Bacchus Marsh fruit & veg shopping - and the yummiest vegetable pies

Tripping back from Melbourne to Ballarat on Sunday

I did a detour through beautiful little Bacchus Marsh

and I couldn't resist pulling up at this fruit stall and doing some shopping.

 

I purchased some of Grandpa's huge tomatoes -

they originated in Macedonia just like Grandpa!

I bought lots of fruit and veges
which became a huge bowl of fruit salad and two vegetable pies.
The vegetable pies are just chocka with veges and herbs
and are absolutely scrummy!

Below is a picture of the pies - please note the retro Chef Starfire stove.
What is not clearly visible are the Flying Kangaroo motifs on the pie lids.

Inspiration for the pies in my lovely brown enamel pie dishes
came from seeing a recent River Cottage program
where Hugh made pies in enamel (blue and white) pie dishes for some mums.
Hugh's pies were not vegetarian.

Apple Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb is around and Miss Eagle decided to indulge in a memory from childhood of my mother's friend, Delia Brazil, and her rhubarb and apple pie. Miss E used Flaky Pastry for the pie case, made from scratch. Miss E is fussy. She doesn't object to store-bought Filo or Puff Pastry. These really are time consuming, take practice to get right easily, and - in these days of small kitchens - space could be an issue. For Miss E, you need a good excuse to purchase frozen Shortcrust Pastry. In these days of dough hooks for the mixer and the wonders of food processors, there really is little excuse for not making your own. Now Miss Eagle wishes to advise that between shortcrust and puff pastry there is another category: that of Flaky Pastry, sometimes known as Rough Puff Pastry. Now you would not dash home from work and rustle up this pastry for the evening meal as you could with shortcrust. However, you can make it ahead of time and keep it in the frig for later use. And certainly, it is a pastry worth making for special occasions and special guests. The recipe and instructions here are from our beloved Miss Schauer - she of The Schauer Australian Cookery Book. First, we will look at Miss S's instructions.

• PUFF, FLAKY OR ROUGH PASTES are folded and rolled repeatedly to increase the amount of cold air held between the layers. Puff paste must be rolled in short forward rolls, never backwards and forwards. The rolling pin must be lifted between rolls. Puff pastry must never be rolled over the edge as this may force out some of the cold air. The ends and edges must be secured by being turned over a little and pressed heavily with a rolling pin.
• Puff pastry is allowed to stand between rollings, in an ice-chest, refrigerator, or cold place, covered with a buttered paper to prevent crust forming. [Miss E doesn't use buttered paper. She puts it in the frig in a plastic bag.] This is done in order that the butter may harden and thus keep layers of paste and butter separate.
• In warm weather, puff pastry, when rolling should be placed on a marble or cold slab cooled by ice or very cold water, i.e. wash over and dry before using.

Then to Miss Schauer's recipe:

FLAKY PASTRY

Sift 1/2lb plain flour with 1/4 teaspoon salt into a mixing bowl. Make a well in centre, pour in a full teaspoon of lemon juice, add 1/2 cup of very cold water. Mix with a cold knife. Turn on to a floured board, knead lightly into an elastic dough. Divide 6oz of firm butter or lard into 3 equal portions. Roll pastry into a large oblong piece. Put one third of firm fat all over surface in small pieces. Fold into 3 by bringing top of pastry into centre, the bottom end of pastry right up to the top. Turn so that open ends are top and bottom. Run floured hands up each side of pastry to keep quite even. Secure edges by pressing heavily with a rolling pin to shut cold air in. Press fat in a straightforward light roll from within edge to within edge, never over. Fold into 3. Make one finger mark to show rolled once. Put away to get cold 30 minutes. Fold and roll twice more in exactly same way with 30 minutes to cool between. Fold and roll the fourth time without fat to size required ready to use.

~~~~~~

ASSEMBLING THE PIE

by Miss Eagle

• Divide the pastry into two parts: one piece 1/3 in size (top); the second piece 2/3 in size (bottom) and line pie dish. [Please note: Miss E's pie dish measures 25.5cm in diameter and 5cm deep. To ensure sufficient pastry, Ms E used 10z flour with other ingredients modified accordingly.]
• Peel, quarter and slice 3 Granny Smith apples and spread one of these apples neatly on the pastry around the base of the pie dish. Top and tail rhubarb and chop stems into pieces about an inch long. Place these on top of the apples. Then spread remaining two applies sliced on top of the rhubarb.
• Sprinkle the fruit thoroughly with brown sugar.
• Sprinkle with lemon juice - use sufficient to flavour fruit not to soak the pastry base.
• Place 6 cloves evenly around the pie.
• Cover with pastry lid.
• Trim pastry and use left overs for pastry decoration
• Glaze. Miss E uses milk.
• Bake in a very moderate oven - approximately 175 degrees Celsius. The pie should take 30 to 40mins to bake to ensure the fruit is cooked through.
• Cool and served with custard. Miss E's was made with No Egg according to the recipe on the packet.
• Miss Eagle used PureHarvest Organic Nature's Soy as an alternative to milk. Miss E buys this by the slab at Friends of the Earth in Fitzroy; Woolworths Naytura Soya Margarine Spread; and Orgran Gluten Free No Egg Natural Egg Replacer from Maxi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scrumptious and satisfying served warm on a cold, rainy evening.

Vegetable texture

These Vegetable Pies are Miss Eagle's favourites. Over at Photo Friday,the subject this week is Texture. These Vege Pies are laden with texture. The pastry is Puff Pastry out of the freezer cabinet at Maxi's. It lines the pie dishes and makes twisted ribbons of pastry for decorating the top. On the pastry base, the first layer is mashed pumpkin. This is a wonderful base for whatever and however you choose for layering the remaining vegetables. The green in the photograph is asparagus and the red is strips of capsicum. Somewhere down below are pumpkin and squash and onions and herbs. Sprinkled on the top are tiny cubes of feta. The secret of wonderful appetising food is colour and texture and these pies have both in spades.

The Frangipani: inspiration for a Pie

One of the most beautiful flowers of the Tropics is the Frangipani, the Plumeria. The Frangipani comes in a range of colours - apricot, pink, magenta - but the sweetest of all is the traditional yellow tinged white. Miss Eagle, though now living in the foothills of the beautiful Dandenongs in Melbourne, Victoria, is a born and bred Queenslander. Her earliest experience of the Frangipani was at her grandparents' home in Wilston in Brisbane. There was a huge Frangipani where she used to spend hours thinking and playing. Now that she lives in the c-o-o-o-l climes of the Temperate Zone she makes do with pictures and memories. Out of those memories came a hunger for Frangipani Pie. The Frangipani Pie comprises three layers - not counting the crumbed biscuit base and the meringue on top. The first layer is a milky coconut flavour, the second is pineapple, and the third is more of the first.

Herself worked yesterday afternoon and when she came home to Frangipani Pie it brought back childhood memories. In the 70s and 80s, one couldn't go far without bumping into a Frangipani Pie but they don't seem to be as prevalent these days. Frangipani Pie is just s-o-o Queensland. Miss Eagle ensures, as far as possible, that her fruit and vegetables - fresh and canned - are Australian and, coming from Queensland, she has a high level of commitment to Golden Circle products.

At work: lunch with a lift

The Boss came out the other day and said "Everyone's been working so hard lately, I want to give them a lift. Thought we'd have a lunch and get some pizzas in. What do you think?" Well, dear Reader, Miss Eagle's face scrunched up.

Pizzas certainly would not give her a lift - and she didn't think it would anyone else either in this predominantly female department. "OK" he said "you look after it." Well you don't give Miss Eagle an inch but she takes a mile and here is what she did. Miss Eagle did the fast food bit - sushi, Subway, and pita wraps. She brought in some desert from home. Also from home came various bits and pieces to make things look very special and here is the result. People loved the whole deal - and it did give everyone a lift! Smiles on faces everywhere!

This is the entry to where lunch at work was served.

Catering was for almost 30 people.

The work of our department is such that staff could not just be taken out for lunch and - even in-house in the suburbs - the nature of the work required that attendance at lunch be staggered.

The Pita Wraps

The Subway subs

The Long View

The Sushi

The Desserts were strawberry tarts: large ones based on the recipe for the smaller tarts below and a farmhouse apple pie.

Farmhouse Apple Pie

The Farmhouse Apple Pie was made from Miss Eagle's favourite biscuit pastry and ten granny smith apples (peeled, quartered, cored, and sliced) and carefully placed, nay packed, into the pastry, then sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon (please note: no added liquid) with lattice placed on top. Pastry was then brushed with egg yolk although milk can be used. Then baked in a moderately slow oven. The apples were an inch or two above the top of the deep pie dish. After the slow cooking process, the apples had settled down to being level with the top of the pie dish.

Please Note: The pastry Miss Eagle used was from a quantity already in the fridge. The quantity in this recipe will, almost certainly, be too large but the remainder can be stored in fridge or freezer and it makes wonderful bikkes so you can get out the biscuit cutter and get busy.

Strawberry Tarts from Delicious

(These are small tarts. The recipe is simple so easy to do a large version)

Ingredients: 250 grams of your favourite plain biscuits; 75 gram of unsalted butter; 250 grams of mascarpone; 1 egg, lightly beaten; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 tablespoon icing sugar; 250 grams strawberries, hulled, halved or quartered if large; 1/2 cup redcurrant jelly, melted.

Method: Lightly grease four 10cm loose-bottomed tart pans. Process the biscuits to fine crumbs in a food processor. Add the melted butter and pulse to combine. Press the biscuit mixture into the base and sides of the prepared pans, then chill for 30 minutes to firm. Place the mascarpone in a bowl with the egg, vanilla and icing sugar, and whisk to combine. Fill the tart shells with the cheese mixture, then remove from the tart pans (you may need to wipe the outside of the tart pans with a hot cloth to loosen). Place the strawberries on top of each tart and brush with the melted redcurrant jelly. Serve immediately.

Miss Eagle's Notes

• Miss Eagle prefers not to use the food processor for crushing biscuits and adopts the following method. Place biscuits inside a plastic bag. Take a large wooden rolling pin and bash biscuits into small chunks then roll the small chunks (still in the plastic bag) into fine crumbs. Easier, finer crumbs, and no mess!
• When Miss Eagle filled the tart shells in the morning before going to work, she must have been half asleep. It was not until later that she realised she had simply spread the mascarpone on to the shells and not mixed it with the egg, vanilla and icing sugar. Still tasted great! Proof of how marvellously simple this recipe is when it can be adjusted in your sleep and it still tastes wonderful!
• Miss Eagle has been known to forget the redcurrant jelly as well - and it still tastes wonderful. Miss Eagle hasn't tried it but she suspects that any melted jam would taste wonderful over the strawberries and mascarpone.

Tarts: sweet and savoury

Mizz Zoe gifted Miss Eagle with the v-e-r-y thing.

The delicious diary for 2007!

Useful! Handy! And with recipes!

delicious boasts that it

celebrates food and the people who produce it, from celebrity chefs to passionate foodies from around Australia and the rest of the world. So whether you want a simple but scrumptious midweek meal or an impressive dinner-party menu, we've got the recipes you need.

Miss Eagle, needless to say, has embarked on trying them out.

Above is

COCONUT-CREAM TARTS WITH TROPICAL FRUITS

Ingredients

240 grams gingernut biscuits

200 grams unsalted butter

1/2 cup (125 ml) coconut milk

250 grams white chocolate, chopped

Tropical fruits, thinly sliced, to serve

Shaved dried cocount, to serve

Method: Grease eight 10cm loose-bottomed tart pans. Whiz the biscuits to fine crumbs in a food processor. Melt 100 grams of the butter, then add to the crumbs and process to combine. Press into the base and sides of the tart pans.

For the filling, place the remaining 100 grams of butter and coconut milk in a pan, bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and stir until smooth. Pour into the tart shells and chill for 2 hours or until set. Serve the tarts topped with tropical fruit and shaved coconut.

Miss Eagle's Notes:

• Miss Eagle's tart tins measure 11.5cm and the mixture filled 6 tins.
• Miss Eagle used a 250 gram pack of Arnott's Ginger Nuts. Now Miss E had not bought GNs for quite a while - and how things change when a multinational buys a national icon. GNs are no longer the same and nowhere near as good. Please remember, GNs are HARD. My whiz would not crunch the bikkies up completely into the fine crumbs required. Miss E had to take her trusty large wooden rolling pin to them to crush them. If there is a next time, Miss E might try using Arnott's Nice Biscuits - but that ginger flavour is a bit special.
• Miss Eagle used lite coconut milk. However, this could be seen to be neither here nor there in the overall scheme of things considering the fat content of this dessert. :-)
• Miss Eagle used white chocolate buttons. Clearly, chocoholics would want to try this dish again with dark chocolate. :-)
• Miss Eagle used banana but didn't bother with the shaved dried coconut because neither she nor the local Woolworths had any. :-)
• These tarts, while luscious and luxurious, are for the sweetest of sweet teeth! Even Herself found them too sweet. On the other hand, few will come back for seconds!

Then there are the

Feta, Zucchini & Mint Tarts

(scrumptious - will be repeating)

Ingredients

1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry, slightly thawed & halved

1 eggwhite

2 small zucchinis, cut lengthways into thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup (70 grams) frozen peas, thawed on paper towel

40 grams Feta (recipe specifies Persian Feta but Miss E was not fussed either way), crumbled

1/4 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped

Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

Method: Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Line a tray with baking paper. Place the puff pastry halves on the prepared tray and prick all over using a fork. (Not the end of the world if you forget the pricking.) Place in the freezer until ready to use. Place a baking sheet on a pizza stone in the oven to heat. (If you haven't got this just put it in the oven in the usual way.)

Whisk the eggwhite in a bowl until frothy, then add the zucchini, onion and peas. Season with black pepper and toss. (The eggwhite will prevent the vegetables from over-browning.)

Remove the pastry from the freezer and divide the zucchini mixture between the pastry rectangles, leave a 1cm border. Top with pieces of feta. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the baking paper with the tarts to the hot baking sheet. Bake the tarts for 15-18 minutes until the pastry base is crisp and the sides are golden brown.

Scatter with mint and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve with a baby cos, avocado and tomato salad, if desired.

Miss Eagle's Notes:

• This recipe does go on. Simplify, dear Reader. Do not sweat the baking stone, etc. Miss Eagle sprayed an enamel oven tray with oil (she had forgotten to buy the baking paper).
• Miss Eagle did one parcel. Left a 1cm border around the single sheet of puff pastry and then tucked the pastry up neatly around the veges. A sort of open pie. This pie will slice.
• Miss E used two egg whites. One was not enough to beat up with the trusty rotary beater. Two were nicely generous for tossing the veges. The two egg yolks were beaten and used to glaze the pastry with a pastry brush and glue the tucked up bits together to make everything nice and neat.
• Woolworths and Miss E did not have spring onions. She used eschallots (in the USA - scallions) instead. Quite satisfactory!