Farmers Market Lime, Rhubarb & Fig Tarte

Making the most of a sunny day Sunday we recently popped along to a Farmers Market near Murchison in country Victoria to meet up with some family. The market was held at Longleat winery, with hay bales for seats and a country/ jazz band playing away, the winery served up cheeseboards (cheese made at the vineyard) and wine tasting for all.  Local farmers and artisans set up a handful of stalls selling their delicacies. There were some beautiful olive oils, sourdough loaves, cake stalls, homemade jams and organic seedlings (we picked up some beetroot, fennel and chicory to plant). A local orchardist had fruit bins filled with apple and pear varieties, and another with limes. Its great to see that Farmers Markets are becoming less of a niche and more of the norm for people to source their goods from, giving profits directly back to the growers. With some research online I have discovered there is a market on almost every weekend. So I encourage you to get out there and support your local farmers, enjoy a day out and pick up some local, fresh and always tastier produce. With purchase of juicy limes complete, and some figs from a friend please see this fabulous Lime, Rhubarb & Fig Tarte recipe below. You’ll want to make this one again and again and again. Trust me on this, it’s a winner.

Prep time needed: about 30 min. Baking time: about 1 hr 30 min. Makes 8 servings.

Stuff needed from kitchen: medium pie dish, baking paper, cling wrap, large mixing bowl, beater/food processor, chopping board, medium saucepan, wooden spoon.

From my vegie patch:
250 gm. x rhubarb
6 x ripe figs (courtesy of Sonia’s tree)
1 x lime (courtesy of Farmers Market)

Other ingredients:
Pastry:
1.5 cups x plain flour
1 x egg
100gm x butter
0.5 cup x caster sugar
few tblespn cold water

Rhubarb filling:
25ml water
25g sugar

Almond filling:
150g butter
150g caster sugar
Pinch salt
1 egg, beaten
150g almond meal

Let’s do it...

1.       Preheat the oven to 180C.

2.       For the pastry, sift the flour, then dice the butter and rub it into the flour until the mixture looks breadcrumby. (Or pop all in the food processor and give a give whiz!)

3.       Make a well in the centre of the flour/butter mix. Beat the egg; mix it in, and add cold water as needed to make the pastry cohere into a lump (not more than a couple of tablespoons). Wrap the ball of pastry in cling fill, and chill in freezer for about 15 min.

4.       Chop the rhubarb coarsely, and put it in a saucepan with the water and sugar. Heat over a low to medium heat with lid on, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb has mostly broken down into threads and the whole is thick and spoonable. Cool.

My happy little helper

5.       Grease the tart tin. Roll out the larger ball of pastry into a circle to cover the base of a medium tart tin, and then press excess pieces into the side of the tart tin. Given the crumbliness of the pastry, you’ll probably need to do this in four or five sections, rather than all at once.

6.       Cover the pastry loosely with greaseproof paper and weigh it down with dry peas or pastry weights or the like, and cook for ten minutes; then take the weights and paper off and cook until the case starts to get slightly golden, probably another 15 minutes or so.

7.       Lower the oven temperature to 160C.

8.       For the almond filling, cream the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg, then the ground almonds and juice of the whole lime. (add a little lime zest if you want to up the lime ante)

9.       Spread a thick layer of the rhubarb mixture over the base of the tart case, filling it around a third. Spread the almond mixture over this, enough to take it not quite to the top of the tart.

10.   Slice the figs, and press the slices gently into the top of the tart

11.   Bake until the almond mixture is golden all over, probably an hour or so. Ideally, serve warm with some sort of delicious ice-cream or natural yogurt.

Soundtrack for an amazing Farmers Market Tarte: To the Horses by Lanie Lane

A few pics from our Day out:

Apples and Pears

organic seedlings (cant wait to see what these produce!)

My inlaws, Mr & Mrs K enjoying the delicious Rose!

Friands with Friends

Meeting friends for brunch anywhere in Melbourne is definitely one of my favourite things to do. Melbourne’s café scene is unlike any other I have seen (OK, so I am biased) and the quality and number cafes in Melbourne serving exceptional and varied menu of all day breakfasts is phenomenal. Also, going out for breakfast with little Miss 2 Yrs. is way easier than attempting to tackle dinner out (for now!). Some of my personal faves are Bluebird in Collingwood; The Hardware Société in City; Tom Phat in Brunswick; Fitzrovia in St Kilda and Cumulus Inc. in City. All adored for their diverse menu, attention to quality ingredients; ability to be creative with flavours and interior design, and genuinely friendly yet cool staff. They just tick all the boxes effortlessly. Recently Mr de Burg took us out to one of the mentioned above for brunch and although I had an amazing bircher and poached fruit, I also tucked into a friand and a canelle. (What? My latte was lonely!) again, those Frenchies combined with all things food just get it so spot on. So as I work up to finding the perfect canelle recipe out there, here I share with you a scrumptious friand recipe. These are to die for, feel free to experiment with other fillings such as raspberries, cherries, apple, rhubarb, chocolate etc., and just get the weight measurement the same. our household devoured all 12 within 1 afternoon. If you don’t have a friand pan, you can use any muffin tin. Make batter the night before if you like and impress your friends with friands when they pop over for a cuppa or brunch.

Stuff from kitchen: 12 mould friand/muffin tin (or more if using mini miffin tin); large mixing bowl; food processor; wooden spoon; cling wrap 

Prep time: 1hr 15 min (1hr is batter resting time), cooking time: 15 min

Almost from my vegie patch:
125gm x blueberries. (OK , time to fess up. we do have blueberries and raspberries growing however they aren’t quite ready to harvest yet, so as blueberries are in season and super cheap, these are from someone else’s vegie patch. I just couldn’t wait!)

Other ingredients:
160gm x unsalted butter chopped (plus a bit more for greasing)
160gm x almond meal
160gm x caster sugar
6 x free-range egg whites
60gm x plain flour (plus a bit for dusting)

Lets do it..

1.       Melt butter in small frypan and put aside to cool

2.       Put almonds, sugar, vanilla and eggwhites into food processor and pulse for about 30 sec

3.       Scrape down sides of food processor, and add flour. Give a quick 5 sec pulse to just mix

4.       Transfer to mixing bowl, add cooled butter and mix gently with wooden spoon until just combined.

5.       Cover in cling wrap, and put in a cool dark place for about an hour (I stashed mine in the pantry)

6.       Preheat oven to 220 degrees

7.       Thoroughly grease pan with butter and lightly flour to coat mould. Turn upside down and tap to remove excess flour.

8.       Stir berries into batter mix and scoop spoonfuls’s into pan and fill to 2/3.

9.       Bake for 15 min or until golden brown and the centre springs back when pressed.

10.   Place on cooling rack for a few minutes before turning out.\

Serve immediately (or keep for upto 3 days). I balance out the sweetness by serving with natural Greek yogurt. You’ll enjoy sharing these decadent and graceful little darlings with friends.

Soundtrack for friands and coffee with friends: Rockaferry by Duffy