Local is Lovely harvest Pracshop

Last week we held our second Local is Lovely Pracshop and it was just as wonderful, inspiring and fun as I'd hoped it would be. And as with our first Pracshop last November, it also reminded me how good it is to collaborate and share your ideas, experience and skills with others. 

The team we had brought together to teach this workshop; Luisa Brimble (photography), Stephanie Stamatis (styling), my Mum Annie Herron and The Flower Era florist Amelia Toohey, were a dream to learn from and work with and I really hope we can all align our diaries again to put together some more workshops for later in the year. For now though, here are a few pictures, words and recipes from last week. Thank you so much everyone who came to learn, teach and cook with us, especially Luisa Brimble who really made the whole thing take flight and whose generosity, beautiful spirit and talent continually blow me away.

We started our two day Pracshop with a talk by my mum, artist Annie Herron (above), who gave us all an overview on the art of seeing, the rule of thirds and some basics on perspective. As she said, with digital photography it's just so easy to snap away without really stopping and thinking about what we're actually photographing, how we have composed the shot and whether every element in it is working or not.

She told the story of famed artist Brett Whitely who, in his Sydney studio would tack his huge canvases up against a wall and set a chair way back against the opposite wall. He'd sit there for hours, staring at his work from a distance then dart forward, paint or edit something then return and realy look at the canvas all over again. Mum wasn't saying that we should all do this with our food photography, but just suggested we slow down a little and look harder before pressing that button. 

Morning tea was a warm almond and fig cake and the first of many many cups of tea over the two days. The recipe came from my book but I've added it here below too.

Fig and almond cake

The original recipe for this cake (in my book!) calls for roasted rhubarb but you can, and I do, make it with pretty much any fruit. It's also really good as a plain almond cake to serve alongside poached fruit. The only real key to this cake is to use freshly toasted ground almonds not almond meal from the shops, the nutty, rich flavour and coarse texture are deal breakers (in a good way).

150g unsalted butter

150g caster sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup buttermilk 

180g freshly ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

6 figs, quartered

topping

Finely grated zest of one orange

30g butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 cup slithered almonds

Icing sugar, to dust 

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 24cm cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one by one. Fold in the buttermilk, almond meal and baking powder and spread into the prepared cake tin. Push the figs into and over the cake and bake for 1/2 hour.

For the topping, finely melt the butter and stir in the grated zest and almonds. Spread this over the half-baked cake, lower the heat to 160C and bake for a further 20 minutes. Cool the cake in the tin and then top with the almonds and dusting of icing sugar before serving.

Another key player in last week's workshop and its success was farmer Dougal Munro. Dougal has a farm just out of Orange NSW and will be appearing here on Local is Lovely with a little e-interview next week (whoop). He was also supposed to come along as a student to last week's workshops but farm jobs got in the way, as they do. That didn't stop him from driving down to Rydal on our first morning to deliver a ute-load of incredible produce; the last of his Autumn raspberries, Jerusalem Artichokes, spuds, garlic (enough for everyone to take a bag home each to plant or eat) and best of all I thought, a selection of rare, heirloom apples from his orchard (which happens to hold 30 different varieties of apple tree - cool hey). Here are some of them above and below.

And speaking of helpers in the food department, once again I had the clever Pip in the kitchen with me, together we ran food out to the studio all day to be either eaten and/or photographed and I am very very grateful for all that she did over the two days. Thanks lady!

After Mum's session and one from Luisa with the basics of manual photography, we trooped outside to get shooting. And first in the frame was the lovely Ella who came along to help Stephanie with the styling scenes but who most of the time, ended up modelling for us. Without complaint, Ella held baskets of apples, drizzled honey over porridge and rolled pastry like a pro while we clicked away like the papparazi. Meanwhile, Luisa hovered and gave everyone tips on angles, apertures, ISO settings and shooting in general.

After the orchard we returned to the woolshed to make apple pies and once again Ella was put to work in front of the camera. 

We used my basic sweet shortcrust pastry recipe (below) then just peeled and sliced our freshly picked apples, before tossing them (oh so artfully) with lemon juice, cinnamon and a little golden caster sugar. The apples were piled into their tart shells, topped with some lattice pastry then baked until golden and bubbly.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Makes enough pastry for 2 medium-sized tarts

150g cold butter, cubed

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 egg, cold

Place the flour and icing sugar in a bowl and pop in the freezer for half an hour. Tip your cold flour and sugar into the bowl of a food processor and blitz for a moment. Add the butter and blitz until you have a coarse sand-like texture. Add the egg and blitz for a moment more. Tip the mixture out onto a work surface and bring together with the palm of your hand, working it until you have a lovely, smooth disc of dough. Divide into two, shape into discs and cover both with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes then, on a lightly dusted work surface, roll your pastry until about 5mm thick and drape into a loose-bottomed tart tin. Return to the fridge for another half an hour. Before baking or blind baking. You could freeze one disc of dough at this point, or even better roll it out and line a tart tin then freeze it like that, then when you fancy baking a tart quite quickly you can pull it out of the freezer and blind bake or fill and bake almost immediately.

Our first day wound up late in the afternoon after lots more scenes to shoot and one-on-one sessions between each student and Luisa. We then shared a casual dinner of our Mandagery Creek Venison ragu and polenta then sat by the fire outside chatting for ages. 

Day two started early with a pretty special breakfast picnic which I'll post about separately this week then morphed into a moving feast of flowers (beautifully arranged and facilitated by Miss Amelia Toohey of The Flower Era, more baking (which too will have its own post in a couple of days) and styling sessions with Steph. For me though, the highlight was a picnic lunch in the garden which of course, we all photographed the hell out of before eating!

 

Fresh Gingerbread

This was morning tea on day two. Hot with fresh ginger and a pinch of cayenne pepper, I often make this loaf cake at home and it's always popular. Plus, it lasts really well for a few days when wrapped tightly, so it's a handy one to keep in the cake tin. Recipe only slightly adapted from one given in the wonderful book Breakfast, Lunch Tea by Rose Carrarini. 

80g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup plain flour

2/3 cup wholemeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

A good pinch of cayenne pepper

A good pinch of salt
2 tbsp ground ginger

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

3 tbsp freshly grated ginger

2 tbsp molasses
3/4 tsp bicarb soda

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat your oven to 180C and grease and line a loaf tin. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl then place the butter, sugar syrup and ginger in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy.

In a third bowl, beat the molsasses together with 1/2 tsp of the bicarb soda and then pour this into the creamed butter mixture. Finally, combine remaining bicarb soda with 3/4 cup boiling water. Pour this into the creamed butter mixture too. Fold dry and wet ingredients together then finally fold through the eggs. Spoon mixture into your prepared loaf tin, smooth the top then bake for 35 minutes or until the loaf feels springy to touch and has begun to pull away from the sides of the tin.

Our picnic lunch on day two comprised of some of my favourite foods shared in the sun, on a crisp Autumn day with great company. It was a very simple but pretty tasty affair of; Mandagery Creek Venison salami from yours truly, hunks of mellow blue cheese by Orange's Second Mouse Cheese Company and a warm salad of roasted kipflers and purple congo spuds (grown by our mate Dougal, see above) with an aioli of elephant garlic (recipe here)  and Mum and Dad's olive oil.

We also had red capsicums, slowly roasted to the below recipe, bread and greens.

Piedmontese capsicums

These capsicum boats appear on antipasto plates all over Italy and are best when served at room temperature which makes them perfect for picnics. I pack them on a bed of salad leaves and by the time we’ve arrived wherever we’re picnic-ing, the capsicum’s juices have made a lovely dressing. Win win. Any leftovers make a great pasta sauce when chopped finely and tossed about in a hot frying pan for five minutes.

4 red capsicum, halved and seeded

4 tomatoes

8 anchovy fillets, drained and finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp capers, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Mixed salad leaves, handful of basil leaves, to serve

Preheat oven to 160C. Lightly oil a large baking dish, place capsicum halves, cut-side up and well-spaced, in prepared dish. score a cross at the base of each tomato and slip into a saucepan of boiling water for 30 seconds. Dip in iced water and peel skin. Cut tomatoes in half lengthways and place one half, cut-side down, inside each capsicum boat.

Combine anchovy, garlic and capers and scatter over tomato. Drizzle with oil and balsamic and bake for 1 1/2 hours, until capsicum and tomato are soft and tender. Place mixed salad leaves on a large serving platter and top with capsicum. Scatter over basil leaves to serve. 

For dessert we piled figs onto a board and added honeycomb, sweet dukkah and nougat. I've only just started making nougat at home, and have to say, I love the whole process and end result but of course there's lots of beautiful nougat to buy out there in the shops. This is my kind of dessert, easy to assemble, share and best of all, no washing up! 

If you did want to try and make your own, I used this recipe from SBS's fantastic food website and found the video really helpful too. 

Lastly, with our lunch we drank glasses of quince cordial, which really was just a big jar of the poaching liquid from some quinces we'd had on our porridge this morning. I'd just reduced the leftover syrup by bringing it to a boil in a small saucepan and then simmering for about 10 minutes. The end result is gorgeous as a cordial, poured over ice cream, served hot with a simple vanilla pound cake or even mixed into a glass of sparkling wine.

Our next Local is Lovely Pracshop will be held on May 25/26 and we do have two 'day student' spots still available, 'day' meaning accommodation is not included in the price (though I can suggest a few options). If interested, please either send me an email (sophie_hansen@me.com) or jump over here to book. Thank you! 

Recent work - Milla Cordial

One of the best kinds of work I do is create recipes and take photos for local (and further afield) businesses so they can have some pretty pics to use in their marketing endeavours. And it's even more fun when those businesses are also friends. So when the lovely ladies behind Milla Cordial asked if I could come and snap their range of handmade cordials and also develop a few recipes to showcase them, I was in like flynn.

I've long been a fan of these beautiful cordials (I wrote about them here on this blog) last year, made with locally grown fruit (and now lavender!) and bush ingredients, and love that each batch is made by hand. Milla Cordial's Mel Ashton and Camilla Strang keep production runs small to ensure they get the most flavour and goodness into each bottle.

If you would like to chat about working together please get in touch. I can develop recipes, shoot and style them for you, and/or just get some nice product and lifestyle pics for your image library. Rates are reasonable and I work pretty quickly! Email - sophie_hansen@me.com

Lemon drizzle tea cake

This beautiful, dense cake sings with lemon and is just perfect on a hot day,  maybe with a dollop of natural yogurt and of course a big pitcher of Milla Cordial's Lemon, Lemon Myrtle and Kakadu Plum. Gorgeous!

250g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 2/3 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup buttermilk or natural yogurt
4 tbsp Millamolong Lemon, Lemon Myrtle and Kakadu Plum cordial
Zest of one lemon
1 cup icing sugar
Zest and juice of 1-2 lemons

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin. Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.

Fold through the flour, alternating with the buttermilk or natural yogurt and finally, fold in the cordial and lemon zest. Spoon mixture into the prepared cake tin and place in the oven for 35 minutes or until the top is golden and the cake is coming away from the sides of the tin. Let cool in the tin for five minutes before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing, just mix the icing sugar, zest and juice together until you have a lovely thick consistency. Drizzle this over the cool cake, let the icing set and serve!

Ruby Grapefruit & Lemon Aspen jelly with apple mint custard

2 cups (500mls) Milla Cordial Ruby Grapefruit and Lemon Aspen Cordial
2 cups (500mls) water
Juice of one ruby grapefruit
6 titanium-strength gelatine leaves, softened in cold water for 5 minutes
Apple mint custard (recipe here)

Combine the cordial, water and grapefruit juice in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Squeeze excess water from the gelatine leaves then whisk them into the hot cordial mixture.

Lightly spray a large jelly mould or six small, one-cup moulds with canola cooking spray then pour mixture into the mould or moulds, cover with plastic then place in the fridge to set overnight or for a few hours.

Serve with segments of ruby grapefruit, raspberries, almond bread and some lovely thick custard.

Lavender Shortbread Biscuits

Short, sweet and aromatic - these little beauties are great fodder for afternoon or morning tea. Recipe adapted from one by Mary Berry .

175g softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour
2 tbsp fresh, unsprayed, finely chopped lavender buds
For the icing; Milla Cordial lemon, lime and lavender cordial, 1 cup pure icing sugar and extra lavender buds

Line three large baking trays with paper and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Fold in the flour and lavender and gently stir until you have a soft dough.

Turn this out onto a lightly floured work surface, divide mixture in two and gently knead one half (keep dusting your hands with flour if necessary) until you have a smooth dough, form into a disc shape, wrap in plastic and repeat with remaining mixture. Place the discs in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour.

Preheat oven to 160C (fan) and gently roll out one disc of dough between two sheets of baking paper, you want it to be an even 5mms thick, or thereabouts. Using a 5cm round cookie cutter, cut out biscuits and arrange on prepared baking tray. Roll the reamining dough back into a ball and let chill for a while before re-rolling and cutting.

Let the tray of un-baked biscuits chill in the fridge again for 20-30 minutes before baking in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until pale gold.

Wait until the biscuits are completely cool then whisk together the icing sugar with enough cordial to achieve a nice, thick consistency. Spoon a little icing over each biscuit and sprinkle with the extra lavender buds. Makes about 20 biscuits.

Also part of the Milla Cordial story is an annual Polo Carnival coming up this March just out of Orange. We have been the last few years and it's always a really fun, very family friendly day. Ticket for the John Davis Volvo Polo Carnival on March 14/15h 2015 are now on sale via the Millamolong website.

The sweetest thing; apricot brioche

There are few things nicer in life, I think, than a perfect apricot, picked and eaten warm from the tree. Almost overpoweringly fragrant and juicy; ripe apricots are on another level to the cold, hard and mealy ones we all get stuck with from the shops from time to time (though if you do find yourself with a kilo or two of these, all's not lost - just dust them in cinnamon sugar, dot with butter and roast for a bit - they'll come up beautifully).

Here in Orange, many orchards have just finished picking their apricots. These locally harvested ones can be found at our monthly markets (which are on tomorrow morning) and shops like The Agrestic Grocer and Hillside Harvest. And they are superb.

We went straight to the source the other day and asked some friends, who happen to have their own orchard, if we could please come and pick a basket or two. This family have 800 or so apricot trees on the slopes of Mount Canobolas and a pretty incredible view too. Our kids are at school together and so they all had a ball picking and playing while we did the same. 

It almost seems a shame to do anything with perfectly ripe apricots like these, being as they are, just perfect on their own. But because I was in a baking mood on the weekend, a handful or so of our haul, were tucked into soft discs of brioche dough, sprinkled with sugar and baked until collapsed on their buttery base. And actually, they were one of the best things I've made all year. Though as we're only a few days in that's not saying much. Kidding, they were amazing. 

There are plenty more apricot recipes here in the archives too; including recipes for apricot ice cream, apricot chicken, apricot frangipane tart and apricot curd.There's also one for apricot and vanilla jam, this was one of the first recipes I ever posted here on the blog and is still a favourite of many lovely readers!

Brioche isn't a particularly useful thing to make; a little too rich for breakfast and not really sweet enough for pudding. But in my opinion, absolutely perfect for a nice little brunch or morning tea.

It's also a real joy to make. Rich, golden and bursting with butter, I love working with this dough and the way it makes my hands feel and smell. I love and the gradual process of rising, shaping and pressing into smooth round discs. And of course, I love the end result.

Apricot Brioche

You can swap the apricots with pretty much any seasonal fruit, figs would be beautiful here as would berries or sliced peaches. If making these for brunch, just make up the dough the night before then divide up into smaller balls when you wake up, let them rest for a couple of hours and pop in the oven just before your friends arrive and/or you fancy eating them. This recipe is adapted from one in my new favourite cookbook Huckleberry. If you like baking, then you'll absolutely love this one.

4 tbsp full fat milk
2 tbsp active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups 00 baking flour (plain is ok too if that’s what you have)
1/4 cup caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 tsp sea salt
5 eggs, beaten
220g unsalted butter, cubes, very soft
1/2 cup almond flakes

Warm the milk just a little then place in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Sprinkle in the yeast and whisk to combine. Set aside for a few minutes or until frothy. Add the flour, sugar, salt and eggs then mix on low for a few minutes or until the dough comes together.

Increase the speed a little and work the dough for five minutes, stopping every now and then to scrape the dough down from the sides of the bowl.

Now, reduce the mixer speed again to low and add the butter a little at at time. Pausing every now and then to scrape any dough down the sides of the bowl. Mix until all the butter is completely integrated into the dough and you have a beautiful smooth mixture. Remove from the mixer bowl and with lightly floured hands, work into a ball.

Transfer to a greased bowl, cover with plastic and place overnight in the fridge.

The next morning, take your dough out of the fridge and gently cut into four or six small balls, depending on how big you want them and how many you want!

Gently work the first piece of dough into a smooth dough, pinching the sides down to the base so the sides are all even. Then, using the heel of your palm, flatten the first into a disc (keep the remaining covered with a damp tea towel while you work), with a gentle indentation in the middle. Place on a greased, lined baking tray and repeat with the remaining dough.

Cover loosely with plastic and set aside at room temperature again for two hours. After an hour and a half, preheat the oven to 180C. Slice the apricots into halves or quarters and arrange in the indent of each brioche.

To make the egg wash, combine two tbsp double cream with 1 egg and whisk well. Brush this over your brioche and then sprinkle liberally with the extra sugar and the almond flakes.

Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the brioche are golden brown. Serve straight away!