Homemade special brew - Ask first © 2010 R Khooks. Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.

Once upon a time there were two Brit girls who met in Paris over muffin making at an adorable cookbook store. They soon found out that they had many things in common: a pâtisserie diplome from Le Cordon Bleu, the love for food and lots of fun.

They had many adventures in Paris and beyond. But the day came when Frankie departed to a far away land called Australia. Rachel was very sad that her fun loving foodie partner in crime was leaving but was determined that no matter how many thousands of miles away Frankie was, she would make sure they would continue to have more edible adventures.

So Frankie left for the land of Oz in September. On a cold wet Autumn night in Paris Rachel discovered her golden ticket (in form of a special Malaysian Airline deal) away from the greyness of Paris. Very excited about going to the land of kangaroos and barbecues she sent Frankie an electronic mail and that’s how they both decided to tell an edible  immigration tale in Sydney.

Many Australian history and culinary books, skype calls, emails and photos later Rachel arrived in Sydney. And this is the tale they told:

Edible immigration menu

1. Shaken and shipped to shore
Hibiscus and ginger Bundaberg rum cocktail.

2. First encounter with native grub
Goat’s curd and macadamia nut grubs on dehydrated date leaves.

3. A fling with fish before flame
Kingfish tartare served with finger limes.

4. Desperately seeking sea cucumber, serving sotong satay instead
Coconut and lemongrass rice and spicy Asian peanut caramel cake with baby octopus satay and cucumber.

5. Cuppa tea with dundee
Homemade special brew served with marinated crocodile sticks.

6. Bushbride’s ration pudding with Granny Smith’s pickle
Duck pudding with granny smith puree and pickles accompanied with damper bread.

7. Easy as peasy pie
Downunder puff pastry base with slow cooked vegemite lamb, pea purée, mushroom caramel and warrigal greens.

8. Fosters-free lager and lemon sorbet

9. The great dessert debate
Pavlova with fresh cream, strawberry jelly , lemon curd and passionfruit.

10. Freshly spun edible wool
Coffee candy floss.

Each of the dishes were based on facts that they had discovered while doing research. Here are some:

1. Rum was the number one drink with the 1st settlers and convicts.  It was even used as a currency.
2. Similar in taste to almonds, the witchetty grub was originally eaten either raw or cooked in hot ashes by aboriginies.
3. Despite being one of the richest fishing grounds in the world, meat was still favoured by the first European settlers due to it’s association with the high life back home.
4. As early as the 16th century indigenous North Western Australians traded sea cucumber with Chinese traders making it Australia’s first export item.
5. The first settlers clung to their British roots becoming the world’s heaviest tea drinkers.
6.1. One of the world’s most successful apple varieties was thanks to Granny Smith who arrived in New South Wales in 1838. She tipped some rotten crab apples into her orchard and from there the variety we know today blossomed.
6.2. Not until the Second World War or perhaps a little earlier was the pie mentioned as a national dish. Vegemite, another national favourite, was first advertised as nourishing for the whole family. Except for one irony, the spread that epitomised `family goodness`was made from brewery waste.
7. In 1864 the cookery book “Australian Aristologist” quotes a medical opinion on the “Danger of the meat pie”. Not leaving a hole in the crust traps the poisonous gases.
8. It was Baron Liebig in 1842 who discovered that Bavarian brewed beers did not turn sour on contact with air like other Australian beers. The German name was “Lager -bier” (the German word lager means to store) hence the name of Australia’s most popular alcoholic drink.
9. The pavlova is said to have been invented in Perth’s Esplanade Hotel in 1935 after the famous Russian ballet dancer. However the New Zealanders claim that a chef in a hotel in Wellington, created the dish when Pavlova visited there in 1926 on her world tour
10. With 1 million sheep recorded in 1830 (jumped from 100,000 in 1820) the wool industry was Australia’s biggest export, worth roughly 2 million dollars.

Special thank you to Howard Trang from eatshowandtell for the photos.

Check out a great write up on SBS.com and  here.

After doing what the French do so well and taking a long holiday (well a long blog holiday). It’s the back to school/work or as the French call it the ‘rentrée‘ (transl. return) which means I’ve been doing some serious cookstorming, testing out recipes for new classes, dinners and culinary events.

After doing some pie research yesterday (thanks for the tweets) I decided to get down to some pie action.  A while ago I had read an uk food trend report that said pies are hot stuff with brands like Pieminster and Delisanté making stylish hip pies for Selfridges, Waitrose and other big retailers. Pies have always been a staple dish in the English diet and even more so in the American’s with songs,  films and places like this. The French are yet to catch on (they prefer their tartes) although I know one place in Paris which makes a mean fruit pie (I sometimes make some there too)

I hit the market in the morning. My favourite fruit & veg guy (he’s got great produce and is also cute) was back from holiday which I was super happy about. He had a lovely pumpkin which I just had to have a piece of, along with some super sweet tiny mirabelle plums which by the time I got home had all somehow disappeared. Way too easy to pop into your mouth!

After baking 4 different cakes for my birthday on Friday I definetly needed to balance things out with something savoury. So a sweet pumpkin pie (if you’ve got a good recipe, send it my way!) was not gonna happen. Plus I’m not a big fan of sweet pumpkin pie.

I like roasting pumpkin and eating hot with olive oil or cold tossed with some baby spinach, pine nuts and a tahini dressing or in a curry. So I decided to roast some potatoes and pumpkin with some curry spices and popping that into a pie. It reminded me a little of the curry puffs my mum used to make. MMMMMmmmmmmm yum!

Spiced Pumpkin Potato Pie

4 small pies

700g diced pumpkin
300g diced potatoes
4 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp ground paprika
2 tbsp ground curry powder (I used a rendang spice mix which has ground lemongrass)
3 pinches of salt
Sesame seeds for garnish
1 egg for eggwash

Preheat the oven 180°c/350°f. Mix together the spices, salt and oil with the potatoes and pumpkin. Put into a roasting tray. Roast for 30-40minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Leave to cool slightly.

Shortcrust pastry

170g flour
100g butter (very cold, cut into cubes)
1 tsp salt
1 egg

For the shortcrust pastry:
1. Sablage
Mix flour and salt add cubed butters. Rub flour mixture and butter together to create a breadcrumb texture. Make sure to work quickly. Add egg. Mix slightly.

2. Frasage
Turn out mixture onto clean surface (preferably a cool marble surface). Using the palm of your hand. Push a small amount of the mixture about 20cm along the surface of the table. Do this with all the dough. Repeat once or twice until the mixture has come together.

Chill dough for 30mins. Preheat oven 180°c/350°f.

Roll out to knife edge thickness and line already greased and floured tins. Use a round cookie cutter to cut out the dough for the tins. Prick the base and then fill with potato and pumpkin. Eggwash the edge of the pastry and cut a second (smaller round) for the top. Make sure to make a small hole in the top for the steam. Eggwash the top and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top and bottom of pie is golden brown. Eat warm or cold.