Iron Boosters | Sydney Food Photographer

I always struggle to find good snacks to give the kids for school morning teas ... these dried fruit balls are yummy and are packed with lots of fibre, vitamins and iron ... lets hope they like them :)

DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE  HERE

Chocolate Mousse

Who can resist a chocolate mousse .. these are very easy to make and are sure to impress :) ... sorry I have been absent for so long.

You can download the recipe from HERE

Christmas Baking and Making

Well its christmas again and only two posts before it was christmas 2010 ... oops .... this year we did some handmade christmas presents to give to friends ... Merry christmas and a happy 2012 ..

 

This is Chocolate chip and oatmeal quick bread, the recipients just have to tip the contents into a bowl and add a few wet ingredients and then cook ... a great gift to give and very easy to assemble ..

Recipe can be downloaded  HERE

Gingerbread cookies that are very simple to make .. the icing not so, I never seem to have much success with that lol ...

Recipe can be downloaded HERE

We had mixed results with this one, the chocolate cream was quite runny  ... however everyone agreed is was yummmmmmy :)

Recipe can be downloaded HERE

Bacon and Cheese Quiches

Well hasn't the blog been neglected .... thankfully winter is nearly over and all that beautiful spring and summer light will lend itself to lots more photographs ..

This recipe is a great idea for afternoon tea snacks for the kids when they come home from school, easy to prepare earlier in the day and heat up in the oven when they get home...

The rectangle plate and the gorgeous yellow candy striped paper straws are from emerald + ella .

DOWLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Enjoy !

Baileys Rocky Road Fudge

The last of the christmas baking .. a bit late I know :) ... but this rocky road was so yummy and popular that you could make it any time of year.

The white christmas I made, I left out the dried fruit and horrible glace cherries and replaced them with jelly snakes.

Enjoy !

RECIPE FOR THE ROCKY ROAD IS HERE

Cinnamon Sugar-crusted Macadamia Nuts

Well hasn't it been the longest time since I posted here ... no excuses ... This Christmas we are travelling north, and my contribution to christmas day lunch, will be nibbles and the old christmas favourites with a few twists.  We will start with nuts ... macadamia nuts ... these are so delicious I had to keep some out of the package for Chrismtas Lunch so we could nibble and not break into the goodies for the 25th :) ...

Enjoy !


DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Lemon Melting Moments

This recipe is taken from the Masterchef magazine. We have enjoyed going through the magazines picking all the things we want to cook :) ... some have been monumental mistakes others, like these yummy biscuits were a huge hit ... enjoy !

Lemon Melting Moments

200g (1 1/3 cups) plain flour
100g (2/3 cups) cornflour
225g unsalted butter, chopped, softened
80g (1/2 cup) icing sugar, sifted, plus extra, to dust
3 lemons zested
1 tsp vanilla extract

Passionfruit filling
4 passionfruit, pulp removed
200g (1 1/4 cups) icing sugar, sifted
1 tbs liquid glucose
80g unsalted butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 170c. Sift flours with 1/4 tsp salt into a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add zest and vanilla then gradually beat in combined flours until mixture just comes together.

2. Roll 2 teaspoonsful of dough into balls, placing them on 2 oven trays lined with baking paper. Using a floured fork, mark biscuits with tines. Bake for 12 mintues, swapping trays halfway, or until biscuits are light golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes 40.

3. Meanwhile, to make filling, press pulp through a fine sieve, reserving seeds. Place 2 tbs juice, 3 tsp reserved seeds and remaining ingredients in the bowl of an electric beater. Beat of high speed until fluffy. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4. Spread filling on 20 biscuits, then sandwich with remaining biscuits. Dust with extra icing sugar to serve.


Recipe from Masterchef Issue 3 July 2010

Lemon Melting Moments

DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Chocolate Chip Slice

The Masterchef series in Australia has been a phenomenal success, we religously watched it every night at 7.30pm, cheering on our favourites and enjoying looking at all the great food. One of the things to come out of the show has been the increase in the kids interest in food and cooking. In the holidays they all had turns at picking something we could cook together ... not surprisingly they picked sweet things :) ... So here is the slice Mr 12 and I cooked. Since Miss 10 has become free of most nut allergies we were excited to cook with almond meal, it really made such wonderful difference to the slice..Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Slice

150g butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
250g Nestle Choc Bits dark
110g pkt almond meal
75g plain flour
75g self-raising flour
1tbs milk
80g white cooking chocolate, finely chopped


1. Preheat oven to 160 c. Brush a 16cm x 26cm (base measurement) slice pan with melted butter. Line the base and 2 long sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing the sides to overhang.

2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until combined. Stir in the choc bits, almond meal, combined flour and milk.

3. Spread the mixture over the base of the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan to cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, place white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water ( make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water ). Stir with a metal spoon until chocolate melts and is smooth.

5. Use a fork to drizzle the melted white chocolate over the slice. Set aside to set. Cut into pieces.

Recipe from Good Taste baking booklet

Chocolate Chip Slice

DOWNLOAD RECIPE HERE

Bacon and Tomato Soup with garlic croutons

A long time between posts :) ... yes we still have been eating, but now its winter its dark when we have dinner. Natural light is so much nicer. Anyway, on the up side of winter is all the yummy slow cooked meals and soups we have. This soup is so easy to make and very quick to whip up at the end of the day. The best part according to the kids is the garlic croutons, and of course being the parmesan loving family that we are, we added some parmesan over the top just before eating. Enjoy !


Bacon and Tomato Soup with garlic croutons

2 tsp Olive oil
75g short cut bacon, finely chopped
1 large red onion
3 celery sticks, trimmed, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
3 x 400g cans no added salt tomatoes
500ml water
2 tsp garlic, extra, crushed
2 tsp olive oil, extra
2 slices of your favourite seeded bread
Fresh basil to serve




1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the bacon, onion, celery and carrot. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and chilli and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic.

2. Add the tomato and water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 c. Combine extra garlic and oil in a bowl. Brush both sides of bread with the mixture. Break into pieces. Bake for 10 minutes or until crisp.

4. Place half the soup in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a clean saucepan. Repeat with the remaining soup. Stir over low heat until heated through. Ladle soup amoung serving bowls. Top with garlic croutons and basil.

DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Menu Ideas Number 1

About time I suppose :) ..... after promising some menu ideas I go away and forget.  Well here are some ideas, some recipes are already on the blog, some are not but should be relatively easy.  You don't have to stick to these recipes,it really is just to give you some ideas, if meatballs are on my list, you could do Spaghetti Bolognaise or Lasagne.  I hope this helps and gives you some ideas to answer the question "Whats for dinner mum?"  Which thankfully I don't hear any more, the list goes up each week and they know to look on the board and not ask that annoying question :) ....

CARBONARA RECIPE

CHICKEN LAKSA RECIPE

LAMB AND SPINACH CURRY



To download the Menu Ideas One please click Here

Lemon,Honey and Chilli Prawns with Zucchini and Tomato Pasta ...

A fabulous combination, taken from the most recent Donna Hay Magazine (Summer). I did cheat a bit though .. instead of fresh green prawns I bought frozen green prawns that were peeled all but the tail. I know fresh would better, but sometimes I just don't have the time.... another popular meal, even Mr 12 who is not a huge fan of prawns ate the lot .. ENJOY !

Zucchini and Tomato Pasta

2 tbsp olive oil

2 sliced garlic cloves

1/2 tsp chillit flakes

2 tsp lemon zest

250g cherry tomatoes

2 thinly sliced zucchini

spaghetti

lemon juice

basil

grated parmesan cheese

Add oil, garlic, chilli flakes and lemon zest and cook for a minute. Add 250 halved cherry tomatoes and zucchini and cook for another minute. Add cooked warm spaghetti, lemon juice, basil and grated parmesan, salt and pepper and toss to combine.

Lemon, Honey and Chilli Prawns

500g peeled and deveined green prawns

2 tsp finely grated lemon rind

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp honey

1 chopped red chilli (I left this out because of the kids)

2 tbsp olive oil

Combine all ingredients and set aside for 10 minutes. Thread prawns onto skewers and cook on a low char-grill or BBQ for 2 minutes each side, serve with lime wedges coriander.

Because of time contraints I didn't thread them on to skewers I just cooked them and added the prawns to the top of the pasta.

DOWNLOAD THE ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO PASTA HERE

DOWNLOAD THE LEMON AND HONEY PRAWNS HERE

Lamb and Rosemary Pies

I thought this recipe was going to be too fussy with two different types of pastry and getting them out of a muffin tin, I expected a messy disaster .... but not to be, they were easy to make ... and keep together :) .... Kids thought they were great, although a little big for Miss 5. Try them, they are worth it .. ENJOY !

Watch out for the next blog post..... after I put of the menu planner, there were a few questions about when I was going to fill it in, lol .... so this week I am going to list our menu for the week, just to give you some ideas .. :)


Lamb and Rosemary Pies


2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
2 tsp fresh rosemary,chopped
1 tsp ground coriander
salt and pepper
350g Lamb Mince
1/2 cup beef stock
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup frozen peas
2 large sheets frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten

1. Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in frying pan. Fry onion, rosemary, coriander and pinch of salt and pepper for 5 minutes. Add mince and fry for 3 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 30 seconds. Add stock, tomatoes, and tomato paste.

2. Bring mixture to boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in peas and leave to completely cool.

3. Preheat oven to 200 c. Grease a 6 hole Texas muffin tray. These are the really big hole muffin trays.

4. For pie bases, cut shortcrust pastry sheets in 4 and press down well into muffin cups. Trim. For pie lids, make 6 x 12cm diameter puff pastry circles.

5. Spoon mince into pastry cups, then brush rims with a little water. Top each pie with lid, pressing edges together to seal. Using fork, crimp edges and pierce a small hole in centres. ( I must admit, I didn't get to fussy hear with cripming extra .. i just pushed down the puff pastry onto the cups and they sealed ok)

6. Brush pie tops with egg. Bake for 20 minutes, let pies cool for 5 minutes.

Recipe from Real living magazine.



DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Salmon ....

Salmon is a treat at our place, given there are 5 of us, it turns out an expensive meal. Lucky this recipe turned out so yummy that everyone ate it. I have all these types of spices in my pantry, if you don't they are available in small packages, so if you don't use these things very often then you won't have much left over. So here is salmon poached in a spiced soy broth... ENJOY !

Salmon poached in spiced soy broth

250ml (1 cup) chicken stock
250ml (1 cup) dry sherry (or I use Shao Hsing chinese rice wine)
125ml (1/2 cup) soy sauce
85 g (1/3 cup) coarsely chopped palm sugar (in other recipes they have
substitued brown sugar, just not tightly packed)
2 strips orange rind, white pith removed
2 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick (if unavailable use a large pinch on cinnamon)
1 tsp fennel seeds
4cm piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
4 skinless slmon fillets, halved
Steamed rice and chinese Broccoli to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180 c. Stir the stock, sherry,soy sauce,sugar,orange rind,star anise,cinnamon stick,fennel seeds and ginger in a saucepan over a medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium. Bring to a simmer.

2. Place the salmon, in a single layer, in a large roasting dish. Pour over the stock mixture. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 6 minutes. Set aside, covered for 5 mintues for medium, or until the salmon is cooked to your liking.

3. Transfer the salmon to a plate. Strain the poaching liquid through a sieve into a jug and reserve. Serve salmon with steamed rice, drizzle over a little reserved poaching liquid.


Recipe from Good Taste magazine Feb 10.





DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Beetroot Tzatziki

Who would have thought making a dip was so easy ... lol ... i have always bought dip thinking they were too hard to make. Well i was wrong. Last night for dinner we had Lamb and Feta Kofta with Beetroot Tzatziki, and we all loved it. I don't imagine that this is the authentic recipe given that it uses canned beetroot, but it turns out so yummy I am sure we can gloss over that part .. ENJOY !

Beetroot Tzatziki

225g can sliced beetroot, drained
90g (1/3cup) Greek style natural yoghurt
2tbs chopped fresh mint
1 small french shallot, chopped
1 garlic clove

Process the beetroot, yoghurt, mint, shallot and garlic in the food processor until smooth.





DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Easy Basil Pesto

As we have nut allergies in our house, its almost impossible to buy Basil Pesto over the counter because of the nut content ... so for the first time I have made it myself. It was so easy :) ... Even though this recipe has nuts in it, I have just omitted them. I am sure it won't taste like traditional Pesto should, but everyone loved it ... We had the pesto with Fish and roasted cherry tomatoes and red onions ... ENJOY !

Basil Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Ramano cheese
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. ( If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

Next time I think i will grate the cheese a little finer, the photo shows I put in a little more parmesan than the recipe said :)

Recipe from www.simplyrecipes.com

DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Really Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The kids are home for the holidays and baking is always a popular activity and this recipe is so easy the kids can definitely get in there and help. So with flour everywhere, the extra choc chips tasted and the spoons and beaters licked here is our result :) ENJOY !




The recipe ..

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180 c. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add vanilla and egg and stir to combine. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Fold through chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a greased and lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook for 15-20 mintues, until they turn pale gold.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing biscuits on a wire rack to cool further. Makes 16.






Recipe from Bill Granger ..... “Bills Sydney Food”


DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Tarts ....

Here is the Fruit Mince Tart/Pies recipe ... Its very easy, even the pastry part, if you really don't think you can do the pastry, Woolworths (and other supermarkets I assume) sell pastry shells that you could use instead. Also another recipe I tried out on unsuspecting guests on Sunday :) .. Baked Orange and Ricotta Tarts. These were just as easy, although there is pastry involved again. And take note of the 2tablespoons of Icing suger in the pastry of the ricotta tarts, not 2 cups like I put in the first time lol ..


Christmas Mince Pies

2 cups Plain Flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
185g unsalted butter, chopped
1/4 cup caster sugar
1-2 tbsp lemon juice or iced water
1 cup fruit mincemeat (see additional recipe)
1 eggwhite, lightly beaten
Icing supgar to dust

1 Preheat oven to 200c. Grease 2 x 12 hole patty tins (muffin tins are a too deep as I found out) To make pastry, sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in butter using fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar. Add egg yolks and enough lemon juice or iced water to bring the ingredients together to form a dough.

2. Knead dough gently on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Halve dough, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Roll out one of the pastry parcels between two sheets of baking paper until 3-5 mm thick. Using a 6.5cm round cutter, cut out 12 rounds. Place the rounds into the prepared tins. Spoon 2 tsp of fruit mince into each. Reserve scraps for decorating the tops; reknead, wrap and chill until required. Repeat the process with second portion of dough, fillng remaining patty tin.

3. Reroll reserved scraps of pastry and cut into small stars. Top each pie with a star and brush with eggwhite. Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool, completely in the pans. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with a little icing sugar, if desired.

This recipe is from Home Beautiful December 09 issue

DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE








Baked Orange and Ricotta Tartlets

Melted butter for greasing
2 cups of plain flour
2 tbsp pure icing sugar
125g butter, cubed
1 egg, lightly beaten
Extra flour for kneading
Extra 1 egg, ightly beaten
Pure icing sugar sifted for dusting

Filling

250g fresh ricotta
1/4 icing sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
Finely grated rind of 1 Orange
1 tsp orange essence ( I couldn’t find the essence anywhere so I used the juice of
1/2 an orange ... I am sure the taste would be different but they tasted great with the juice)
1 tbsp plain flour


1. Preheat oven to 200c. Brush 12 hole patty cake tin with melted butter. Process flour and icing sugar in a food processor for 30 seconds. Add butter and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and process until dough comes together. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and gently knead. Form dough in to 2cm thick disc; wrap in baking paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

2. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 5mm thick and cut out 12 rounds using a round fluted 8 cm biscuit cutter. Line each hole of prepared tin with a round. Prick base of each pastry shell with a fork and put tin in freezer for 5 mintues. Form Pastry scraps into a disc and reserve for later use. Put tin in oven and bake for 10 minutes or until light and golden. Stand tin on wire rack to cool. Reduce oven to 180c.

3. To make orange filling, put ricotta and icing sugar in a medium bowl, add egg, orange rind, essence and flour and whisk to combine. Spoon ricotta mixture into each cooled pastry shell.

4. Roll out reserved pastry until 5mm thick. Cut pastry into 5mm wide strips. Cut strips long enough to reach from one side of tarts to the other. Top each tart with 2 pastry strips, to form a cross. Brush pastry with extra egg. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until ricoota mixture is form and crosses are golden. Trasfer to a wire rack to cool. When cold, dust with icing sugar and serve.


This recipe looks long and involved but really, its not...


DOWNLOAD THIS RECIPE HERE

Christmas is coming ...

The is one of my favourite times of the year ... I love the whole build up, the kids excitement is infectious :) ... One of the best parts of christmas is the cooking and baking .... I don't often venture down the route of making my own mince pies, but this I have :) AND I am organised .. its December 1st and the Fruit mincemeat is made. What I failed to read in the recipe was that it made a generous portion, so we may be eating Fruit mincemeat till Easter lol :) The recipe is a Margaret Fulton recipe, so you know it will all work out :) So here is the recipe for Fruitmince and the Fruitmince Pies recipe is to follow ... ENJOY !

Fruit Mincemeat


3 cups of Raisins
3 cups of currants
3 cups of sultanas
3/4 cup blanched almonds, chopped
2 large cooking apples (such as granny smith), grated
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
150g melted butter
3/4 sup brandy or rum
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 oranges, zest grated and juiced

1. Process dried fruit and almonds in batches in a food processor. Pulse to coarsely chop ( I actually didn’t do this as I wasn’t including the almonds, I just added the fruit as is). Spoon into a bowl and combine with grated apple, sugar, butter, brandy or run, spices and orange rind and juice.

2. Cover and chill, stirring daily, for at least 2 days before use.

Note: This recipe makes a generous quantity of fruit mincemeat. If a smaller quantity is required, the recipe can be halved.



DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE HERE

Fish in Coconut milk ..

This past Sunday we had a great afternoon with some friends, the kids had a great time playing and swimming ... don't you just love summer :) .. We cooked the usual sausages for the kids and some yummy teriyaki marinade steaks, but this time I thought we would have some fish. Not on the BBQ, something easy I could do mostly before people arrived .. This recipe was a hit .. and I will definitely be cooking it again as a weekly meal. Enjoy ... This recipe was from the Good Taste Magazine Christmas 09 issue ...


Fish poached in Coconut milk with pineapple & crispy noodles


2 x 270ml cans coconut milk
60ml (1/4 cup) fish sauce
1 tbs mild red curry paste
4 fresh kaffir lime leaves
2 x 1cm-thick slices fresh ginger
1 stem lemon grass, halved lengthways, bruised
650g white fish fillets, cut into pieces
200g (1 cup) chopped fresh pineapple
1 cup of fresh mint leaves
1 cup fresh coriander leaves
50g (1/2 cup) Changs Original Fried Noodles
2 shallots, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 long fresh chilli halved, seeded, thinly slices

1. Combine coconut milk, fish sauce, curry paste, lime leaves, ginger and lemon grass in a wok over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 5 minutes or until liquid thickens slightly.

2. Reduce heat to low. Add the fish and simmer, covered, for 3-4 minutes or until just cooked through. Stir in the pineapple.

3. Use a slotted spoon to divide fish and pineapple amoung serving dishes. Spoon over some poaching liquid. Top with the mint, coriander, noodles, shallot and chilli.


DOWNLOAD RECIPE HERE

A Lunch with Friends ....

Last weekend I had lunch with some old friends and some new friends :) .. of course a love of photography had bought us together, and team that together with food we had a fabulous lunch with many camera's documenting the day... It always seems to take me the longest to get any photo up on the sites, so, finally, here are my shots for the day. My offering for the lunch was the Strawberry and Blueberry Tart. I got this recipe from Masterchef Australia. It was cooked in one of the masterclasses, but as a Rasberry Tart. Since raspberries are expensive at the moment I improvised :) The Tart was so easy to make yet it makes quite an impact .. the recipe is below ..












Strawberry and Blueberry Tart

450ml thickened cream (I have used the light version but I think thats why it turns out a bit too runny)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste (believe me it makes a difference)
1/4 cup of icing sugar, plus extra to serve
3-4 punnets of strawberries and blueberries (or raspberries as the original recipe asks for)

Pastry

2 1/4 cups plain flour
1/4 cup icing sugar
125g butter, softened
2 x 59g eggs

1. For sweet crust pastry, combine flour and icing sugar in food processor, process to combine. Add butter and process to fine crumbly texture. Add eggs and process until pastry comes together. Knead lightly on floured surface until base is smooth, pat the top to flatten slightly then wrap in baking paper and refrigerate for 20 mintues or until firm enough to roll out.

2. Preheat oven to 200 c (180 c fan forced)

3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, use pastry to line base and side of 3cm deep, 24cm loose based tart tin. Trim off any excess pastry, prick the base all over with a fork, then refrigerate for 10 mintues.

4. Place sheet of baking paper over the pastry and three quarters fill with raw rice or beans. Bake blind for 15 mintues or until edges are light golden. Remove paper and rice and bake further 10 minutes or until base is dry and pastry golden. Set aside to cool in tin. Transfer pastry case to serving plate.

5. Whip the cream, vanilla and icing sugar together until thick. Spoon whipped cream into pastry case then spread evenly. Scatter with your chosen fruit and sprinkle with icing sugar.

If you are pushed for time, sweet shortcrust pastry shells can be bought from the supermarket, they just tend to be a bit thick, but it saves heaps of time.


DOWNLOAD RECIPE HERE