Tag: summer food

A simple strawberry tarte

This is the recipe of a simple strawberry tarte. While simple, it is still excellent.  A more complex recipe may have a small sponge layer and a vanilla thick custard layer over the pastry base or an almond vanilla custard. All options if you want to add flavours. Note that cake shops would often have a sponge layer to absorb the juices as they prepare more in advance than you do at home (else you would have a soggy pastry).

This version for a simple strawberry tarte is always a success, is light, perfect for a summer day. This is the recipe I mostly make.  The quality of the strawberries is important. You can choose to use full strawberries or cut them in half, especially of they are big.

Preparation – 1 hour maximum.

tarte aux fraise tarte aux fraise

Ingredients:
  • 250 g of plain flour
  • 1250 g of soft butter
  • 125 g of white sugar
  • one large egg
  • Strawberries, a couple of punnets (sometimes 3)
Method:
  1. Prepare a sweet shortcrust pastry by mixing all ingredients together and making a ball. Don’t overwork it. If very friable, add a few drops of water. Allow resting for 1/2 hour, or up to a couple of days in the fridge.
  2. Place it in the tin by either rolling the dought or by pushing it into the tart tin with your fingers.
  3. Make dots with a fork on the bottom, this will prevent the formation of bubbles.
  4. Cook on 170 °C until lightly golden.
  5. Cut the bottom of the strawberry removing all unripe parts.  You can use full strawberries or you can cut them in half.
  6. Place the strawberries on top of the pastry (part cut facing the pastry) and brush them with red currant or apricot jam slightly warmed up and diluted with a few drops of water (to make it runnier).

This dessert is better done on the day, that said, you can do the bottom sweet shortcrust pastry earlier.  Do not place it in the fridge.

Fried sardines

Fried sardines are such a summer classic.  They have a feel of holidays, warm days, leisure around the house or by the seaside. Love them for what they represent! For me they are associated to that great summer evening spent in Algeria with project team colleagues and local host Kamal who  did such a great job at making us appreciate Bejaia.

This time, my older child asked to buy them, so here we go.

Ingredients:
  • 2 to 4 sardines per person
  • Plain flout and salt
  • oil for shallow frying
  • fresh lettuce leaves or mixed salad leaves
Method:
  1. mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt, coat the sardines. Depending of the quantity, you may need more. Adjust the salt if you prefer more salty.

sardines

2. Heat up 1 cm of oil in a thick based fry-pan, when the oil is hot, place the sardines, reduce slightly the oil, turn over when golden-brown.

sardines

3. Serve immediately with fresh salad leaves.

sardines

Little simple pleasures

Ah! The little simple pleasures of fresh and simple food !

Finally, I am back!  But where has she been ?  Some of you may wonder. A range of reasons have kept me away from my weekly post.  A lot had to do with hydrogeological work, getting ready for a field trip to Darwin and eventually going there.   “Mais qu’allait-il donc faire dans cette galere?” (Moliere, borrowed from Cyrano de Bergerac).  at work

Good question!  It was very hot and humid over there and working ourdoors long days in the heat was difficult.  Then coming back and eventually getting some rest, or maybe not that easily.  Indeed, this is without saying that my beautiful girls wanted my attention (I was not to sleep more than 2 hours that night (night flight back), oh no! So be it! And since the weather was awesome, a butterfly dresses and coconuttrip to the seaside was a necessity!

These last two weeks, I scaled a little down the cooking. Not that we ate cheesy maccaroni and bang and mash so much (it did happen, rest assured).  It is more that I didn’t embark on grand cooking plans and enjoyed the simple pleasures of fresh beautiful produces when they require very little preparation.

To be fair, there was a cooking afternoon, temptation won.  I tried to reproduce a delicious tart I had eaten tarte choco caramelon a market.
See my recipe is all scribbled on the back of my child’s drawing (almost got into trouble there but Oceane’s dear sibling had already written all over it!).  recipe notesWith the days passing, the recipe, if we dare calling those hurried notes, such a thing is now competing with Year 2 math exercises.  Let not go into the expectations of a curriculum vs the means the curriculum  is providing (at least the teachers are really good!), that just drive me insane, no wonder Australian kids lag behind compared with many of their peers overseas. ……..Back to today’s topic now. 🙂

Fried sardines

sardines

Easy!

  1. go to the fish market or super fresh fish monger
  2. mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt, sardinescoat the sardines. Depending of the quantity, you may need more. Adjust the salt if you prefer more salty.
  3. Heat up 1 cm of oil in a thick based fry-pan, when the oil is hot, place the sardines, reduce sardinesslightly the oil, turn over when golden-brown. Serve immediately with fresh lettuce leaves.

sardines

Yoghurt with fresh berries

Of course, so simple and delicious!

In a large bowl, sweetened slightly some natural yoghurt with caster sugar. yahourt-aux-fruits-1 Wheezzz (I can hear the sound of it) a handful of fruits in the food processor or bar mixer. You may need to add a little water and if one or two teaspoons of sugar (try as you go to avoid overdoing it).  You will obtain a puree.

Place the yogurt in individual pots and place some of the puree on top. With a fork, give a swirl for aestetics.  Top up with extra berries and mint leaves (if you hapen to have mint in your backyard or anywhere handy).

Mustard tomato tart

This mustard tomato tart is in essence, a shortcrust pastry, some mustard and cut tomatoes.  Depending on what you may have at hand in the kitchen or the garden, you can obtain a variety of results.  On its own, the mustard tomato tart is quite a light meal. So, a side-salad is required.

If you are in a hurry, feel free to use ready-made pastry, puff pastry works well with it too.  Otherwise, make a shortcrust pastry, let it rest for half an hour at least, and you are good to go.

For the mustard, I use the plain Dijon mustard.

This recipe is for the mustard tomato tart I made recently, you can change the ingredients placed on top of the tomatoes to accommodate what you have available (capers, asparagus, anchovies, olives, blue cheese, prosciutto, etc).  Remember to keep it light!

Ingredients:
  • 1 shortcrust pastry or puff pastry, either bought or homemade.  Making shortcrust pastry is easy, see HERE on my blog.
  • 2 to 3 tomatoes
  • 1.5 tablespoon of dijon mustard (more or less)
  • Cheese (Grana Padano or similar)
  • Enoki mushrooms (1/4 pack)
  • olive oil
  • Fresh garden herbs (thyme and rosemary)
Method:
  1. Heat oven to 170°C
  2. Roll the pastry to the dimension of your tart tin
  3. Spread the mustard on the base
  4. Place sliced tomatoes over the mustard
  5. Add the shredded cheese, enoki mushrooms, thyme and rosemarymustard tomato tart
  6. Bake until cooked.

mustard tomato tart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mustard tomato tart