We’re celebrating Fallow Day this year on Wednesday 5^th September.  We hope you’ll join us. 

 

What’s Fallow Day?  There’s such a long gap between Queen’s Birthday and Labour Weekend - we reckon New Zealand needs another holiday right about now.  Our lands and gardens are lying barren after winter, yet we’ve got glimpses of the light of spring, and we’re starting to feel warm and spirited!  

 

So we take a day, when nature lies fallow and the human spirit tends to gloom, to gather the whanau together and celebrate all that we have, because we know that spring is not far away!

 

And to help celebrate Fallow Day, put away the comfort food and whip up some Berries with meringues and cream.  Use store bought meringues or mini pavlovas if you prefer.
 

Berry Compote with Meringues and Cream Berry Compote Ingredients: 1 bag of Orchard Gold Mixed Berries (500g) ½ cup castor sugar Juice of ½ a lemon Method: Heat the berries slowly in a saucepan with the sugar, until the berries are thawed and the sugar has dissolved.  Put aside to cool, then add the lemon juice.

Make these with:       or any mixture of Orchard Gold berries that you have.

Meringue Ingredients: 2 egg whites 2/3rd cup castor sugar Pinch of salt 1 tsp vanilla essence Ingredients: Have the egg whites at room temperature.   Heat the oven to 120degC.  Line two baking trays with baking paper or non-stick foil. Place the egg whites and salt in a clean dry bowl (not plastic) and beat until soft peaks hold when you raise the whisk. Add the sugar, one dessertspoon at a time, beating well to incorporate each spoonful. Add the vanilla and beat in well. Beat until the mixture is smooth and glossy and the sugar is dissolved. Place large spoonfuls on the trays. Make for 1-1/4 hours.  Check to see if crisp on the outside after an hour – they may require slightly more cooking.  Also, reduce the oven temperature if the meringues show signs of browning. When cool, store in an airtight container.   To serve: Place a meringue on each plate, top with some whipped cream and two large spoonfuls of berry compote.

 

Remembering Tom Ffowcs Williams.

 

Yesterday on TV3's Cafe Secrets, Julie Le Clerc made some luscious Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tarts using Orchard Gold raspberries.

Episode 5 - Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tarts Recipe ©copyright Julie Le Clerc 2012 Makes 24 Chocolate pastry: 200g butter, softened but not melted 3/4 cup icing sugar 1 egg Pinch of salt 2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted 2 1/4 cups plain flour Filling: 3/4 cup cream 250g Whittakers Dark Ghana 72% chocolate, coarsely chopped 2 cups Orchard Gold frozen raspberries 1 tbsp brandy or liqueur (optional)

Makes these with:

1 To make pastry, place sugar, butter and egg in a bowl and beat to just combine (do not cream the mixture). Add cocoa and flour and mix to combine into a dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to rest. 2 Roll out pastry to 5mm thick. Using a 9cm cookie cutter, cut out 24 circles. Fit circles into the bases of 24 standard muffin tins. Prick bases with a fork and chill for 30 minutes. Heat oven to 200°C. 3 Line pastry cases with small squares of foil and fill with baking beans. Bake for 10 minutes (this is known as ‘blind baking’). Remove foil and beans and return pastry cases to the oven for a further 5 minutes to finish cooking. Remove to cool. 4 Place cream, chocolate and raspberries in a bowl and microwave for 3-5 minutes, to melt.Whisk mixture until chocolate is smooth but there are still lumps of raspberries. Whisk in brandy or liqueur, if desired. Spoon chocolate raspberry mixture into prepared pastry cases to fill and leave in a cool place to set.

You can catch the program on TV3 On Demand on 

http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Cafe-Secrets-Season-2-Ep-5/tabid/59/articleID/7769/MCat/369/Default.aspx

Have you been watching Café Secrets with Julie Le Clerc – she’s been making some delicious things with Orchard Gold berries.  It’s on TV3 at 5pm on Sundays.  Here is Julie’s recipe for Vanilla, White chocolate Blueberry Blondie, that was on yesterday’s show, courtesy of the TV3 website.  It tastes great.
 

Cafe Secrets, Season 2, Episode 4 Vanilla, White chocolate, Blueberry Blondie Recipe©copyright Julie Le Clerc 2012   Makes 18

Make this with:

150g Rolling Meadow butter, softened 1/2 cup caster sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 large eggs 2 cups self-raising flour, sifted 1 1/2 cups Orchard Gold Frozen Blueberries 150g Whittakers white chocolate, coarsely chopped Icing sugar, to dust

1 Heat oven to 160°C. Grease a 17 x 27cm slice tin and line with baking paper leaving an overhang on all sides. 2 In a bowl, beat butter, sugars and vanilla until pale and creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time then beat for 1 minute more. 3 Turn mixer speed to low and then gradually beat in the flour. Stir in the blueberries and white chocolate. 4 Spread mixture into prepared tin. Bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin then remove and cut in squares. Dust with icing sugar, to serve.

You can catch the program on TV3 on demand on
http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Cafe-Secrets-Season-2-Ep-/tabid/59/articleID/7679/MCat/369/Default.aspx .

Here’s a quick and easy treat we made using Orchard Gold Mixed Berries, but they also taste great with any of the packs.  First make a Mixed Berry Compote, then take some of the Compote to make Berry Turnovers.  The secret is to make sure the edges are well sealed – crimp them with a fork.  Serve warm with custard or ice cream, or cold as lunchbox treats.   Use the rest of the compote to dunk your turnover into, on your cereal, or swirl into yoghurt.

 

Make these with: Orchard Gold Mixed Berries  

MIXED BERRY COMPOTE
Ingredients:
1 pack Orchard Gold Mixed Berries
¼ cup sugar
 
Method:
Heat the Orchard Gold Mixed Berries with the sugar until the sugar has dissolved.  This can be done in a saucepan or in the microwave.
 

MIXED BERRY TURNOVERS Ingredients: 3 sheets frozen puff pastry, ready rolled 2 cups Mixed Berry Compote (see above) 2 dessertspoons cornflour 1 egg beaten well with 1 tablespoon water Method: Preheat the oven to 200degC.  Place baking paper or silicone mats on a baking tray.   Pour the berry juices from the Compote into a jug and mix in the cornflour.  Warm in the microwave or in a saucepan until slightly thickened, then stir into the Compote.   Place a sheet of frozen puff pastry on a cutting board and cut into 4 squares.  Brush the edges well with beaten egg wash.    Working one square at a time, put a tablespoon of the Compote onto the middle of square, then fold the pastry over from the far point to make a triangle.  Press the edges together with your thumb and fingers to enclose the filling, then crimp the edges with a fork to completely seal the turnover.  Put on the baking tray.   Repeat this with the remaining pastry squares.  With the remaining egg, brush the tops of the turnovers.   Bake for 20 minutes until well puffed up and golden.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

 

Tip:  If any of the filling spills out the side of the turnover, use a teaspoon to spoon it back inside the hole it came out from – do this as soon as you take the Turnovers out of the oven and no-one will ever know!

Julie was in Christchurch in yesterday's Cafe Secrets, visiting and supporting Cafes in their post-earthquake days.

 

At The Addington Store she made one of the owners her Mega Health Smoothie.  Here's her recipe and pics, courtesy of the TV3 website, http://www.tv3.co.nz/Shows/CafeSecrets/Recipes.aspx 

Mega Health Smoothie
Recipe©copyright Julie Le Clerc 2012

Serves 20

1 litre Ocean Spray Cranberry Classic juice
1 pack Orchard Gold frozen Smoothie Mixed Berries
Airborne Tawari Honey, to taste
1 Combine ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth; sweeten with honey, to taste.