Monthly Archives: June 2014

Apricot and Blackberry Shortcake

Posted in Dessert, Recipes by

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With the cool, crisp weather we’ve been having lately, my desire for warm, comforting food has only increased. Because to be honest, comfort food is always a winner no matter what the season. For me baking is the ultimate in comfort food. While I love a buttery cupcake, or a creamy cheescake, there is something about fruit and pastry that warms the cockles of your heart. Especially when you make sure it’s sweet, oozy, jammy fruit and rich, crumbly shortcake. Drizzled with some thick cream and you have yourself the perfect winter warmer treat.

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This cake uses apricots and blackberries, but feel free to play around with other stone fruits and berries that are in season, as it is hard to go wrong. Macerating the fruit slightly in the lemon and brown sugar helps it to soften and lets those flavours sink in before they are developed further and intensified in the oven. The addition of clove adds a subtle spice and the almond meal keeps the cake from being too heavy. While this cake has a few steps, each of them is easy and you should be able to get this out of the oven within an hour which is perfect for when those cravings come calling.

 

Apricot and Blackberry Shortcake

Adapted from a recipe by Karen Martini in goodfood.com

Filling

8 large ripe apricots (can used can if not in season)

3 tbsp light brown sugar, plus extra to garnish

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 punnet blackberries (if using frozen, ensure they are thawed first)

1 handful toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Shortcake

150g plain flour

30g cornflour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

100g almond meal

1/2 tsp ground cloves

160g butter, room temp

140g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a 22- to 24-centimetre springform tin.

2. For the filling, slice the apricots in half and pit. Place the halves into a ceramic dish and toss with brown sugar and lemon juice. Allow to sit, cut-side down, for 10 minutes, then bake for 25 minutes or until the apricots are just starting to collapse. Remove apricots and set aside on kitchen paper. If using canned apricots, you can don’t need to bake them, just place them in the lemon juice and sugar mix and leave aside until required.

3. For the shortcake, mix the flour, cornflour, baking powder, almond meal and cloves together.

4. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until pale and light. Beat in the egg, then add the flour mix and thoroughly combine to a thick paste.

5. Scoop two-thirds of the shortcake into the tin and press into base and up sides in the shape of a shallow basin. Place apricots on the dough, cut-side up, scatter over the blackberries, and dab pinches of the remaining shortcake over the top, leaving some fruit showing.

6. Sprinkle some extra brown sugar and the hazelnuts on the shortcake blobs and bake for 30-40 minutes or until light golden. Allow to cool a little before unmoulding and slicing.

Middle Eastern Barbecued Eggplant with Tahini Dressing and Pomegranates

Posted in Recipes, Salads by

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Our oven broke last week and it forced me to get a bit experimental in my cooking. I’m confident in my normal domain – the oven and stove. But when you take the oven out of the equation, your choice become considerably more limited. Sure, you can get creative and there are countless dishes you can make that require solely a stove-top. But when you get home from work the first dish that creeps into your head will undoubtedly be pasta. And after a while, or my third night consecutively chowing down on the delicious carb-loaded aforementioned meal, I had reached my limit. I needed something baked. Then I remembered we had a barbeque. That foreign object that sits outside in the garden. To me, the barbeque is the domain of steaks and sausages, not the domain of slow roasted meat, or caramelized vegetables. However, I decided that I needed to break-free from my comforting inside-oven domain and brave the grey, rainy weather to use the barbeque. Under the careful prowess of my boyfriend who helped me turn it on (yes, you read the correctly) I started to get acquainted with the big, scary barbeque. And I can tell any of you other non-barbecue-users that it’s not as a scary as you may think.

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My barbeque has a temperature dial, which helped when trying to figure out how long and what temperature to cook things at. However, a barbeque cannot be treated in the same way as an oven as the heat is not regulated in the same way and may not cook things as evenly as you might be used to. Do not despair. Just keep an eye on what your cooking, move it around to a different part of the barbeque and play with the temperature dials a bit until you get a feel for it. You will get there, I promise and the results will be worth it!

While the barbeque does produce a decidedly more smoky flavoured result, this can be absolutely perfect for some recipes. This recipe for middle eastern braised eggplant being one of them. I have made this dish before in the oven but I was pleasantly surprised that the barbeque produced a far more flavorsome meal. The smoky, charred flavour that finds its way into the eggplant means that the eggplant is soft and tender inside, with a crisp, crunchy skin. Pair this with a tangy, creamy tahini dressing and a fresh hit of pomegranates and I promise you’ll be grateful that you ventured outside.

Middle Eastern Barbequed Eggplant with Tahini Dressing and Pomegranates

Serves 6 as side

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium sized eggplants, sliced into 1cm thick discs
  • ½ bunch chopped coriander
  • ½ cup pomegranate seeds

Marinade

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp ground chilli
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 tsp dukkah
  • Sea salt to season

Dressing

  • 2 tbs tahini
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tbs water
  • Juice from 1½ lemons
  • 1 clove crushed garlic
  • Sea salt to season

 

Method: 

  • Preheat the barbeque to 200°C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
  • Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl.
  • Place the eggplant discs flat on the baking trays and spread out evenly.
  • Using a pastry brush, dip it into the marinade and baste each disc with the marinade. Repeat on all the discs, turning each over to coat each side.
  • Put the eggplant into the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until soft in the middle and crispy on the outside. Be sure to turn the eggplant discs over so they cook evenly about half way through cooking.
  • While the eggplant is cooking you can make the dressing. For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. The tahini will absorb a lot of the liquid so if it looks a little thick, add a bit more oil, lemon juice or water and taste.
  • Remove the eggplant from the barbeque and place onto a serving tray. Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with pomegranates and top with coriander. Serve warm.