Cooking with friends - Heirloom tomato tart and coconut orange blossom cookies

I often read cookbooks and other people's blogs and feel incredibly inadequate. Why don't I have marathon cooking sessions and go to blog conferences where I meet other like minded bloggers? Well, there's two reasons really. Firstly, I'm not very good at blowing my own trumpet, (British-ness, I suppose), so generally don't get invited to anything and secondly, if I did, I would be so overcome with shyness and intimidation, I would get drunk and start to annoy everyone. They are two very good reasons. Therefore, I will have to make do with getting very excited when one friend comes to cook with me for the day and proclaims she has never made pastry before. 

Our cooking session was slightly flawed, however, because of my misguided confidence in cooking without a recipe. It was fantastic to spend time with Chelle and do something creative together, but, we started cooking at 1pm and didn't actually get to eat until 5.30, which made me feel guilty in a "she must be starving" type of way. Aren't I supposed to be the domestic goddess in an apron with "the overflowing ladle" offering her some tidbits before the main course? Not quite. Chelle was an excellent sous chef, not needing much in the way of instruction and seeming to effortlessly understand the ingredients. We made a quiche which seemed to take forever to cook and although she kept stating that she had had a huge breakfast, I couldn't help but feel that I was not quite measuring up as a 'foodie'. Still, she's not the kind of person to mind and the quiche was very good, as were the cookies. I stole both recipes from 101 cookbooks, a blog by Heidi Swanson who really has her stuff together. I'm sure Heidi would be perfect at a conference: calm, together and effortlessly sober. When I grow up, I want to be like her.

This quiche has the most amazing crust. It's not exactly light and flaky, dense and chewy would be better adjectives, but it has 2 cups of grated Parmesan in it which gives it the most delicious cheesiness imaginable. Farmer's market tomatoes, basil, edible flower petals, dried marigolds and eggs and milk were the only other ingredients. The petals and marigolds look pretty enough, but I'm not sure they actually add anything in terms of taste, but, it's Summer, a few flowers and a desire for delicate looking food is perfectly acceptable.

Recipe : Tomato and herb quiche with a wholewheat Parmesan crust

Adapted from this recipe by Heidi Swanson

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup wholewheat flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes

2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp water

6 - 8 medium sized tomatoes, sliced or lots of little ones, cut in half

a handful of fresh basil, finely shredded

a few edible flower petals, (optional)

a little salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

First: 

To prevent the tomatoes leaking too much juice and making the pastry soggy, lay the slices on a piece of kitchen towel, sprinkle 1 tsp of salt over and lay another piece of towel on top. Let them slowly drain while you make the pastry. 

To make the crust:

Put both flours, salt and Parmesan in a large mixing bowl and stir well. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub the fat into the flour until you have a mixture resembling breadcrumbs. Add the water and stir through, then use your hands to squeeze the dough together until you have a lump which leaves the bowl clean. Cover it with cling wrap and refrigerate for around 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350oF. After 30 minutes of chilling, remove your dough from the fridge and roll out into a circle about 12 inches diameter on a floured board. Because of the fat content in the cheese, the dough may break apart and feel a little flaky. Don't worry, you can easily press it together later. Butter and flour a quiche or baking dish and lay your dough into it, pressing it down into the corners and making sure it comes up the edge all the way round. Place a piece of foil inside the dough and weigh it down with rice, dried beans or ceramic pie beans and 'blind bake' in the oven for about 15 minutes. This will help it stay down and start to cook without becoming soggy when the tomatoes are added.

After the dough has cooked for 15 minutes, remove the beans and foil and start to lay your tomatoes into the crust. There will still be a little salt clinging to the tomatoes, but a very small amount of extra will be fine, just a light sprinkling, but you need to add a few good grinds of pepper. Scatter over the basil leaves and flowers.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the milk. Beat until a little frothy and pour over the tomatoes and herbs. If you have some Parmesan left over, you can sprinkle this over the top of the quiche. 

Bake in the oven at the same 350oF oven for approximately 50 - 60 minutes. Check after this time that the eggs are set by inserting a skewer into the middle. If it comes out clean and the quiche feels relatively solid when lightly shaken, it should be ready. (You can keep adding 5 - 10 minutes more in the oven until it's done). Let it cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack or plate and let cool a little longer until ready to serve. The tomatoes become so intense once salted and roasted, the taste is a little reminiscent of a tomato soup or even ketchup, but without all that sugar.

Anzac cookies with coconut and orange blossom water

It seemed pointless to just concentrate on one recipe with all the time available, so Chelle and I also made these cookies. Stolen in their entirety from Heidi, with no alterations or adjustments at all, they are full of good stuff such as rolled oats, coconut, orange zest and orange blossom water. Named for the Australian and New Zealand army corps, I'm assuming they are a popular snack in Australia, along with the luscious looking Lamingtons, which I'm determined to make very soon. Heidi baked hers in cute little heart shaped molds, but we just dolloped spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Important note for British cooks: These cookies, like others in North America are meant to be squidgy on the inside, not crisp and biscuity like their common UK counterparts. To achieve this, take them out of the oven while they are still soft, even to the point where you think they are not cooked. They will firm up considerably as they cool and if they are taken out of the oven too late, they will become hard. 

Recipe: Anzac cookies

From this recipe by Heidi Swanson 

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup wholewheat flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup sugar, (Heidi states using two different kinds but I used raw cane sugar only)

1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes

2 tbsp honey

zest of one orange

1 tbsp boiling water

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp orange blossom water

Preheat the oven to 375oF

Mix together the flours, oat, sugar and coconut in a large bowl.

In a small pan over low heat, gently melt the butter, honey and orange zest. In a bowl, whisk together the boiling water and baking soda and then stir this into the butter mixture, finally pouring this into the oats, coconut and flour mix. Add the orange blossom water and then mix everything together well with your hands.

Butter and line a baking tray with parchment paper and then butter and flour again. Use your hands to make small circular cookies with the mixture and place them onto the baking tray.

If you like, you can grate a little more zest over the cookies before baking. Bake for about 12 minutes until the cookies are starting to become golden brown, (remember they will still be soft - this is OK). Let them cool before eating.

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