About a year or so ago, I went to my friend’s house and as the kids ran around and jumped in and out of the pool we sat in her back yard, chatted and caught up on each other’s lives.
She laughed at me because I had grabbed my Amazon package the postman has just delivered and was opening it at her house.
While I ripped at the box, she went inside and brought out little tomato tarts she had made from a recipe in the latest Donna Hay magazine. They we bite size squares of golden puff pastry topped with olive tapenade, a slice of tomato and fresh bocconcini cheese.
They were so incredibly simple and delicious we ate the entire tray as we flicked through my new book, Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Around My French Table’ and she listened to my plans about joining an online cooking blog I had read about.
The next day, I bought the magazine, and the ingredients, and I made the delicious little tarts for my family.
They were a huge hit and I’ve been making them on a regular basis since then.
They are a great after school snack!
So much so, that I kind of went on automatic pilot mode.
I didn’t follow Dorie’s instructions. They seemed a little bit complicated for something so simple.
I just cut the puff pastry sheets into little squares.
Smeared a dollop of black olive tapenade and put a slice of tomato on top.
I baked these in the oven until golden brown.
I then took them out of the oven and topped them with fresh slices of bocconcini cheese and basil leaves.
I followed Dorie’s suggestion and sprinkled some balsamic vinegar on top of some of the squares and I have to admit, I loved the taste.
Simple and Perfect!
I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group thought of this week’s recipe.
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Blueberry Nectarine Pie.
It’s winter here in Australia, so there are no nectarines to be found.
I replaced them with strawberries.
What could go wrong…?
Now please indulge me for a second as I digress…
While buying the ingredients for the pie I saw this magazine sitting on the shelves as I sat in the grocery line waiting to pay. The look on Kristen Stewart’s face caught my attention.
I’ve come across that look many times in my career.
Reason and caution go out the window.
You are fully immersed in your drama and all your senses are alive!
Ideally people would be striving to achieving this mental state in a healthy way by identifying what is missing in their lives and setting goals that would satisfy these needs.
Unfortunately, through my work, I’ve come to understand achieving this in a healthy way is really hard work!
So the distractions of choice are usually affairs and drugs!
(Or in my case, food!)
So with this all going through my mind, I somehow decided that this pie would be so mind blowingly great I too would lose sense and reason!
Yes, in hindsight I can see it’s bonkers and what was I thinking!
But I wanted the pie to be that good!!!
My husband and kids enjoyed it.
I thought it looked good, but I really didn’t like it at all!
My husband thought I was crazy until I told him of my expectations.
After he stopped laughing, he assured me no pie was going to live up to those expectations and to try it with ice cream! We need someone sane in the family!
Every three or so months my husband and I book flights to Melbourne and run away for the weekend.
The first time we went was about 2 years ago.
I spent the first trip tormenting myself for leaving the kids with their grandparents.
The two nights however went by quickly and we were home before I knew it.
I rushed home to find three very happy kids who had clearly spent a great weekend being over indulged by their doting grandparents.
Hmmm….
Clearly I needed to get a more realistic perspective on my kids’ resilience.
So when my husband and I booked our next trip to Melbourne, I was in a much better place and ready to actually give relaxing a go!
This time I did start to relax… on the day we were scheduled to fly back home to Sydney.
It’s many trips down the track now and I can honestly say these day I switch into ‘Melbourne’ mode the minute we start our drive to the airport. By the time we land in Melbourne, I can feel the tension leaving my body and as we sit down to lunch at our favourite restaurant, Movida, I’m feeling giddy with joy!
We are like two teenagers as we choose dishes we want to eat!
We don’t have to try and find things that the kids might like, we can actually choose dishes with chillies and strange sounding names and ingredients! We giggle with excitement!
We then walk over to my favourite cake shop for dessert…
Before heading out to the sea-side town of St Kilda to check into our hotel. I open the curtains, we take in the views and do absolutely nothing! Nothing! We talk, read and relax until dinner. Then we get dressed and walk down to St Kilda’s main street for dinner. And we get to walk past Luna Park without arguments and tears about why we can’t go inside!
So. What does all this have to do with brownies?
The thing about living in Australia is that there are many recipes I see online or in books that have ingredients I can’t find here. I’ve found some after a lot of searching in specialty shops and I’ve managed to substitute others with what we have available here. However, in the back of my mind is a list of ingredients I’m always on the lookout for.
Melbourne is known for it’s shopping and it’s amazing restaurants. So I’ve always thought if I’m going to find these ingredients anywhere, it will be here in Melbourne.
And I was right!!!
A few months ago, I was looking for a brownie recipe to use up my stock of chocolate I had built up over time.
I came across The Pioneer Woman’s Knock You Naked Brownies.
Now these weren’t going to solve my chocolate stock problems as they were made with a German Chocolate Cake Mix, but they looked so good I couldn’t get them out of my mind. I went straight to our local Woolworths supermarket, and of course, there was no German Chocolate Cake Mix. I was tempted to substitute with a plain chocolate cake mix but I remembered Ree Drummond emphasising the importance of using the German Chocolate Mix.
Aghhhh!
So another ingredient went on my list of things to keep a lookout for.
Until last weekend that is!
I have now crossed German Cake Mix off my list! Yay!
I found it in Melbourne and couldn’t wait to come home and make Ree’s brownies!
I had my son and four of his friends running in and out of the house with skateboards and soccer balls.
Then my daughter sent me an SMS on her way home from school asking if 5 of her friends could come over and hang out at our house since it was Friday.
Sure! Yeah! Whatever!!
I was making Knock You Naked Brownies!
I really wanted the kids to enjoy these so I left the nuts out of the recipe.
And I have to say these really are a knock out.
My husband ate them hot out of the oven. He ate them cold out of the fridge before I had the chance to dust them with icing sugar and cut them. And as we ran the kids to soccer, netball, umpiring duties, parties and get togethers he sent me texts to tell me he just ducked home and ate more brownies and that I was never, EVER allowed to make these again because he can’t stop eating them!
I cut them into bite size pieces and I left them on the kitchen bench. I have to say I like them best at room temperature. The plate is almost empty now. Less than 24 hours since I made them.
I think that says it all!
If you want to check out The Pioneer Woman’s photos (which are way better than mine!) and the recipe, just click here!
We moved house.
I slipped a disc in my back (because of the move).
Spent way too long on a crazy cocktail of drugs to just get through each day!
And just when things were coming together…
Bam! School holidays!
There’s always something… right?
When I saw this week’s recipe I knew it was time to return to the group.
And I knew that I would replace the blueberries in Dorie’s recipe with a jar of Morello Cherries.
I contemplated strawberries.
However my daughter and I crave Black Forest Cake, loaded with juicy, plump, sour cherries… pretty much… all the time!
School holidays are pretty crazy times around here.
I turned my back for a minute at the cinema and a movie poster became a prop!
So amidst all the chaos it was pure bliss carve out a little time to bake.
It felt indulgent.
Soothing.
Pretty!
Dorie’s Roulade recipe was simple and delicious.
We loved the cherry filling.
And I think strawberries would have been amazing.
I can’t wait to see what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group thought!
(We are off to Melbourne for the weekend so I posted a day early!)
You know that feeling?
The one where you know you are kind of… sort of… off track?
You can feel it.
It’s real and it’s… well… frustrating.
You try and work out how and why you got off track.
But you can’t quite put your finger on it.
There’s been all day futsal championships… All day soccer championships.
Weekend sports.
And, oh, don’t forget the mid week training sessions for the weekend sports.
And speaking of weekends, there’s birthday parties to attend…
Concerts to get ready for…
And the endless driving!
Now don’t get me wrong… I’m not complaining.
I actually enjoy the chaos.
But I think I’ve forgotten what gets me through the chaos.
Through the swimming lessons, band, homework and the never ending housework!
Cooking.
Baking.
This is what I enjoy. What makes me happy.
But I guess when there’s so much of everything else to do, cooking, baking and blogging just feels like more work. And here’s where I went off track!
I stopped doing the things that feed my soul! (Dramatic, I know! Sorry! Occupational hazard!)
I realised this while I was blanching and peeling the hazelnuts for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe!
The nuts were doing my head in.
I mean, come on! I don’t have better things to do than stand here rubbing the skin off hazelnuts?!?!
And can’t you just buy these little suckers skinless???
Then it hit me and I started to laugh.
The reason I called my blog Kitchen Therapy was because my own therapist pointed out to me that cooking is my form of mindfulness training.
My way to be fully engaged and in the present moment.
Sort of like my meditation.
(And we all now know how good meditation is for you!)
So I stopped thinking about how much I’d like to cook something and I just started doing it.
It felt good!
The hazelnut biscotti smelled amazing and I felt happy!
It was that simple!!!
It’s almost midnight and I’m snacking on these as I type.
My husband is next to me watching the latest season of Dexter complaining about not being able to stop eating them cos they taste sooo good!
I will definitely make these again, my daughter requested a choc-chip filling next time!
I can’t wait to see what the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie group thought.
If you would like to check out the recipe, head over to this week’s hosts who have the full recipe on their websites.
Jodi of Homemade and Wholesome and Katrina of Baking and Boys.
We moved house about 6 weeks ago and finally, FINALLY… we have internet!
I brought over our mini modem however reception at our new place (which is only 2km from our old place but at the end of a cul de sac) is pretty much non existent.
Posting my Dr Who Tardis Rainbow Cake and Dalek Cupcakes was an act of sheer will power!
Remember dial up internet speed?
That’s what I had to work with, I’d press a button and then go and do a few jobs as I waited for the page to load.
After many many many many many many hiccups (as my 4 year old likes to say in order to emphasise his point) our ADSL modem finally arrived on Friday.
The first thing I did , was look up the recipe schedule for Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia!
And oh what a great week to return!
This cake is delightful.
It’s perfect in its simplicity.
It makes me happy! 🙂
And I will make it again and again and again!
P.S. Notes to self next time you try and make this cake…
The recipe calls for one recipe Perfect Genoise. ONE.
Don’t think you know better and decide to quickly whip another (cos one just seems way too flat to divide into 3 equal parts) when your husband leaves to pick up your almost 15 year old daughter from a birthday party at 11pm. It’s almost midnight, you’re not thinking clearly or rationally and they will look at you with worry in their eyes when they walk in at midnight to find the house smelling delicious and you sitting on the lounge with a glass of wine and a smug and satisfied look on your face…
Two cakes look about right (for what I had imagined it would look like)…
However, the recipe clearly tells you the Perfect Genoise “is drier than most American cakes”.
I baked two, split them in half to make four, but luckily, I ran out of my sugared strawberries and ended only using three layers.
I broke bite sized bits off the fourth layer and dipped these into the strawberry juices and then scraped the last bits of cream on top before popping them in my mouth.
I kept going until both bowls were clean.
If there was more I would have eaten more.
Instead I had to wait until after dinner for more.
Here is where the lesson comes in.
This cake is dense (as the recipe says!).
There was too much sponge for the amount of strawberries and cream in it.
So (in hindsight) one genoise split into three (as the recipe says!) would have tasted better.
I can not wait to see what the other members of Tuesdays with Dorie thought of this recipe.
And if you would like to check out the actual recipe and give this cake a go for yourself, head over to Sophia’s Sweets or Think, Love, Sleep, Dine.
And follow the recipe!
In 1979 we left Yugoslavia and boarded a Qantas flight to begin our new life in Sydney, Australia.
My mum’s sister greeted us at the airport, she had immigrated many years earlier and we stayed with her family for a couple of months until we got on our feet.
I was 7 years old and I have two very distinct memories of this time.
1. I remember wondering how people could eat Kentucky Fried Chicken with Coleslaw! I thought it was the strangest and most unpleasant tasting thing I had ever tried (strangely enough, it didn’t take long to develop a taste for this food phenomenon!)
2. My 10 & 6 year old cousins had a small tv in the play room at the back of the house where they would go and watch Dr Who episodes every night after dinner. This is the Dr I was introduced to…
The Fourth Dr Who
I have to tell you, we were terrified watching some of the episodes! I remember many times hiding under sheets while we waited for the scary bits to be over! But as soon as the show was finished our bravado returned. I remember wrapping my younger cousin from head to food in toilet paper trying to re-create one of the show’s creatures!
I’m not sure where Dr Who and I parted ways? I’d like to say it was the long hours spent studying as I got older and had less and less time for tv. This is true (seriously!) But if I’m to be totally honest, I have to acknowledge that along with this was an ever growing interest in boys and spending any free time I did have, going out with friends.
However, in the last few months the Dr entered my life again, thanks to my now 12 year old son and his friends!
I listened to their in depth conversations about the latest episodes as they dissected each event and argued about their absolute favourite episode!
We had some sleepless nights when they discovered the weeping angels and thought it was funny to replay the scary bits of the episode again and again on You Tube! It was okay doing that when they were all together at someone’s house and in a big group, but they soon learnt it wasn’t that great when they had to come home and get ready for bed! At night! By themselves. All alone in their room!
Thankfully the more they watched the scary bits on You Tube, the more immune they became!
(Can you believe every photo I have of my son’t 12th birthday is blurry! How to make them stand still long enough to take a decent photo is beyond me!)
So with his 12th Birthday approaching I told the boys I would make a Tardis birthday cake!
To be honest I was all talk.
But they told everyone and got so excited I realised at some point my credibility was at stake!
Once I stopped fighting the idea, I relaxed and had a lot of fun.
I decided I would take this opportunity to incorporate a number of recipes I’ve been wanting to try for a long time and to be honest, without accountability and a looming deadline they would probably have been on my “one day” list for years to come.
I’ve been wanting to try Marshmallow Fondant.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE MARSHMALLOWS!
I found a recipe one of the prettiest blogs I have ever come across! Bakingdom .
If you click here it will take you straight to Darla’s marshmallow fondant recipe!
Now I’ve never made, let alone used marshmallow fondant before. So I was pretty happy with the results…
My other “one day” recipe was from a blog I stumbled upon recently that is indescribably stunning Sweetapolita.
I saw Rosie’s Rainbow Doodle Birthday Cake and it’s been on my mind ever since.
So I decided, since I was expected to produce a Tardis birthday cake, I was going to go all the way!
We sang happy birthday (which included strange word additions and a lot of wresting) but eventually my son cut into his birthday cake…
To say the boys were blown away would be an understatement!
I followed Rosie’s recipe for the Rainbow Cake with Lemony Swiss Meringue Buttercream and made as many layers as I thought a Tardis would need in height. I spread her lemony swiss meringue buttercream between each layer and finished it off with a crumb coat before covering the whole thing with the coloured Marshmallow Fondant.
The dalek cupcakes were simply chocolate cupcakes.
I made a dozen regular sized cupcakes and topped them each with mini cupcake.
I then made and tinted buttercream in the colours of the newest dalek models and covered the cupcakes.
From what I can gather, the different coloured daleks have different qualities, so the boys put quite a bit of thought into which dalek they wanted to eat!
Then back to their skateboards… on their stomachs…as you do…
I guess riding upright got boring?!?
I think I have food ADD. Is there such a thing? Well if there is, then I’ve got it!
Too much of any single taste and you’ve lost me. It could be the most amazing tasting thing ever. BUT…
if it’s just sweet, just salty, just sour… then after about 2 or 3 bites, I am bored. I don’t want to eat it anymore.
I blame my mother for this! She used to serve all our meals with grapes or cantaloupe “to break up the taste”. She rationalised that by having a few bites of something sweet between mouthfuls of dinner it would encourage you to eat more. Is that weird?
Who would have thought something so simple would shape my entire approach to food… FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!
Black forest cake and pavlova are my absolute favourite! I need those plump tart cherries to cut through the chocolate cake and the sour passionfruit, strawberries and kiwi to compliment that sweet meringue. The balance of sweet and sour is what makes it exciting. The food comes alive for me.
I love to dip salty pretzels in nutella (especially late at night as I’m watching TV!) and as my husband looks on at me shaking his head. But I don’t care. I am in taste heaven!
I combined the rhubarb with the sugar, vanilla bean and water to make the jam filling.
And the hit of sourness that greeted me amongst the sugary sweetness of the jam excited me! This was going to be good!
I made the dough. Chilled it in the freezer. Then grated half of it into the pan. (I’ve never, ever grated dough before!) I then spread every last drop of the rhubarb jam over the grated dough before grating the other half of the dough over the layer of jam.
I baked it for 40 minutes and then sprinkled a generous amount of icing sugar over the top.
I have to admit I couldn’t wait for it to get cold before I dove into it!
My daughter (who has inherited my eating habits) loved this as much as I did.
The smooth, tart, rhubarb jam cut nicely through the sweet shortbread.
My husband, who has tamer taste preferences when it comes to his food, loved the shortbread but found the rhubarb jam a bit too sour for his liking. He fixed this easily by scraping off half the jam before going back for more, again and again!
This dish was sooo good!
The flavour was deep and satisfying.
The lamb was so tender it just melted in your mouth.
Even my pickiest eater found it delicious and easy to eat.
I followed the recipe closely (mainly because in the chaos of everyday life, I’ve been taking shortcuts lately with less than desirable results! Ugh!)
The only change I made was to use Vegeta vegetable stock instead of the beef stock.
I’m assuming this wouldn’t have changed the taste too drastically.
And with some fresh crusty bread, we couldn’t get enough.
The kids loved it so much I put the leftovers into wraps for their school lunches the next day.
They all said it tasted as good as the night before.
And what an awesome school lunch!
For me, this has been one of the tastiest dishes in Dorie’s Around My French Table cookbook.
Over here in Sydney, Australia, the school year starts at the end of January and after every 10 weeks of school the kids are given two weeks of holidays.
Except for Christmas when they get 6 weeks off.
We’ve completed Term 1 and are just winding up 2 weeks of holiday chaos fun!
Now I love and adore coconut.
I knew between trips to the movies, putt putt golf, sleepovers and full days of laser skirmish I was going to get this recipe done and posted!
It has coconut after all! (And it is one of the simplest recipes I have come across!)
I find it hard to make time to accomplish the basics, like grocery shopping, with so many activities and kids staying over.
But I was not going to miss this!
I made it in plenty of time! And then the next two days we left the house pretty much straight after breakfast and returned at night time!
So all my ideas of pretty photos flew out the window!
I even bought a pretty friand tin… it made a pattern!!!
But the photo taken with my iphone late at night just doesn’t do it any justice!
I wanted to run away! Skip posting for the week.
Like I did with the Cocoa Sables.
That week the kids had so many school band commitments and performances that, while I made both the Cocoa and Butter Sables, I didn’t get around to posting anything!
I did the same with the Salmon Rillettes.
I like Sardines! And I loved this recipe!
However amidst the Easter and school holiday madness, we decided to go to Melbourne for a 3 day weekend the day this post was due. So I skipped it.
But you know what?
I don’t like how I feel when I miss a week of posting!
I’ve come to understand that completing the recipes each week with the French Fridays with Dorie group gives me a sense of achievement and accomplishment!
It makes me feel goooood!
So while I’ve been cooking most weeks, it’s not as satisfying as engaging in the entire process of cooking, posting and then sharing this with the rest of the group!
Who knew this would become such a fun and filling part of my life!
T
The Fourth Dr Who
Kitchen Therapy 