Film, Fashion, FOOD!

A few weeks ago back in London, Constance and I were under house arrest for 3 days as we were working on a short fashion film for uni. With one of us hunched over the laptop, hurling insults at the screen, the other was in the kitchen furiously cooking away. We swapped roles every 30 minutes or so, needless to say those were 3 very stressful days…. but at least we were well fed!

First came Mega Fluffy, Super Yummy Pancakes
makes around 20 medium pancakes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp baking powder
420 ml milk
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3 egg whites

Mix flour, baking powder, milk, sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl and refrigerate. In a seperate bowl, combine egg whites and salt using an electric mixer till soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture.
Ladle pancake mixture onto a lightly buttered griddle/pan. Serve with fresh fruit and honey or maple syrup.

Next came Chop Chop Salad, quite possibly one of the easiest and healthiest salads to make! Chop chop salad is, as the name suggests, a chopped vegetable salad that when made, is the most visually beautiful mixture of natural colours you will ever see! You can choose to use as many, or as little vegetables as you want, but our version consisted of…

2 large cucumbers
1 romaine lettuce heart
3 capsicums (2 red, 1 yellow)
cherry tomatoes
1 can beetroot
2 large carrots, peeled
1 large red onion

Chop all vegetables into bite sized pieces and serve in a large bowl. For the dressing, we combined extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, shallots, salt & pepper, lemon juice and seeded mustard – adjusting quantities to our personal tastes.

Top the salad with the dressing, crumble over some feta and VOILA! There you have, easy-peasy Chop Chop salad!

Chop Chop goes to London!!

Followed by Vegetable Tart with Bacon & Rocket
I had a sheet of puff pastry left so I thought what better way to use it up than to make a vegetable tart. Another super easy dish to prepare, and one that is totally adjustable to ones taste.

1 sheet ready-made puff pastry (this should be taken out of the freezer prior to cooking, around 30 minutes, to allow for pastry to thaw)
1 small courgette, thinly sliced
1 Roma tomato, cut lengthways and then halved (making 1/2 moon shapes)
1 portobello mushroom, peeled and thinly sliced
handful of rocket leaves
1/2 cup bacon cubes
Parmigiano Reggiano, shaved
1 whisked egg (for glazing the pastry)

Preheat oven to 220dC. In a oiled pan, over medium-high heat, cook the courgettes & mushrooms until soft. Remove from heat.
Neatly arrange all the vegetables on the puff pastry leaving a small border around the edge (this is where the pastry will puff, creating a nice frame). Once arranged, brush the 4 sides of the pastry with the whisked egg. This will give the tart a lovely golden colour. Season with pepper and place the tart into the oven for around 10-15 minutes.
Whilst the tart is in the oven, cook the bacon cubes in a pan over high heat and drain away the fat.

To serve, simply top the tart with a handful of rocket leaves, sprinkle over the bacon and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, and finish off with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Simple, fast and tasty!!

mkt.

Lime Player.

We have 2 beautiful lime trees in the garden and I feel Mum has left them untouched for far too long! As one of the most enjoyed citrus flavours in my family, I decided to make use of the uber-fresh limes I had at my disposal and make a lime tart.

1 quantity sweet shortcrust pastry, or 375g ready-prepared pastry (I used a sheet of the ready made stuff which is available at most good supermarkets)
lime filling
1 cup caster sugar
4 eggs
1 cup double cream
1 cup lime juice (alternatively you can swap the lime juice for lemon juice or, blood orange juice which gives the tart the most amazing pinky red colour)
150ml orange juice
zest of 2 limes & 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 180dC. Roll out the pastry to fit a lightly greased 25cm (10 inch) removable-base tart tin. Using a fork, prick a few holes in the pastry and line with non-stick baking paper. Fill with rice or baking weights and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the baking weights and paper and bake for a further 10 minutes. This process is called blind baking and will keep the tart shell crisp when filled with a wet filling.
To make the lime filling, place the sugar, eggs,cream, lime and orange juice and the zest in a bowl and mix to combine. Pour into the tart shell, reduce the oven to 160dC and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is just set. Refrigerate the tart until firm.

When cut, the filing should be shiny and quite gooey, just oozing out – similar to brie cheese.

mkt.