Sometimes I go to bed wondering what stories my dreams will tell me. Sometimes I enjoy the entertainment and other times I learn what the dream is telling me. In one dream, I was a magpie and I flew up, up, up then turned on the momentum, then swooped down as fast as I could. It was so much fun. The dream itself was great, and it’s left me wondering what it all means. While I’m thinking about that, I painted a watercolour and added the magpies digitally. They were from an earlier drawing/painting which I had scanned.
The weather this winter has been gorgeous! It’s getting close to the end of August, so not long until Spring. Our prayers have been answered and we’ve had enough rain for the countryside to look beautiful and green. We’ve been harvesting custard apples on our farm since April, and the oranges and lemons this year have been like little amazeballs. Super tasty. We have plenty of eggs from our hens too, so it’s a logical choice to experiment with everything, because more is more.
Custard apples and lemons picked fresh from the orchard.
Oranges and lemons, custard apples and blueberries are in season. My blueberry bushes died in the drought last summer, but there are plenty in the shops right now. So, with the confidence that an abundance of fruit and eggs gave me I was able to try out a few different experiments.
Butter, almond meal and Medjool dates for the tart shells. Perfect. I had everything I needed. I had been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, and was a little bit nervous about this upcoming culinary experiment because I had spoken about the idea before any action on my part. So the pressure was on. What came out of the experiment, was a tart that gently beckons with it’s scent, then invites a taste with it’s sunny golden goodness, caresses the mouth at first bite, and then bursts into flavour.
Fresh and juicy seasonal fruits are a great way to celebrate the coming Spring.
Recipe
Tarts for The Soul
Make the lemon butter and tart shells first, then the filling.
Lemon Butter: juice of two lemons and zest of one, 200g sugar, 50g butter, 2 eggs whisked well. Gently heat all the ingredients in a saucepan, and stir until it thickens. It should take about ten minutes or a smidgen longer. A double boiler would be great, but I don’t have one and a normal small saucepan worked out just fine.
Tart shells: 2 cups of almond meal, 6 Medjool dates, 50g of melted butter. Place almond meal and dates in the food processor and mix through. Add melted butter. Press the mixture into mini tart trays, and bake for 10-12 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius. Set aside to cool. These can be made a day or two ahead of time and stored in an airtight container.
Filling: 1 cup of firm custard apple, cut into segments and seeds taken out, juice of two oranges, 3 eggs well beaten, zest of one lemon, 50g butter, 1/4 cup of lemon butter (see recipe below if you don’t have any). Place orange juice, lemon zest, beaten eggs and butter into a saucepan and stir on low heat until mixture thickens. Add segments of custard apple and fold through. Add filling to tart shells when it has cooled. Note: the filling does not need added sugar.
Just before serving, add the filling to the tart shells, place a couple of teaspoons of lemon butter on top of the filling and top with blueberries. Sprinkle some edible flowers on top and dust with icing sugar. This step isn’t necessary, just pretty.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty they say. 2020 – also an interesting year with the pandemic still raging. What will you say in hindsight? With many of us coming out of lockdown and able to see friends and family for the first time in months, picnics are the big thing. We can maintain our social distancing rules and yet connect with each other again. It makes sense that picnic food is high on the list of priorities, with individual servings of things that don’t need refrigeration.
So, I have created something that is perfect for a picnic in the park! It’s healthy, delicious, easy to make and take. Let’s call it Custard Apple Berry Jar, because you make it into a jar. Mine here is gluten free and dairy free.
Custard Apple Berry Jar
To make this, you will need:
1 large or two smaller custard apples
1 punnet of strawberries
Dried cranberries
2 teaspoons of beetroot powder (to make it pink)
2 teaspoons of rosewater
15 grams of gelatin, dissolved in 1/4 of a cup of hot water
Gingernut biscuits (gluten free, dairy free)
Thick coconut yoghurt (gluten free, dairy free)
A few blueberries, pistachios and edible flowers for garnishing
Method:
Place gingernuts in the bottom of each clean jar. Add a sprinkle dried berries. Next, place de-seeded custard apples, strawberries, gelatin, rosewater, and beetroot powder in a blender, food processor or bowl and blend together. Pour gently over the gingernuts and dried berries. Fill jars to 3/4 full. Chill for about half an hour, so it sets. Add a couple of dollops of yoghurt, and sprinkle with pistachios, edible flowers and blueberries. Put the lid on and it’s good to go. Serves 8
With what I hoped was a sage nod and a wise look, I announced that I was having a mental health day. I think I was the only one there at the time, so if I didn’t look too sage and wise, it doesn’t matter.
What did I do on this particular mental health day? I pottered around the house, played with watercolour on paper without actually painting anything, and then in the afternoon, I made a Custard Apple pudding. Invented it, really.
When it came out of the oven, I decided that there was no point waiting to have it for dessert, so I had it for afternoon tea just as that beautiful golden light of the setting sun appeared in the garden. It was delicious, and reminded me of Bread and Butter Pudding – except healthy! What more could anyone ask for.
Custard Apple Pudding, served hot for afternoon tea.Serve it on one of your favourite plates, because you deserve it.The golden light doesn’t last very long at this time of year. It’s important to make the most of it and go out there – be golden with the rest of the landscape.
To make the pudding, simply mix one large custard apple (take the seeds out first), four eggs, a drop of vanilla and a good shake of both nutmeg and cinnamon. Pour into a buttered dish with 3 or 4 dried figs and dried fruit of your choice. (I used sultanas, raisins and cranberries soaked in sherry.) Make a bain-marie by placing the dish in a baking tray that has water in it. This will keep the pudding nice and moist. Bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes. Serve hot with whipped cream.
It’s May, and just turned cold in our beautiful little part of the world. Well, cold for us anyway. We’ve been harvesting custard apples and sending them off to market. One of the benefits of being a custard apple farmer is that you get to eat them. This afternoon I made Custard Apple and Rhubarb Crumble. Talk about delicious!
When I was making it, I looked outside the kitchen window just as the sun was setting. The light was magnificent. There’s something just so wonderful about being in the landscape when it’s golden like that….. you get to be golden too. So, I dashed out of the warmth and took a few snaps so I can remember this beautiful afternoon, all the while being golden.
It was such a lovely experience, that I think comfort food is in fact, art for the soul!
I love living here in our beautiful little wooden house.Custard Apple & Rhubarb Crumble
Recipe
Ingredients: A bunch of rhubarb and one large custard apple for the base. Half a cup of dried cranberries for the middle. Half a cup of sugar, half a cup of flour (I used gluten-free), half a cup of walnuts, half a cup of coconut flakes, 75-ish grams of butter, a good shake or two of cinnamon.
Method: Remove the leaves and strings from the rhubarb, and discard. Chop the stems into lengths of about 2-3 cm. Place in a saucepan with about half a cup of water, and bring to the boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes and leave to cool. While the rhubarb cools, remove the custard apple seeds and discard them. Drain the rhubarb, and the custard apple pulp. (If you mix the rhubarb juice with the custard apple juice, it makes a delicious pink drink.) Mix the rhubarb and custard apple together and place in a medium to large buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the cranberries onto this mixture.
For the crumble: Place flour, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl with the softened butter. Rub the butter through until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the walnuts and coconut flakes. Sprinkle evenly over the custard apple, rhubarb and berry base. Bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream, icecream or coconut cream.
