A new week and a new celebration – This time is for baking.
Yes, you have guessed it: it’s National Baking Week!
After chocolate last week, this week is being spent in the kitchen baking all sorts of deliciousness, making the house smell like Christmas and making the heating in at least a couple of rooms unnecessary.
Just perfect for this kind of weather.
I must admit that I was not born a great baker; it is something I need to work and concentrate on and the results can be some times disastrous.
I have been, however, trying harder and harder lately and last Sunday, covered in flour and chocolate in my kitchen I had an epiphany: I am starting to get the gist of this and flat cakes are a thing of the past.
So it is my newly found know-how that makes me brave enough to share with you a couple of my favourite recipes for this week.
Buon appetito!
Berries and Mango Hand Pies
For the Pate Brisee
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 Cup chilled salted butter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 Cup Ice Water
For the filling
2 big ripe mangoes peeled and chopped into small chunks
1 punnet raspberries
1 punnet blueberries
2 tbsp sugar (I like mine with more fruit and less sugar, but you can increase sugar amounts should you have a sweet tooth)
Combine the flour and sugar until well mixed. Add the butter and mix with your hands until you no longer see chunks of butter in the dough.
Slowly add the ice water a tablespoon at a time while mixing the dough until it is evenly distributed and it begins to look like play-dough. Careful with the water, though, because you don’t want your dough to be too wet and sticky, so feel free to leave some unused.
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and knead for a couple of minutes until it begins to smooth out. Divide the dough in half, cover in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for an hour.
Heat the oven to 180C (6 gas mark)
Once the dough is chilled, roll out ½ of it to about 4 mm thick. Cut two rectangles of about 5x10 cm out of the dough.
Roll out one of the rectangles again until it becomes quite thin (about 2 mm), but thick enough that you can still pick it up without ripping it. Try to keep a rectangular shape!
Prick one half of the dough with a fork and place 1 1/2 tablespoons of filling (the fruit mixed with the sugar) on the other half.
Fold the dough over the filling and seal with your fingers; then use a fork to crimp the edges and brush the pie with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar.
Pick up your pie and place on a floured baking tray - I recommend the use of a spatula if you want to avoid collapsing disasters!
Repeat these steps until you run out of dough.
Bake the pies for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm (they can be reheated in the toaster or oven) with a slump of vanilla ice-cream on top :)
Tomato, Onion and Anchovie Quiche
250 grs creme fraiche
2 medium tomatoes
3 large eggs
1 big red onion
3 anchovie fillets in olive oil finely chopped (if you don’t like anchovies try adding bacon)
400 grs ready made shortcrust pastry
Roll the pastry out and place in a buttered oven dish of about 30 cms diameter and prick small holes through it with a fork.
In a big bowl mix the eggs, cream, tomatoes, onion and anchovies and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture in the tray and put in the oven for half an hour et voila!
