoon brown sugar

method: combine all the ingredients and pour into the tart shell, roll out remaining pastry and cover over the pie. With a sharp knife make indents in the lid, and sprinkle a little brown sugar over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes, serve hot with thickened cream.

caramelised onion and pear tartlets

Caramelised Pears

ingredients; 2 brown pears, 2tbl brown sugar, 2tbl unsalted butter 2tbl water

method; leaving the skin on,halve the pears and remove the core. place them face down in a pan with the butter and sugar and on a low heat gently cook until the pears have softened. If the butter begins to thicken and caramelise you can add the water. once cooked remove from the heat and set aside.

Pastry Shells

ingredients; 1sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed, olive oil for greasing tart tins

method; lightly oil tart tins then place the tart tin onto the pastry sheet upside down and with a sharp knife cut around. The pastry circle should fit perfectly into the tin, gently press down. Continue until all the shells are filled.

Crumble Topping

ingredients; 2tbl plain flour,2tbl hazelnut meal, 1tbl brown sugar,1 pinch cinnamon

method; mix with finger tips

Vanilla Cream

ingredients; 250mls of cream, 1tbl caster sugar, 2tsp vanilla extract

method; in a kitchen mixer add the cream and whip on high speed, add the sugar and vanilla and continue to mix until the cream has thickened slightly.

Method

fill the pastries with a teaspoon of onion jam, I used Beerenbergs Family Farm Caramelised Onion, that worked perfectly or alternatively you could make your own. then lightly chop pears and keep syrup aside. fill each tart with the pear and sprinkle over the crumble then drizzle over a little of the sugar syrup left over from the pears. Bake in the oven at 175°C for 20-30 minutes, You will need to monitor the pastries to prevent over cooking the sugar syrup.

Serve warm with a dollop of vanilla cream and drizzle over any remaining syrup.

Beerenberg Family Farm Caramelised onion;http://www.beerenberg.com.au

pecan pie

ingredients

sweet short crust pastry

125g unsalted butter softened,1 egg,90g icing sugar,30g ground almonds,250g plain flour

pecan filling

3 eggs lightly whisked, 180 ml golden syrup,100g brown sugar,50g butter,195g roughly chopped pecans

method

to make the pastry,place the butter,eggs,icing sugar and ground almonds in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the flour a little at a time. stop mixing as soon as it has incorporated. transfer the mixture to a lightly floured surface and shape into a disc then wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight. remove from the fridge 30 minutes before using if left over night.

roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface until 4mm thick, then gently fold over the rolling-pin and transfer over a 30 cm tart tin with a removable base. gently press into the tin and trim excess with a sharp knife. prick the pastry with a fork and place back into the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

pre heat the oven to 200°C, to make the filling, place butter,sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan over a low heat cook stirring until butter has melted and mixture is smooth. set aside to cool slightly then add the eggs and vanilla, whisk to combine. stir in the pecans and pour into the pastry case. bake for 35-40 minutes or until pastry and filling are golden. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving with cream.

The pastry recipe is borrowed from Manu Feidel i find this is the nicest and easiest pastry recipe to use.

apple and rhubarb crumble

i call this part sticking and pasting very quickly.. there is no room for perfection here, unless of course you are toddler and baby free, without the wandering of little fingers reaching up high, standing on tippy toes, to bench tops because they instinctively know that there is something yummy that they simply must have and possibly if they wait too long they may just miss out, a quick stern toddler demand makes sure that today is not going to be that day.

She spends most of her waking hours crawling around the kitchen floor, climbing through the sides of our island bench, pulling herself up on wooden kitchen chairs, clinging to my feet and taste testing anything that falls to the floor. at 8 1/2 months she already knows the sound of the kitchen mixer.. repeatedly says ta when she’s hungry and recognises the blue spatulas as very tasty when covered in cake mix.. little does she know this is the beginning of her kitchen stories.

APPLE AND RHUBARB CRUMBLE

PIE FILLING

ingredients

1 bunch rhubarb, 4 apples of choice unpeeled, juice of an orange, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons butter

method

prepare the pastry. Chop rhubarb into 2cm pieces disregard all leaves and peel if preferred,however i never do as it often looses the rich red colour of the rhubarb. place rhubarb in a baking tray with the juice of the orange and half of the brown sugar and the butter, bake in the oven at 200 for approximately 20 minutes or until softened and caramelised. cut the apples and remove the core leave the skin on, poach them in just enough water to cover with the remaining sugar until just soft, then drain the liquid, set aside. Remove pastry from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface roll out to approximately 1cm thick, put the rolling-pin onto the pastry and gently pick up one side and drape over. this allows you to gently pick up the entire pastry sheet using the pin and lay then over your greased pie tin. at this stage you will find that pieces have broken away. Gently press the pastry into the bottom and sides of the tin this is where its alright to stick and paste and fill the gaps. finish off the edges with a knife then return to the fridge for 10 minutes. when the rhubarb and apple have cooled, spoon both mixtures into your pastry case. top with the crumble and bake at 180 for 20 minutes. serve warm with cream.

FOR THE CRUMBLE

ingredients

1 cup plain flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar,3/4 cup oats, 3/4 cup coconut, 50 grams melted butter

method

combine all of the dry ingredients together and then add the melted butter, mix into a crumble.

SWEET PASTRY

ingredients

125grams softened butter,90 grams icing sugar, 30grams almond meal, 250 grams plain flour, 1 egg

method

Using a paddle attachment or dough hook, mix the butter, sugar and egg until combined then add the flour and almond meal once it has come together as a soft dough stop mixing. shape into a ball and wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.

mini beef pies

this was the fastest photo shoot i have possibly ever taken… these pies literally had only moments out of the oven before my two-year old and 8 month old came scrambling into the kitchen one after the other.. the two-year old racing to the cutlery rack at a record speed so he could dive into one of the pies with no comprehension that they needed time to cool and i needed to take photos. My eight month old only tummy crawling, sensed the two-year olds urgency on the matter, she too could not move fast enough.. there was simply no time to waste.

Mini Beef Pies

Ingredients

500g premium mince,1 brown onion,3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce,2 tablespoons tomato sauce,1 tablespoon tomato paste,1 teaspoon of dried thyme,1 tablespoon plain flour,salt and pepper to taste, poppy seeds, 4 sheets of puff pastry, olive oil

method

Pre heat the oven to 200°C fan forced. brush three muffin trays with olive oil this should make 18 pies. Have pastry sheets out of the freezer and allow to defrost for 20 minutes. Meanwhile heat a non stick fry pan with a little olive oil and brown the mince, add the finely chopped onion, cook for a few minutes then add the sauces, thyme and flour. If the mix is dry then add a little water. Simmer for 10 minutes, season to taste. While the mixture is cooling down, cut the pastry circles using an egg ring, you should get 9 circles to each sheet of pastry. Line the muffin trays with the pastry, then spoon the cooled mix into the pastry cases, there is no need to blind bake the pastry first. Place the tops on, pressing down around the sides with a fork. brush with olive oil, lightly prick each one a few times with a knife and top with poppy seeds. bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.