Weekend Cooking: Sift: The Elements of Great Baking by Nicola Lamb

 

When Jamie Oliver announced this book as the November selection for his Cook Book club, my initial reaction was do I really want another baking book to sit on the shelves. To be fair, I think that most months and then I end up buying the book anyway, which is what happened with this one. It turns out that this is a baking book that I needed! Not just wanted...needed.

The structure of this book is quite unusual. The first third of the book is all about techniques and ingredients, and really gets into the details. Then there is a chapter which is the base recipes, and then we get to recipes at around page 140.

You may wonder what on earth there is to talk about in 140 pages before you get to recipes. I promise you, there's a lot. For example, in the chapter about flour, Lamb gives us an explanation about what a wheat kernel consists of, about the development of gluten, about the role of starch and more. Similarly, in the section about sugar, we get descriptions of the role of sugar and what happens when you add sugar and water together and then about adding salt to the equation. There are also chapters about eggs, fats, how things rise (for example in pastry) and so much more. It's often said that baking is a scientific and this is where we have the opportunity to learn the science.

The base recipes provided including meringues, choux, craquelin, brioche and so much more. 

When it comes to the recipes, I love how the author not only gives you the recipe but she also points you back to the reference section. For example, in the recipe I have shared below, she points us to the base choux bun recipe for the technique of making the choux. She also tells us that the techniques we are using are Starch Gelatinisation and Egg Coagulation, along with the page numbers where we can find the information. In other words, she is always pointing us back to the science. It's very clever and I've never seen a book laid out in exactly this way.

Even the way that the recipes are grouped together is different. They are sorted into 3 different sections. The first is recipes that you can make in an afternoon. The next group can be made in a day and the final group are recipes that are more complicated and that you can make in a weekend, including a wide range of different viennoiserie. An example of a recipe that could be made in the weekend is Tiramichoux, which is choux buns with craquelin that is then filled with mascarpone custard, salted brown butter coffee sauce and even has a savoirdi biscuit in it. There is a summary which talks about what you can do on Day 1 and how long it should take, and then what you should on Day 2.

When I went through the recipes there were many which I wanted to make but the four that stood out the most were:

Brown Sugar Custard Tart

Rhubarb and Custard Crumb Cake

Secret Chocolate Cake

Mango Shortcake with Candied Lime. 

Oh, and there are some savoury recipes as well.

One of the cool things in the book is right at the back where there is something called the Matrix of Joy. The idea is that it is a table with various techniques on the vertical and other recipes from the book on the horizontal, and that by looking at the various intersections tells you how you can combine the two to come up with something new. For example, by combining choux buns with a pastry cream, you now have Custard Choux Buns or by combining Puff Pastry with Frangipane, then you now can create Galette des Rois.

The one recipe that I kept coming back to over and over was the Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka, which is also known as a Polish Mountain Cake so that is what I have been making today. All the components are now cooling and once I have put it all together I will add a picture. 

I will say that I had to use canned whole plums, as it is not plum season here.

Update - this was so delicious! Thumbs up from the husband.

Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka (Polish Mountain Cake)

Choux base

65g whole milk
65g water
65g butter
15g caster sugar

90g self-raising flour or 90g plain flour with 4g baking powder

150g–175g whole eggs (about 3)

3g flaky sea salt (about 1 tsp)

Stewed plums

250g plums, stoned
70g water
60g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, spent (optional)
5g cornflour (about 1½ tsp)


Mascarpone custard

300g whole milk
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk (75g total)
60g caster sugar
30g cornflour
2 tsp good quality vanilla extract
250g mascarpone, at room temp

Instructions:

For the choux, preheat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan. Make the choux according to the master choux method on page 136, (traditional choux method) adding the baking powder in with the flour if using plain flour.

Line the two tins with baking paper at the bottom only. Spread 200–225g of choux paste in each tin, leaving the top slightly rough and wavy and using a palette knife to help. If you only have one tin, bake one at a time.

Bake for 35–40 minutes until well peaked, golden and crisp. Leave to cool completely in the tins on a cooling rack, then remove.

For the plums, cut the plums into six. In a small saucepan, combine the plums with 50g of the water, the sugar and vanilla. Heat over a medium heat, occasionally stirring so the plums are well coated. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat to low and cover the saucepan with a lid. Steam for 4–5 minutes. If the plums are still firm, cook for a further 2 minutes. Mix the cornflour with the remaining water to create a slurry, then stir into the hot liquid. Bring to a bubble so it thickens. Pour into a clean container and leave to cool.

For the mascarpone custard, heat the milk until simmering. Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, egg yolk, sugar, cornflour and vanilla. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture whilst whisking constantly to temper, then return the custard to the stovetop. Cook for 3–4 minutes over a medium heat until boiling, whisking the whole time. Pour into a clean container, then set aside to cool and gelatinise – make sure you put clingfilm or baking paper on the surface so it doesn't form a skin. You want it to be totally cold and firm before continuing with this recipe.

Beat the mascarpone until smooth – it does have a tendency to be a bit lumpy, so you just have to be prepared to work it. Once that’s ready, set aside and beat the custard until smooth and no longer jelly-like. The easiest way to do this is in a stand mixer bowl if you have one.

Now, fold/mix the two together - it should make a very thick cream. You can also do this in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Leave it in the fridge until ready to join.

To assemble, line one of the cake tins with acetate or baking paper. This will help you get a smooth edge. Place your less cute choux disc in the base. Pile in half of the mascarpone custard, then spread the stewed plums on top. Top with the other half of the custard. Place the most mountainous choux disc on top. All the cake to settle/reset by resting it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Before serving, remove the cake from the tin and dust with icing sugar. It will keep in the fridge for 3 days and will get softer over time.

Note from the author

You can also use your favourite jam in the middle of this! Thanks to Marta Beimin, who makes the most stunning Karpatkas, for inspiring the juicy stewed plums in this recipe!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Butter chicken
Sunday - 
Monday - Honey Pepper Chicken (new)
Tuesday -
Wednesday -Pork Nachos
Thursday -Pork chops, mash, broccoli and gravy
Friday - Leftovers

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Figolli (Take 2)

On the Easter weekend I attempted to share a post about my experience of going to a cooking class to make a Maltese Easter treat called Figolli. We were away that weekend. Unfortunately I was about 45 minutes away from home when I realised that I hadn't even thought about taking my laptop with me. I had been so tired on the Thursday night that I didn't just finish off my Saturday post so I thought I would just use the Blogger app to just do the last bit. That was a mistake. That removed all the photos and added in about 50 paragraph lines for each time I wanted a break which made it unreadable. I am therefore reposting it this week!


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Recently my friend and I attended a cooking class run by the Maltese Community Council of Victoria. The class was to make a traditional Easter treat called Figolli which consists of a layer of marzipan sandwiched between pastry and cut into various shapes. In our case we made rabbit shaped figolli!

We started with all of our pre-measured ingredients

We were then shown how to make the pastry. The recipe we were given includes the instructions on how to make it using a mixer but for this occasion we made it using the time honoured technique of using our fingers to mix the flour and butter until it became like breadcrumbs and then adding in the extra ingredients to form a dough

From there, we rolled out our pastry and cut out the rabbit shape. One handy tip we were given was to cut the dough into halves, and then cutting out the shape. When re-rolling, take a bit of the second half of dough so that it helps keep it more pliable.

We then made the almond filling using a mixture of ground almonds, caster sugar, egg whites and almond essence

The figolli is formed with a layer of pastry, the almond paste, another layer of pastry and milk wash.

And then off to cook in the professional kitchen ovens

Once the creation was baked and cooled it is time to ice. We used the biggest batch of royal icing I have ever seen as a base, and then we coloured small amounts of icing and used various decorations that we were supplied to decorate. You can also use melted chocolate to decorate

Given that I had never even seen figolli, let alone knew what they tasted like, I tried to stay pretty close to the shapes and decoration that was suggested. Other people in the group obviously have more experience and so there were a variety of other shapes and decorations being used. 

The class was held in a a cooking school kitchen, so there were proper commercial ovens, all the equipment you could possibly need, stainless steel benches!

It was very cool and a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Oh, and it tasted delicious!!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Pizza 

Sunday -  Tuscan Chicken Pasta Bake

Monday - Tomato and Rice Soup

Tuesday - Pepper Beef Stew with rice

Wednesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Thursday - Green Curry Chicken Pie

Friday - Out for dinner

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

This book the current selection for Cook the Books. It's not one I remember hearing about before but I read it while I was on holidays and I thoroughly enjoyed it. With some books you know from the first chapter that it is your kind of book, and this was one of those books.

Olivia Rawlings is a talented pastry chef, but she does have other talents too, specifically for getting herself into troublesome situations that she then runs away from. The book opens when she accidentally sets fire to the restaurant she works at while carrying a Bombe Alaska.  Thankfully she knows that she can run to her friend's home in a small town in Vermont, which will allow her lay low until the dust settles.

Once there she begins working at the Sugar Maple Inn, where her boss, Margaret, is a very opinionated woman with extremely high standards and very little warmth. Livvy needs the work and a place to live so she accepts the role regardless of the challenges that she knows she will face. Fortunately, other people in the town are more welcoming.

The food descriptions in this book were amazing! I often found myself wishing I was able to eat the food that was being described. It's not only about food though. There is lots of music, a story of found family, and yes, a touch of romance!  One of the things that surprised me was the reference to a version of square dancing which took me back to my childhood years. My parents were square dance callers and they ran clubs. As an aside, I can't quite believe that it has taken me 18 years of blogging to mention that! 

Livvy was a good character despite her tendency to run whenever the going got tough. I love the relationships that she build with some of the older characters in the novel.

This was Louise Miller's first novel and I am excited to read more from her, especially if the future books have a foodie feel to them too!

One of the big components of the book is that the owner of the inn, Margaret, wants to her pastry chef to be able to bake the perfect apple pie so that she can win the local baking competition, especially in the face of her lifelong feud with one of the other contestants.

When I was thinking about what to make it seems obvious that the best recipe to cook would be apple pie, but that wasn't really ap-peel-ing to me (see what I did there!). There was even a recipe for apple pie included in the book. I did, however, still intend to do something inspired by apple pie so I went looking for some recipes using that as my search term. I did look at some really very fancy Apple Pie Cakes but I must confess I have lost my confidence in making really complicated cakes. I should challenge myself to do something complicated again but not when I just got off a plane. It needed to be something simple this time.

 If you break down the components of an apple pie, there is pastry, apple filling with cinnamon notes and then it is served with cream. So instead of apple pies, I bring you Apple Turnovers. I sort of took inspiration from a few different recipes for making this

Apple Turnovers

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and dices into small cubes

2 tsp cornflour
1 tspn cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
2 square puff pastry sheets 

1 egg , whisked

Put apples in a large saucepan and then toss with cornflour and the add the rest of the filling ingredients. Cook on medium to medium-high heat, stirring regularly, for 5 minutes. Apple should be softened and the sauce slightly thickened.

Spread the filling on a large plate then let it cool completely

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F (180°C fan).

Line a large cutting board  with baking paper.

Allow the pastry sheets to thaw slightly and then cut into 4 squares (approximiately 12.5cm). Brush 2 edges with egg, then pile filling on the egg brushed side. 

Fold over, seal with fork dipped in flour (prevents sticking to pastry) and then place on the paper lined cutting board.

Refrigerate for 20 minutes 

Slide the paper with the turnovers on it onto a large baking tray. Brush turnovers with egg. Pierce a couple of times with a knife and then bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

Serve warm with whipped cream or fill with stabilised whip cream once cool, if you can wait that long.

These were delicious. The only thing was that my frozen pastry was a bit old and so there were parts that were a bit dry. Next time we buy some pastry I will make some of these again with fresh pastry.

The next selection for Cook the Books is Under Cooked by Dan Ahdoot. I will also be sharing this review with Foodie Reads hosted at Based on a True Story.

Weekly meals

Saturday -  

Sunday -  Apple Turnovers

Monday - 

Tuesday - Mexican Chicken and Rice

Wednesday - One Pan Butter Chicken
Thursday - Out

Friday -Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Our visit to Lune Lab

 

A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to be able to attend Lune Lab.

What, you may ask, is Lune Lab? Lune is a foodie haunt which focuses on croissants and pastries. Lune started here in Melbourne around 10 years ago. On the weekends, there is always a queue out the door of people who want to try both the traditional and non-traditional flavours which change on a monthly basis. Based on the flavours we tried, we will definitely be trying to go back to try the flavours in future months. The founder, Kate Reid, was a former Formula 1 Aerodynamicist who decided that she wanted to do something completely different. Her scientific background translates to making croissants, working and reworking recipes until it is perfect using scientific thinking and methodology.

Lune Lab is a degustation menu where you pay a set amount and are treated to a three course menu which changes each couple of months to use the best of seasonal ingredients. 

The first course is a traditional croissant, served whilst still warm after being out of the oven for 10 minutes. The outer shell is so crispy and flaky whilst the inside is soft and buttery! The chef who came out to speak to us even used the word juicy, which I must confess is not a word I would normally associate with a pastry but was apt.

The second course is a savoury course. These menus are not pastries that you would pick up from a normal bakery. Our menu had large vol au vent filled with twice cooked lamb shoulder with an avocado mint puree and micro herbs along with lettuce. The lettuce was actually really zingy and was on the plate to cut through the richness of the lamb. This was absolutely delicious.

The third course was a sweet course and featured a Japanese flower shaped pastry filled with sesame seed frangipane style filling, with a tonka bean cream topping.

It isn't only about the food you eat while you are there. The Lune we went to is the one which makes all the croissants for Melbourne and features a cube inside the building which is temperature controlled to the perfect conditions for making croissants. Inside the cube there is a team of pastry chefs who are rolling out the pastry and then making the different shapes.. It is absolutely mesmerising watching every baker preforming their role in such a precise way.  We watched them making hundreds of perfect croissants, and then using some of the offcuts to create cronuts. There is very little waste, with anything that isn't being used immediately being stored for reuse.  It was really interesting as the process for making a perfect croissant takes 3 days! If I remember correctly the first day the pastry is made. The second day the pastry is shaped and then the third day it is baked to perfection.

Whilst I don't think we will do Lune Lab every time the menu changes because it is not a cheap experience to do, but it was fascinating and delicious! We will do it again at some point I am sure.

 Weekly meals

Saturday - Takeaway

Sunday -  Pork Stir fry

Monday - Char Siu Chicken

Tuesday - Family dinner

Wednesday - Fried Chicken, mash and broccoli

Thursday - Takeaway

Friday - Lasagne

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked (In My Kitchen) in June

The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I made in the previous month. I say all the things, but I haven't been baking as much as I had been, but I do have a couple of things to share.  I also share any other things that might have been happening in my kitchen!

The first thing to share is a Burnt Basque Cheesecake which I served up as a dessert at a family dinner. Because it has been cold here, we had a soup and dessert night. The soups that we served were Pea and Ham Soup and also Bacon, Vegetable and Risoni soup (recipe here) which my husband likes to pimp up a bit by adding little pork meatballs. Make two big pots, put out lots of bread rolls, and dinner is soup!

Then for dessert, I made Burnt Basque Cheesecake (recipe here) and served it with roasted raspberries. Everyone loved it and I had a couple of requests for the recipe. It is super easy to make and tastes oh so good!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a passage from A Wedding in Tuscany by Sandy Barker which talked about the traditional Tuscan celebration cake called Millefoglie. It's only right that I should try to make it right?

I will confess that I cheated and used store bought puff pastry. I also should have made the creme diplomat a bit thicker. I would also have liked to have piped that in rather than just splodging it, but all my baking stuff is in the shed somewhere in anticipation of moving. Again, this wasn't too difficult. It is a case of making the creme diplomat and baking the puff pastry and then assembling and decorating. 

I was very excited this month as my husband bought me a KitchenAid mixer for my birthday! The first year we were together he bought me an el cheapo stand mixer, which has done the job for the last five years, but now I have the real deal. I think he was future prooffing gift ideas to make his own life a bit easier too, as now he can buy me the accompanying accessories for the next few birthdays and Christmas gifts.

I know it's an obvious name but I am calling her Ruby!

It's looking like our house will be ready soon so it won't be too long before these posts are all about what I have cooked from this kitchen! When it is finished that is.

I am sharing this post at Sherry's Pickings as part of her In My Kitchen monthly event.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Prawn Nasi Goreng

Sunday - French Onion Casserole

Monday - Fried Chicken

Tuesday - Enchiladas

Wednesday - Pressure cooker spaghetti bolognaise

Thursday - 

Friday - Out for dinner

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking/Blog Tour: Millefoglie from A Wedding in Tuscany by Sandy Barker

I have long been obsessed with Paris and France as a destination, but this year I have added Italy to my list of obsessions. I mean, Italy has always been somewhere I wanted to return to, but right now if I see a book with something Italian in the title I stop and take a closer look. And now we are planning to visit Italy early next year, along with Netherlands and France so I am even more attracted to such books.

And so it was that I saw that this book was available for a blog tour through Rachels Random Resources so I said yes, both because ....Italy and also because Sandy Barker is an Australian author that I have thought about reading for a while now. However, there turned out to be a couple of issues with this. One, I was so blinded by the word Tuscany I neglected to look closely at the description so I didn't realise that this was the fifth and final book in a series, and that all the books featured the same characters. I really dislike reading a series out of order at the best of times.

The other issue is that my day on the blog tour ended up being a Saturday which is my Weekend Cooking day. Once I realised I crossed my fingers that there would be plenty of food in the book that I could reference for my Weekend Cooking post, but I hadn't really been inspired until later in the book.

First, a little something about the book. As I mentioned before, this is the fifth, and final, book in the Holiday Romance series which features Cat and Sarah Parsons, Australian sisters who love to travel. Sarah is just about to turn 40 so her partner Josh has decided to surprise her with a trip to Tuscany. When Cat gets engaged to her partner Jean-Luc, they decide to get married there so that all of their closest friends and family can attend both events.

However, both Cat and Sarah are having emotional crises. For Sarah, the prospect of turning 40 has her contemplating the "something" that is missing from her life, something that she can't even identify herself. It's not her job or her relationship though. And Cat wants to marry Jean-Luc but she doesn't really want to move to Paris to live with him, and she doesn't want to have to organise a full blown wedding either. Luckily she has people amongst her family and friends who are happy to take care of the organisation side of thing.

Once everyone arrives in Tuscany, there are a number of issues that need to be worked through and resolved (lost wedding dress, uninvited guests, a host who is reluctant to let them use the space that they wanted) but there is also time for some sightseeing. It is really the sightseeing aspect of the book that I enjoyed the most and would make me want to go back and read the earlier books in the series. I suspect that if I had read the books in order, this would have been a much stronger reading experience for me.

As an aside, the prologue is the moment that Cat realises that she has misplaced her wedding dress. It actually brought back memories of my own wedding when I left my wedding dress on the plane, fortunately after we had already had the ceremony. It was only 15 minutes or so before I got it back, but I do recall the panic!

I had a few passages bookmarked as possibilities to talk about froom a food perspective, but as soon as I read this passage I knew that I had my quote for today!

"Are you sure this is what Cat wanted?" I ask, eyeing the 'cake' curiously. The baker was lovely - not a word of English - but all smiles and Jaelee managed to understand 'refrigerate' before he drove away leaving me holding an enormous white box. We've brought it into the apartment and it's now opened on the small kitchen table. It's beautiful, but it's not exactly a cake - more like a stack of flaky pastry sheets with custard, cream, and fruit in between.

"You said that she wanted a traditional Italian wedding cake. This is what is considered traditional here in Tuscany. It's called a millefoglie." I am extremely sceptical that this is what Cat meant.

"Hey, Sez," says Cat from the doorway to the kitchen. I flip the lip on the cake box closed.

"Heyyy," I say enthusiastically, "what's up?"

She looks at me oddly. "Why are you being weird? Oh, is that the cake?" She enters the kitchen as I place a flat palm on the lid of the box.

"It is, but it's bad luck to see the cake before the wedding." Jaelee tuts. I deserve it. I've essentially pulled a wedding superstition out of my bum.

Cat gives me the odd look again. "What? No, it isn't. Let me see." She steps past me and lifts the lid of the box. All the air is sucked out of the room as my sister gasps. Cat eyes the 'cake' and Jaelee and I eye each other. It's the first time I've seen even the slightest hint of panic in those brown eyes.

"It's...." A thousand years roll by "...absolutely stunning."

Jaelee and I expel sighs of relief and Cat tears her eyes from the 'cake' and looks between us, then laughs. "Did you think I wouldn't like it?"

"Sarah did."

"You dag," says Cat. "It's exactly what I wanted." She tuts at me and I'm too relieved to care that I'm the butt of the joke.

"We better get it in the fridge though," says Jaelee. She lifts it carefully and I hold open the door as she slides it onto the middle shelf.

"Oh!" I look at Jaelee, panicked.  "What are we gonna put it on?" I ask. "We can't serve it out of the box." Or can we?

"This." She crosses the short distance to the other side of the kitchen and holds up an ornate ceramic platter. It's large enough, though I'm not sure what farmers working the fields have to do with a wedding. Hmm, I suppose all but one horse will be covered by the 'cake'.

The most obvious thought when I read this was the similarity between millefoglie and the more well known (and original) French version, mille-feuille. In both cases, the meaning of the name is 'thousand leaves' refering to the layers in the puff pastry which forms the basis of the pastry dessert.  One of the differences is that the Italian version sometimes includes a layer of sponge cake.

It turns out that there are many different names for this type of dessert, depending on where you live. For example, apparently in Canada, this could be called Gateaux Napoleon where they might use almond cream for filling, or there is a version in Sweden and Finland called Napoleonbakelse, which includes jam and currant jelly as part of the filling and decorations. There is also a South American version which include dulce de leche. The same site did suggest that vanilla/custard slice is a version of mille-feuille but, in my mind at least, it should have at least three layers of pastry! I am, however, happy to eat vanilla slice or millefoglie or whatever name we use.

It is possibly not a surprise that I know have some version or another of millefoglie or mille-feuille or whatever you want to call it on my to bake list! In a way that is kind of ironic as everything I could find suggested that this is not a dessert that Tuscans necessarily make themselves, but rather one that you order from a pasticceria.

Finally, as I was looking for some images of millefoglie, I found this video of one being made as part of a wedding reception. Rather than delivering the completed dessert, the baker assembles the cake (almost like a performance). I thought it was lovely so I thought I would share it with you all.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Butter Chicken Pizza

Sunday - Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognaise

Monday - Family Dinner

Tuesday - Bacon, Vegetable, Risoni soup with meatballs

Wednesday - Beef and Capsicum Tacos

Thursday - Sticky glazed pork with greens and rice.

Friday - Takeaway Friday

About the book

The Parsons sisters are all loved up.

Sarah is living in Sydney with Josh and their cat, Domino, but is anxious about her fast-approaching fortieth birthday.

And Cat is still living in London with her flatmate, Jane, but is in a long-distance relationship with Jean-Luc, her childhood sweetheart and recently re-discovered love.

One of the sisters receives a surprise wedding proposal – it’s a yes! – and everyone heads off to Tuscany for a destination wedding.

Reunite with favourite characters from the Holiday Romance series in one of the most beautiful locations yet for love, laughter, wedding vows, and just a smidge of sisterly mayhem

Purchase Links -

Amazon

·       UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wedding-Tuscany-perfect-available-pre-order-ebook/dp/B09PFJXRCW/

·       AU https://www.amazon.com.au/Wedding-Tuscany-perfect-available-pre-order-ebook/dp/B09PFJXRCW/

·       US  https://www.amazon.com/Wedding-Tuscany-perfect-available-pre-order-ebook/dp/B09PFJXRCW/

·       CA  https://www.amazon.ca/Wedding-Tuscany-perfect-available-pre-order-ebook/dp/B09PFJXRCW/

Waterstones:  https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-wedding-in-tuscany/sandy-barker/9780008536787

Foyles: https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/a-wedding-in-tuscany-(the-holiday-romanc,sandy-barker-9780008536787

Google play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Sandy_Barker_A_Wedding_in_Tuscany_The_Holiday_Roma?id=1hlXEAAAQBAJ

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/a-wedding-in-tuscany/id1608505780

 

About the author

Sandy is a writer, traveller and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list, and many of her travel adventures have found homes in her novels. She’s also an avid reader, a film buff, a wine lover and a coffee snob.

 

Sandy lives in Melbourne Australia with her partner, Ben, who she met while travelling in Greece. Their real-life love story inspired Sandy’s debut novel One Summer in Santorini, the first in the Holiday Romance series with One More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins.

 

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Milk Tart day

February 27 was Milk Tart Day. What,  you may ask is Milk Tart? Milk Tart, or Melktert as it is known in Afrikaans, is a South African specialty which features a sweet pastry crust and then a custard like filling. It is often accented with cinnamon.

The first time I had milk tart was when I visited South Africa to meet my in-laws and to see a tiny bit of the incredible country. There, you can just pick up a milk tart in the supermarket. There are some specialty South African shops here where you can pick up a premade tart but we haven't been there for a while.

Around a year ago I was watching Paul Hollywood's show City Bakes which featured Cape Town and he mentioned Milk Tart Day so that was the point when I decided I was going to try and make it and post about it on the right date. Originally my plan was to post about it last week but I ran out of time to do the actually making before we went on holidays so I am posting it this week instead. So this post has been a long time in development!

Like every well known dish, when I started looking for recipes for milk tart there are plenty of variations in the recipe. Some have a crust, others are crustless. Some require the filling to be cooked. Others, like the recipe that I am trying today, don't need the filling to be baked as such. I really should have asked my mother in law for her recipe! 

It took me a couple of goes to make the sweet pastry. Originally I tried making the pastry crust by hand as per the recipe I was using but I don't think the mixture was wet enough so I ended up going back to a tried and tested pastry recipe that I have made before. 

One of the things from trying the original pastry is that it just didn't look like it was going to make enough so I was then a bit worried that the filling wasn't going to be enough.  In the end, I think that I actually need a smaller tart into get the correct proportions (or maybe make another half portion of the filling and use the same tin) but what matters is the taste right? And apparently that was about right, although my husband would have liked a touch more sugar.  We had it for dessert with a family dinner and everyone, including the kids, had seconds which is a good sign. I call that a success.

This was the filling that I used from this recipe at TheSouthAfrican.com

Milk Tart


3 egg yolks
20 ml castor sugar
10 ml cornflour
1 litre milk
5 ml vanilla essence
25 g butter
10 ml cake flour

Place the egg yolks, sugar, cake flour, cornflour in a medium mixing bowl and whisk until pale.

Heat the milk and butter in a small pot until almost boiling; remove from the heat.

Add the milk gradually to the egg mixture, beating constantly. Strain the mixture into the pan.

Stir constantly over low heat for 3 minutes with a wooden spoon or until it thickens.

Remove from the heat and add the vanilla essence.

Place the plastic wrap over the custard surface to prevent it from drying out.

Set aside to cool.

Spread the custard into the cooled pastry case and refrigerate to set.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Holiday dinner

Sunday - Takeaway

Monday - Roasted vegetables with chipolata
Tuesday - Chicken Stir Fry
Wednesday - Warm Steak Salad
Thursday - Pork Nachos

Friday - Dinner at the pub

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in August

It's the last Saturday of the month and that means it is time to share what I have baked during the month of August.

It has actually been a busy baking month this month, and I have a very long list of things I want to try making so it might well be in September too. It's not like I dont have the time given that we have been in lockdown for a few weeks now, and I think it is unlikely that those restrictions  will be lifted this week either.

Mini Jam Tarts  - I made these specifically to be able to include a photo in my post about the book The Jam Queens which I shared a few weeks ago. I have shared the recipe for these previously here.

Lemon Angel Food Cake - When watching the Great Canadian Baking Show, one of the bakes that caught my eye was an Orange Chiffon Cake. I went and bought the specific tin and everything but then I realised I have a profusion of lemons on my tree at the moment so instead I made Lemon Angel Food Cake. It was oh my goodness level of delicious. I did make a bit of a mistake though, if that is the right word. When I decided to make the cake I decided that I was going to send some of it around to my sister's house, which I was more than happy to do, as they had been ordered to isolate due to a positive case at my nephew's school. One bite of the cake though, we realised that it ws so light, so fluffy and so delicious that we should have kept it for ourselves! Oh well, I have the tin so I can make it again at some point. Luckily, they enjoyed it too!

Lemon Mousse - In the recipe for the cake it suggests you can buy lemon curd, but I decided to make my own which I then used as part of the topping for the cake. I did, however, have quite a bit leftover, so I decided to make individual pots of lemon mousse! So good.

Filo Cream Parcels - I have watched Nadiya Hussain's Netflix series Nadiya Bakes a couple of times now. One of the first things I decided to make out of the book when I read it was the Filo Cream Parcels. I shared the recipe for this last week as part of the joint review I did with BethFish Reads.

Japanese Jiggle Cheesecake - I first heard of this recipe on Great British Bake Off and have had it on my list to make ever since then.  Again, light, fluffy and jiggly. I think now I need to have a cheesecake month where I can decide whether I like this, the Basque Cheesecake I made a few months ago or a New York style baked cheesecake. 

Weekly Meals

Saturday - 

Sunday - Bangers and Mash Pie

Monday - Chicken Burrito Bowls

Tuesday - Beef Stroganoff

Wednesday - Green Curry Chicken Pie

Thursday - Steak, Baked Potato and Vegetables

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page