Golden Staircase Pie

During the Christmas holidays, I remembered a pie/tart/cake that my Mum used to make when I was younger. It had luscious layers of sweet lemon, orange and vanilla custards, a crumbly pastry and cream. I started thinking about this cake, dreaming about it even. So therefore, I had to make it..... Luckily we had a dinner invitation to a friend's house for New Year's Eve, so I had a great excuse to make something a little bit special.

It was called a Golden Staircase Pie. My Mum made this pie and served it in her cafe. And although it was stunning to look at and popular with customers, I have never seen this served in any other cafe or restaurant I've visited. Even 'Google' could not provide me with a picture of this pie, only two or three recipes in the whole 'interweb'. My recipe is adapted from the Epicurean website.

Anyhow, I ploughed ahead, found a recipe which I adapted to local ingredients and here's the result.  It was good, excellent even. The textures were as I remembered them; crumbly pastry, creamy lemon layer, the firm orange custard layer in the middle and the soft vanilla layer on top. The difference in my recipe to those that I've found and that which my Mum used is the addition of passion fruit. I didn't have any passionfruit, so I left them out, but you could add this fruit to the bottom level and spoon over the top as a nice 'tropical' taste to the pie. I think you could also add some chopped or canned pineapple onto the top to serve. 

I'd save this cake for a special occasion, as  it is a little bit of any effort to make it. It's not difficult, it just takes some time as you have to wait for each layer to set before making the next layer. But definitely worth it.

What you'll need

Makes one large cake, 10 - 12 pieces.

For the pastry

125g butter, at room temperature
70g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup self-raising flour
45g cornflour
35g plain flour
4 teaspoons milk

For the bottom lemon level

200ml lemon juice
325ml sweetened condensed milk

For the middle orange level

100g caster sugar
250ml orange juice
4 heaped teaspoons custard powder
4 heaped teaspoons cornflour
4 teaspoons lemon juice

For the top vanilla custard level

60g butter, at room temperature
250ml milk
6 heaped teaspoons cornflour
6 teaspoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To serve 

Thin slices of whole orange and lemon or pulp from three passionfruit
Whipped thickened cream

What to do

Step 1 - make the pastry
Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then add the egg yolk. Sift flours together. Add flours to the mixture, then add the milk. If the pastry is too sticky, add a bit more plain flour until it comes together into a ball. Roll out pastry to a 1cm thickness. Grease and line a 22cm pie plate or springform cake tin. Put in the pastry and press into the corners of the tin. Leave an overhang that you can cut off later. Bake in a 180 degree Celsius over for 20 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and let cool completely in the tin.

Step 2 - first layer
Mix condensed milk and lemon juice together. Stir and it will thicken after a little while. Pour the mixture into the baked and cooled pie pastry. Place in the fridge to cool and set.

Step 3 - second layer
Heat juices over low heat in a small saucepan. Mix together the custard powder, cornflour and sugar. Add to warmed juices. Stir with a whisk until thickened (this happens very suddenly, so don't leave the pot). Cover with a lid to prevent a skin forming. You will end up with a very thick orange custard. Cool the mixture, then spread over first layer. Chill in the fridge until well set.

Step 4 - third layer
Heat the milk gently in a small saucepan. Mix the cornflour together with a little milk and stir well. Add the cornflour mix to the warm milk, stirring continuously. Cover with a lid and set aside to cool.
Cream butter and sugar well with electric beaters. Beat in the cooled cornflour/milk mixture. Gradually add vanilla. Spread over orange juice layer. Chill well.

Step 5 - decoration
Once set, spoon or pipe whipped cream over the cake. Lay slices of orange and lemon over the cream and spoon over passion fruit pulp if you like. Slice using a heated knife and serve immediately.

Eggplant Bake

We had this eggplant bake the other night. We ate it instead of pasta and with a side salad. It was very satisfying and tasty and was not too much of an effort to make.

We have been reducing our carb intake since Christmas. Please don't worry, as there will still be lots of lovely 'carby' recipes on the blog.  The man of the house and I have a bit more of a spring in our steps and are feeling good about this change in our diet.

Anyway, enough about us. Back to the recipe. I've made two versions of this eggplant dish. One was with a spicy mince with kidney beans (also used for tacos) and the other was with a plain Bolognese sauce with zucchini slices.

This dish is a good way to increase your vegetable intake - add lots of vegetables into the sauce or into the dish. Vegetables such as zucchini, pumpkin or sweet potato thickly sliced would work well. Or add some tinned sweet corn, diced carrot and celery, sliced leeks - you get the idea.

Serve the baking dish to the table and serve with a side salad for a great family dinner.

What you'll need

For basic eggplant bake, to serve two people with a little leftover.

1 large eggplant, sliced into 1cm thick slices
2 cups of homemade Bolognese sauce or 2 cups or prepared taco mince with kidney beans
1/2 cup crumbled feta
Other vegetables as you'd like. I used a zucchini, sliced lengthways.
Vegetable oil for frying.
Salt and pepper.

What to do

Heat a large pan (or two medium pans) over high heat with some vegetable oil. Once the oil is hot, add the eggplant slices and pan fry on both sides until golden brown and soft. The eggplant will soak up lots of the oil, but if you press it gently at the end of the cooking with a spoon while still in the pan, much of the oil will come out. Drain the eggplant well on paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Repeat the same process with whatever other vegetables you are using. The vegetables should be cooked through and soft before you add them to the baking dish.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Into the bottom of a small baking dish, place 1/2 cup of your meat sauce.  Make a layer of eggplant (or other vegetables) over the meat sauce. Add another cup of meat sauce, another layer of vegetables, then finish off with whatever meat sauce is left.

Crumble the feta over the top, and place in the oven until the sauce is bubbling and the feta is golden brown. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes, then serve to the table.

Cauliflower Soup

This is a very easy and quick soup to make; it tastes great and is very impressive to serve to the table.

Basically this is a cauliflower puree, thinned out with a little stock and cream. That's it. Recipe follows.

What you'll need

1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florettes, with most of the stalk and all leaves removed

200ml pouring cream

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups water

Salt and pepper

  

What to do

In a large pot bring the water and stock to the boil. Once boiling, add the cauliflower and cook until breaking apart (about 40 minutes). Keep the lid on. If you want a really thick soup, you can remove the lid and reduce the liquid for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Remove from the heat and cool until just warm. Using a blender stick, blend the cauliflower until smooth. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat gently to serve. I served my soup sprinkled with some slivered almonds, crispy prosciutto pieces, fresh torn basil and crusty bread rolls. But it also goes beautifully with some crumbled goats cheese, freshly grilled scallops or prawns, some freshly chopped mint or just a sprinkle of fresh pepper.

Nat's Steamed Christmas Pudding

 So, that's Christmas done and dusted for another year. It was busy, but there was still time for lots of laying about, reading, watching movies, relaxing with good friends, an occasional glass of wine, and of course cooking and eating. Lots of eating. We had out-of-towners with us so we embarked on an eating experience of Austrian foods, and a tour of Christmas markets and gluhwein sellers. There was of course snitzel and sausages and apple strudel, but also pork stelze (roasted pork hock), steinpilz (local mushrooms), and our Christmas lunch was roasted goose with red cabbage. All good and very delicious.

Our Christmas 'dinner' was this steamed Christmas pudding. I only made the pudding one week before Christmas, but despite it not having much maturing time, the pudding was delicious, 'boozy', and really fruity - just the way I like it. And the almonds added a lovely, sneaky crunch.

We are still snacking on the pudding a week later. It has kept beautifully and is still moist and so flavoursome. I might make it a bit earlier this year  to give the fruit time to really develop it's flavour.

What you'll need

Makes a large Christmas pudding, 10 to 12 serves.

375g sultanas
180g prunes - de-seeded and roughly chopped
150g dried figs - roughly chopped
200g dates, de-seeded and roughly chopped
100g slivered almonds
150ml Rum
100ml Whisky
250g butter (at room temperature)
200g brown sugar
4 eggs
175g fresh breadcrumbs
75g self-raising flour
75g plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice (if you want)
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Extra butter for greasing the pudding tin.

What to do

Step 1 - Place all the fruits into a bowl and add the rum and whisky. Mix well and cover tightly with foil. Leave for at least 12 hours to macerate, mixing occasionally. I suggest doing this one evening, then make the cake the next afternoon. 

Step 2 - Using an electric beater, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each one.  Add the fruit mixture and mix well.

Step 3 - Add the flours, breadcrumbs and spices. Mix well until combined.

Step 4 - Grease and line a 2L capacity pudding tin/basin. I used a ceramic salad bowl, as you cannot buy pudding steamer tins here.

If using a pudding steamer tin, follow these directions:




Spoon mixture into prepared steamer. Secure lid. Place in a large saucepan. Pour boiling water into pan until halfway up side of steamer. Cover pan. Place over low heat. Boil for 4 hours, adding more boiling water when necessary.  Use a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake to check it is cooked. Remove pan from heat. Carefully lift steamer from water.

If using a bowl or similar, use these directions:

Spoon mixture into prepared steamer/vessel. Make a lid using a layer of baking paper and foil. You can make the lid following the method used in my jam pudding. Use kitchen string to secure the 'lid'  to the top of the bowl. Use more kitchen string to create a handle for the bowl (so you can lift it out once cooked) using string wrapped several times around the bowl. Place in a large saucepan. Pour boiling water into pan until halfway up side of the bowl. Cover pan. Place over low heat. Boil for 4 hours, adding more boiling water when necessary. Use a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake to check it is cooked. Remove the pan from heat. Carefully lift steamer from water.

Once removed from the water, set aside to cool completely. Once cooled you can leave the pudding in the basin, then wrap in a clean tea towel and store in a cool, dark place or at the back of the fridge until ready to use.

Serve with custard and cream or ice-cream.

Rum Balls

Ok, it's Christmas. So here are the start of the festive recipes.

Rum balls have a great tradition in our family. There was always a big bowl of them on every Christmas morning breakfast table or at Christmas parties during December. I really love them, especially the condensed milk, which I have a slight addiction to. I am rather proud to say that I've passed the addiction onto my kids!

We have always made run balls with crushed Weetbix being the main ingredient. I now see rum ball recipes made with crumbled Christmas cake or chocolate cake. Sorry folks, but it's not the same. Weetbix versions are way better in my opinion.

You can make rum-free versions for the little ones if you like, but I feel that there is such a small amount of alcohol in each rum ball that it is really not necessary. And the rum flavour is really what makes these special. But it is up to you.

I like to make several batches of rum balls and then package them up in glass jars to give as gifts. Best to get them all out of the house otherwise they all get eaten up! 

Merry Christmas. 

What you'll need

Makes 20 - 30 small rum balls

9 Weetbix, finely crushed

1/2 cup desiccated coconut, plus 1 cup extra coconut to roll at the end

1 cup sultanas, roughly chopped

2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder

395g tin Nestle condensed milk

1 tablespoon rum

What to do

Place the finely crushed Weetbix in a large bowl with the coconut, cocoa powder and sultanas.

Make a well in the centre of the ingredients and pour in the condensed milk, making sure to scrape out the tin and not waste any. pour in the rum.

Mix very well with a wooden spoon. You should have a sticky mixture that comes together when pressed.

Take heaped teaspoon-sized balls of mixture. Using damp clean hands, roll the mixture into balls. Set aside on a tray.

Place the extra reserved coconut into a large plastic container. Place a few rum balls at a time into the container and roll them around to coat well in coconut. Repeat until all rum balls are coated.

Store in air-tight containers or in jars decorated with Christmas paper.

Enjoy in moderation. These are addictive.

Anzac Biscuits

Here's a quick bikkie recipe. These biscuits are great and although they are usually made in Australia around Anzac day in April, we made ours in December for an international cuisine day at school. I was lucky enough to be invited into the second grade class and give the children the story behind the creation of these biscuits back in the early 1900s. The children liked the biscuits and hopefully learnt something in the process.  If you want to learnt something about the story of Anzac Biscuits, visit here.

There's been a bit of debate in our house whether these biscuits are better 'chewy' or crunchy'.

It's crunchy all the way for me, so you'll get crunchy bikkies if you use this recipe.

What you'll need

Makes approximately 20 biscuits

1 1/4 cups plain flower
1 cup rolled oats (porridge oats)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
150g butter
3/4 cups desiccated coconut
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

What to do

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees. In a large bowl add the flour, oats, sugar and coconut and stir well to combine.

In a small saucepan add the golden syrup and the butter and heat over a low heat until melted together.
Remove from the heat and mix in the bicarb soda. Then also add 2 tablespoons water.

Pour the golden syrup into the dry ingredients and mix well until combined. The mixture should stick together a little, not be dry and crumbly. If dry, add a little more water.

Using a teaspoons full of mixture, roll into balls with slightly wet hands. Place on a lined baking tray. Flatten the balls slightly with your fingers.

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and cool completely before placing in an air-tight container for storage.