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May 24, 2004

Comments

Amanda

Thanks for the recipe - it looks great and even though it is pouring with rain here (hooray) it looks like a perfect supper with a tart green salad (that's where I'd put the rocket, I don't really like cooked rocket). Glad to see you're back in form and over all the nasty bugs. Now, about those strawberries....

lucinda

This looks so good!! And I like all your variations (lemon juice in the pastry -- yes, I agree; yoghurt, cherry toms, basil, yes, yes, yes!)
But oh dear! I'm so lazy when it comes to pastry. I'll have to build up to this one to over come my laziness (it sounds like it is worth it).
I have a great recipe for short crust pastry which doesn't need to be chilled and doesn't need blind baking either (good old 'Cookery the Aussie Way'). That's my kind of pastry! I'll dig it out and share it with you some time. Makes the easiest quiche base ever (for impromptu picnics in the park), even if it isn't high brow.

clotilde

Oh my, this tart looks bee-you-ti-ful! I'd never heard of Bill Granger, is he the Australian Jamie Oliver? And thanks for the great tips on making your own puff-pastry tart shell, I've never tried my hand at that.

Oh and in reply to Lucinda, I'd love to see that easy short crust pastry recipe if you get a chance!

lucinda

A pleasure to share this no brainer (remember, it's not high brow cooking!)

From Cookery the Australian Way (EM Barrowman et al, 2nd ed, Melbourne, Australia, 1974) at page 230

Short Crust Pastry
- sift 2 cups (plain) flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt
- rub in 1/2 cup (125 grams) shortening (butter) until mixture looks like breadcrumbs
- gradually add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water mixed with a squeeze of lemon juice to form a firm dough
- flour board and knead lightly until smooth
- flour pin, roll to size and shape required

(I pour in my quiche filling and bake at 200C until set)

Clothilde, I adore Chocolate & Zucchini but never seem have enough time to do it justice. It's a beautiful food blog. You have such a devoted following, which must be very rewarding.

kitschenette

lucinda, thanks so much for sharing yr recipe! i don't care if it's high brow / low brow or whatever, it sounds good and definitely better for the arteries than bill's buttery version. pastry is always time-consuming and i only ever make it for special occasions - yr recipe sounds so easy i shall have to try it.

clotilde, bill granger is something like a australian jamie oliver, yes - blond, blue-eyed, photogenic, but perhaps not quite as cheekily endearing as jamie! he started off with a very popular cafe in sydney called 'bill's' (original, huh?), which did a great line in ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb blackberry butter, amongst other treasures (note to self: must post the recipe for these to assauge whoever it is that has been relentlessly searching for bill's recipe and keeps ending up at my site!), and then did a couple of v. popular cookbooks. i don't know if he has done a tv show, but he certainly gets lots of press coverage and is always in magazines. i don't cook a lot of his recipes, but i have a few faves, like this tart, the ricotta hotcakes, and the sweetcorn cakes with proscuitto and roasted tomatoes.

clotilde

Lucinda, thanks a lot for your pastry recipe, it looks great, I'd never seen a quiche crust recipe that called for baking powder, it must make for a very light and puffy crust. I'm copying it and will definitely try it soon. Would you say I could make it in the food processor first, then end the kneading by hand? Thanks for the kind words regarding C&Z, and you are quite right, the readers are the best part! :)

Kitschenette, thanks for telling me about Bill, his name was sort of familiar, but I didn't know much about him. Australian cooking and Australian chefs don't really reach us in France (I basically just know about Jill Dupleix, and that's because she's famous in the US), the American and the British just take up too much space!

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