Little Box Brownie

A Baking Blog from Melbourne, Australia

Recipe

Raspberry and Apple Tart

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I had a friend coming over for a bit of a catch up, and what catch up is complete with out afternoon tea. So…. what to have? A Rustic Fruit Tart I think.

When I lived in London, feels like a life time ago now, I would buy these gorgeous little tarts from the supermarket. I think they were around 1 or 2 pounds, pretty reasonable I thought, even when I was only earning a pittance of a wage. They were little fruit tarts filled with blueberries, and a frangipane filling. Simply delicious. It was a struggle to find anything similar in Brisbane when I returned so went about making my own, since moving to Melbourne two years ago, you can get them more frequently.

Apple and Raspberry Tart

For this recipe I have made an apple and raspberry tart, however you can use whatever fruit is in season. The filling is not a traditional frangipane fillling as there is no almond meal, or almond flavouring in it. Its more of a cake filling, which contrasts nicely with the crunchy pastry and the moist fruit. 

Apple and Raspberry Tart

Pastry
115g butter 

1 1⁄3 cups flour 
1⁄4 cup caster sugar 
1 egg yolk 

Filling
50g butter
90g white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
90g plain flour

Fruit
1 apple sliced in segments
3/4 cup of raspberrys

Pre heat oven to 180

Cut butter into cubes, and then rub into the flour, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and stir through. Stir in egg until combine and then use your hands to work the mixture until well combined. Cover with cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out and place in a 20cm tart tin. Blind bake for 10 minutes, remove the beans and bake for a further 10 minutes.

To make the filling, Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl, add the egg and combine. The fold the flour and baking powder in until incorporated. Press the mixture in to the cooked case and then add the fruit to the top. 
Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Apple and Raspberry Tart

Apple and Raspberry Tart

Birthday Weekend Roast

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Everyone has headed home, but what a loverly weekend. Filled with far to much food. We spent most of the weekend eating out, except for friday night when I cooked the pavlova in a previous post and had a lamb roast. I also made a chocolate cream brulee, as requested by my Boyfriend.
Cream Brulee
Cream Brulee 

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cup of cream
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of chocolate

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees

Place the egg yolks and sugar into a bowl and beat on high with and electric mixer, until the mixture is light and fluffy, then set aside.

Place the milk, cream and chocolate into a saucepan and heat on a low temperature until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat and slowly pour into the egg mixture while beating on high (to avoid scrambling the eggs). Pour the mixture into 5 small ramekins. Then place in a deep roasting dish, pour in some hot water to come two thirds of the way up the side of the ramekins. 
Place in the oven and cook of 45 minutes or until set.

Place the brulee in the fridge until cooled.
When you are ready to serve, sprinkle some sugar over the top and use a blow touch to melt the sugar. (I find if you do a couple of thin layers of the sugar heating as you go, rather than one thick layer the sugar doesn’t burn)


chocolate cream brulee
I decided to have a birthday dinner at home rather than eat out at the thai restaurant I love as I couldn’t be bothered driving, lazy I know. I made a roast lamb dinner instead.
I stood in the supermarket for the longest time trying to pick what cut to have, I walked back and forward, swapping the cuts over. If anyone was watching me on the security footage they would have thought I was nuts. But I was trying to figure out what would look best on the plate in the picture below, as I had only just brought it from lost and found, in collingwood for $15, bargain. It does have a small chip in it, but I believe adds to the character. 
Roast Lamb with Golden syrup glaze
Roast dinner 101

800g boneless leg of lamb
1 Tablespoon golden syrup
2 teaspoons of Garlic
salt and peper 
3 sprigs of rosemary
2 medium sized Kumra (sweet potato)
6 Medium sized potatoes
1/4 of a pumpkin
2 red onions

Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees.

Place the lamb on the sprigs of rosemary in an oiled roasting dish. Then rub the garlic, and drizzle the golden syrup over the lamb. Then season with salt and pepper.
Peel and chop the potato, sweet potato, onions, and pumpkin, then place in the roasting dish and top with olive oil and some salt and pepper.
Place in the oven and cook for 1.5 hours or until cooked.

Serve with some steamed veggies of your liking and lashings of gravy. 





Lamb
Roast Veggies

Roast

Birthday Pavlova

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Happy Daffodil Day!!! I love Daffodils, they always seem to cheer you up with their bright bursts of colour, they always seem to smile at you. 
Today was also my Birthday. I feel very lucky to have family and friends who have travelled and those still travelling from interstate to spent the weekend. Good food, good friends and good family thats what its all about.
I have made myself a birthday cake, well technically its not a cake but a pavlova. As a Child I would always request a pavlova for my birthday cake, so this year I thought I would revive that tradition (That and I had a bowl of egg whites sitting in the fridge waiting to be used). I haven’t had a pav for the longest time and honestly forgot how good they where. (Note to self make more pavlovas with old egg whites). I normally make one big Pavlova, this time however, I thought why not try something a little bit different? And make three and layer them with cream and strawberries. Good in theory not in practise, they stuck to the sheets of baking paper, and because they were thin started to break up. Good old cream to the rescue, patched it up nicely. If you endeavour to make a pavlova please put them on grease proof baking paper and not just plain old baking paper because these baby’s will stick like chewing gum to hair.
Pavlova

6 egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vinger
1 Tablespoon cornflour
1 Tablespoon vanilla essence

Pre heat the oven to 180, and prepare three oven trays lined with greaseproof paper. (I normally draw a circle with a plate onto the paper so its easier to get a circular Pavlova. In this case to get all the pav’s the same size.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then slowly add the sugar whilst continuously beating, until the egg whites form stiff peaks and the mixture is glossy. (This is the point where you could try tipping it over your head, if it doesn’t move its perfect! If you end up with it all over your head, its not done).
Then add the vinegar, cornflour and vanilla essence and fold in with a spatular. Divide the mixture onto your three baking trays and with the spatular form nice round ovals.

Place the pavlovas in the oven, and turn the oven down to 100 degrees, and bake for 45 minutes. Then turn the oven off and let the Pavlovas cool in the oven.
Whip some fresh cream and chop up some strawberry’s (or any fruit that you like) and decorate.
These are the amazing pots that my dad brought me all the way from canberra in his suit case, for my Birthday, aren’t they amazing. They’re from a little antique shop, down the road from his house. They are all a little different, some have handles that are completely bent upwards, as though the pots themselves were to heavy for the handle. I will have to see if I can find someone to straighten them. But look out for them in future posts, as I’m sure they will get a work out.
Anyway must dash, have to run to the airport.
xx Soph

Beetroot Ricotta Ravioli

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Beetroot Ricotta Ravioli
Yesterday I photographed a beautiful wedding at a scout camp, about an hours drive from Melbourne. Which I have to say I was not looking forward to, as it has been pouring with rain for days now. All I could think was this is going to be messy, the bride will end up covered in mud, my cameras are going to have to be serviced by the end of it, and my cold is going to get  far worse. Well it turned out to be a little muddy, but a really nice day, which was shared by all their family and friends. 
On the drive to the wedding, I stopped at a small veggie shop where they had some beautiful looking fresh beetroots which I had to buy. So today I have been making some beetroot and ricotta ravioli, with an orange and poppy seed reduction. 
This recipe is inspired by a meal I had at a lovely little restaurant with a good friend a few months ago.
Orange Reduction 

3 large oranges
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons Cider Vinegar
1 tablespoons of poppy seeds

Cut and squeeze the oranges, and strain through a sieve to remove any pulp. Place in a saucepan. Add the sugar and bring to the boil. When the mixture starts to thicken remove from the heat and stir through the vinegar and poppy seeds. Set aside.
orange reduction
Beetroot and ricotta ravioli

Dough

200g flour 00
2 eggs


Filling

1 beetroot
250g fresh ricotta
Salt
Pepper

To make the dough, place the flour on a wooden board, and create a well in the centre. Place the eggs in the centre and with a butter knife, slowly start to fold the flour on top of the eggs. Do this until the flour and eggs have combined. Then kneed the dough for 5-10 minutes or until it springs back to the touch. 
(To test you have kneaded it long enough slice the dough in half with a sharp knife if there are air bubbles then you have).
Place cling wrap over the dough and let rest for 25minutes.

To make the filling, Place the beetroot in saucepan of water and simmer on a medium heat until the beetroot is soft. Then using some rubber gloves peel the beetroot and chop into tiny pieces. Place the beetroot and ricotta into a bowl with the salt and pepper to taste and mix well.

Remove the dough from the cling wrap and cut in to quarters. Place the dough in a pasta machine and roll out on the thickest setting, continue to run the pasta through the paster machine reducing the setting each time until at the desired thickness. (about 1mm Thick. Do this to all the dough.
 Then lay a dough sheet on a floured board and place teaspoonfuls of the beetroot mixture onto the dough. Then lay another sheet of pasta dough over the top, remove all the air from between the two layers and cut with a cookie cutter. (If the dough is dry you can brush the dough with water so the two sheets stick).

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and place the ravioli in the water, when they rise to the top they are cooked. Remove and strain. Place on a plate and top with the orange and poppy seed sauce.



Beetroot Ricotta Ravioli
beetroot ravioli
beetroot ricotta mix
ravioli
ravioli beetroot