Provençal Tart

It's a Saturday night {Sunday night equivalent} and I am committed to cooking a recipe from The Food of France . . .

Ready. Set. COOK!  Oh, it's 6pm and I've got to get this tart on the table.  Nevermind that we usually eat at 6.30ish.  Ok, quick scan of the recipe, trusting that I have all of the necessary ingredients . . . and . . . BLAST and DAMNATION!  Total prep and cooking time is approximately 3 hours!  

I remove a tin of Baked Beans from the pantry, decant and bubble for approximately 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, I retrieve some frozen slices of bread and plop them unceremoniously into the toaster and push the lever down, down, down.  Pop!  I butter the toast, spoon out the beans and present my 'by-the-camp-fire' stand-by to the Mr. He is not amused!

It's Sunday {Monday equivalent} and I've just walked through the door after a day of teaching at Zee German School.  I march straight into the kitchen and begin to prepare a short-crust pastry dough.  I bundle it into the fridge and begin to sauté a finely chopped white onion.  Knowing better, I score a cross on 10 deliciously ripe tomatoes and drop them into a pot of boiling water for about 20 seconds.  Having peeled the skins away, and chopped the tomatoes, I realise that opening a tin would have been preferable to this hullabaloo!  I make a quick note on the recipe, 'Use Tinned Tomatoes!'

I add the tomatoes, tomato purée, garlic and oregano to the sautéed onions, to simmer for 20 minutes.  

I remove the pastry from the fridge and I roll, rather clumsily into a rectangle befitting my baking tray.  I attempt to loosely wrap the rolled result back over my rolling pin {a perfect cylindrical, 375ml bottle of Brown Brothers Orange Muscat and Flora} to lay upon the baking tray.  To put it mildly, I suck at this, but I am not the least bit deterred, as I know that I can plug any rips and gaps with excess pastry.

I cover the pastry with clingwrap and chill it for a further 30 minutes.  I give my tomato sauce a quick stir and with the oven set to 200C I place two, halved peppers, under the grill until their skin blackens and blisters.

Once the peppers have cooled, I peel away the skins and cut into thin strips.  I line the pastry shell with baking paper and dried beans, to blind bake for 10 minutes. I have finally reached the stage where I can assemble the tart and it a quarter to 6 in the afternoon!  In that case, I have time to take a quick self-portrait.  Why type a smiley face when I can be the smiley face . . .

I spread the tomato sauce over the pastry, then scatter with peppers.  I arrange the anchovies and olives over the top and spray {did she say spray?!?} with olive oil.  10 minutes in, and I realise that I have left the grill at the top of the oven, ON!  Regardless, all goes well and we are sitting down to a glass of wine and a large slice of Provençal Tart after 25 minutes.

It's 6.30pm on a Sunday evening {Monday evening equivalent} and I'm feeling proud that the working week has kicked off with a bang!  Sure, I'm not getting through my cook book at the speed I had originally committed to, but life is grand and I'm learning new things while our bellies are full and our hearts contented.

BBQ with the Girls

There is a gaggle of giggling girdies that I enjoy frequent get-togethers with.  We gossip, we catch-up, we read the cards and we eat and drink.  I hadn't seen some of my girlfriends since before Christmas *gasp*.  Everyone had begun work @ new schools and were fully immersed in their new positions.  However, these days it would seem that everything is beginning to calm down and we're all coming out of hibernation.  So our weekly round-up has kicked off and unfortunately, I missed the 1st week @ Ciara's ;(

The 2nd week was mine to host - so the lassies joined the Mr and I for a BBQ.  

  

It shames me to admit, but a day disappeared from my week {where the bloody hell did it go?} and as a result I was running around like a headless chook.  So to help my cause, I attempted to set things up to make everyone happy and comfortable in anticipation of my regular absence from the room. The lovelies entered our home {1st time for most} and were offered an Australian / Italian bastardised version of a Kir Royale.  

Kir Bastardo

YOU WILL NEED 

Dodgy IKEA Champagne Flutes   Ï Hibiscus Syrup with Hibiscus Flower Buds   Ï Prosecco  

Ï    Fish out an Hibiscus Flower and gently place it into a champagne flute.  Add a shot of the Hibiscus Syrup.  Top up with bubbles.  Ooh and aah because you've never had bubbles with a flower in it before.

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ALERT ! ! !  NOT AT ALL RELEVANT TO THIS POST . . .  

Whilst writing this, I am listening to a song that has a wicked funny filmclip.  It contains some of the best choreography that I've ever seen nerds pull off . . .
OK Go - Here it Goes Again

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Once everyone was in, and the tour was over, I served up Soup Shots with a glass of wine.  It was a Cauliflower Soup that I had made a week or so ago and was frozen into individual serves.  Ever since last month's Wine Dinner @ The Club, I've been thinking about soup in an espresso cup + I've always wanted to own some Arabic Tea glasses, so the idea of the shots kinda came from a combination of the two.  

On the table, there was a potato salad inspired by an episode of Jamie in OLIVER'S TWIST and some cos lettuce with feta and soy-roasted seeds.  Although I don't recall explaining that the trick was to add the feta & seeds @ will and dress with the balsamic glaze - The headless chook rears it ugly head!

On the BBQ were Chickpea Patties and Vegie Skewers which had not been seasoned and oiled - bugger!  I will make the patties again and freeze a quantity for future barbies - they take me back to my university days . . . 

For dessert, I baked a Date Cake prior to my day @ The Library and I whizzed by the Co-operative on the way home for some vanilla ice-cream.  Regrettably I didn't pick up some soft light-brown sugar and as a result the butterscotch sauce was very dark and very sugary indeed as I only had demerara on hand.

For drinkies, we quaffed Sauvignon Blancs from India, California and South Africa followed by some tasty reds from Argentina and Chile.  I do recall that the Madeira made an appearance with some dark chocolate.

As a side note, Catriona produced a copy of next week's Abu Dhabi Weekly, in which her article From Abu Dhabi With Love features my mates Cheralyn and Mo.

BBQ with the Boys

We've been set up in our new digs for a month now, and the Mr has been pretty keen to throw a BBQ for his workmates.  We enjoyed a little reconnaissance @ the local hardware store last weekend, but no purchases were made.  On Monday, The Mr announced that the BBQ would take place over the coming weekend . . .

But . . . But . . . We don't have a BBQ!

We now have a Weber Kettle BBQ

So . . . To the menu!  The boys feasted on Moroccan marinaded lamb shoulder with couscous and round beef with green salad.  I managed to whack together some harissa sauce with yoghurt, mint and cucumber to accompany the meat.  If you haven't tried it, then I suggest you make some and gobble it up as often as you care to . . .

Harissa

{www.taste.com.au}

YOU WILL NEED:

Ï 8 Birdseye chilli     Ï 2 crushed garlic cloves     Ï 1 tsp each of salt, cumin & ground coriander   Ï 2 tblsp olive oil

Ï Whiz together the de-seeded chilli with the remaining ingredients until it forms a spicy sauce.

For a sweet treat, I whipped up some gingerbread, knowing that these lads would like to finish the night with a swig or two or ten {let's be honest} of fortified wine.

Gingerbread

{Nigella Lawson}

YOU WILL NEED:

Ï 150g butter   Ï 200g each of golden syrup and black treacle     Ï 125g dark muscovado sugar     Ï 2tsp finely grated ginger     Ï 1tsp each of ground ginger and cinnamon      Ï 1/4tsp ground cloves     Ï 1tsp bicarb soda, dissolved in 2tblsp warm water     Ï 250ml milk     Ï 2 eggs beaten     Ï 300g plain flour

Ï Preheat the oven to 170 C.   Prepare baking tin {I used a 26 x 19 - Nigella told me to use a 30 x 20 x 5}   In a saucepan, over a low heat, combine butter, sugar, syrup, treacle, fresh and ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves   Remove from heat and add milk, eggs and bicarb soda in its water.   Sift flour into a bowl and add liquid ingredients, beating until well mixed.  Bake for 45 - 60 minutes.