Individual Summer Vegetable Tarts

I made these last week to take along to a get together hosted by Lydia Bakes.  We all have quite the sweet tooth so I thought something savoury would go down well to combat all the sugar we would be eating (check out the sweet Berry Tarts I made for the catch up too).
I made these Summer Vegetable Tarts from scratch, baking my own pastry cases, but you could easily buy some pre-made from the supermarket which would make these really quick and easy to whip up.  Also, feel free to change up the vegetable mix to include your favourites or what you have on hand.

Ingredients:
Pastry cases:
1 ⅓  cups flour
pinch of salt
100g unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons ice cold water

Vegetable filling:
1 bunch asparagus
1 kumara, chopped into chunks
½ pumpkin, chopped into chunks
12 cherry tomatoes
4 – 6 Portobello mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs
salt
pepper
200g haloumi cheese
25g feta, crumbled
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
12 small sprigs of rosemary

Method:
Pastry cases:
In a food processor, combine the flour and salt by pulsing the mixture in 2 second bursts.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Mix the egg with a tablespoon of water.  Add the egg to the flour mixture, pulsing again until just combined, adding the extra water if needed to bring the pastry together to forma soft dough.
On a lightly floured surface, shape the mixture into a ball.  Wrap in cling film and place in the refrigerator for about an hour, or until firm.
Grease a 12 hole muffin tin.  Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roll the pastry mixture out to about 2mm thick.  Cut out rounds from the pastry, about 6cm in diameter (I used a drinking glass for this).  Place the pastry rounds into the prepared muffin holes and press into place.  Prick the bottom of each pastry case with a fork.
Cut out squares of baking paper (or use muffin papers) and line each pastry case before filling each with uncooked rice or baking weights.  Place the prepared tin of pastry cases into the freezer for 5 – 10 minutes (or the fridge for 30 minutes) to become cool again and firm up.
Bake for 10 minutes.  Take the cases out of the oven and remove the paper and baking weights before returning to the oven for a further 2-5 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Filling:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Place the vegetables (kumara, pumpkin, asparagus, tomatoes, mushrooms) in a couple of roasting trays, coat the vegetables in the oil, dried herbs, and salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables until tender. 
While the vegetables are roasting, cut the haloumi into slices, about 0.5cm thick and fry in a frying pan until lightly golden on both sides.
Once the vegetables been roasted and taken out of the oven to cool slightly, cut the vegetables (excluding the tomatoes) into small, little chunks (0.5cm pieces).  Crumb the feta cheese and mix it together with the roasted vegetables.
Place a piece of haloumi in the bottom of each pastry case.  Top with the roasted vegetable mix.
Beat together the egg and water.  Brush the egg wash over the vegetables in the tart cases.  Bake for a further 10 minutes.  Once out of the oven, top each tart with a sprig of rosemary and a cherry tomato.

Rabbit Hole Café

Man it feels good to have time to blog again!  I’ve been so busy making our school yearbook that I have turned into an anti-social recluse at home and have only been on my computer for work.  Boring!  Simon treated me to brunch on Saturday morning to give me a bit of a break and I chose to go to the Rabbit Hole café as I have had it on my list of ‘must try’ places for quite a while.   I like being able to tick things off my lists :)

Located in Herne Bay, this little café takes its decor inspiration from ‘Alice in Wonderland’.  There’s lots of mismatched chairs and the place makers are playing cards.  Simon and I popped ourselves down in these velvet throne-like chairs near the window seated around a cute chess board table.  On a sunny day (it was stink weather in Auckland on Saturday) I reckon it would be pretty blissful to sit out on their deck and if you have little kids with you they have quite a selection of toys out there to keep them entertained.

I built my own breakfast and had scrambled eggs with a side of kumara rosti and haloumi.  It was delicious and my accompanying hot chocolate was rich and flavourful.  Simon had the Salmon eggs benedict which I avoided as I don’t like salmon :P 
Our food came out quickly and with a touch of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ whimsy in the form of mismatched vintage plates.

There looked to be a good selection of little sweet treats up at the counter too.  I didn’t go investigate though as my meal was more than enough and the place was pretty chocka.

I really enjoyed my visit to The Rabbit Hole and would stop by again.  If you want even more of a treat for yourself you could stop for a bite here, then head up the road to Icing on the Cake and get a cupcake for dessert :)

Rabbit Hole Café
203 Jervois Road, Herne Bay, Auckland
Ph: 09 360 0755

Chicken Meatballs wrapped in prosciutto

 

There wasn’t any of these left over after our high tea, they were yum!  I used turkey mince when we made them because our supermarket didn’t have any chicken mince (but yeah, they randomly had turkey!) which I think worked quite well because I kinda like the flavour of turkey.  I’ve re-made these at a later date with chicken and they were just as good and went just as fast!  The picture above is are the chicken ones and the photo at the bottom of the post are the turkey meatballs.

Makes about 24.

500g minced chicken or turkey meat
100g grated haloumi cheese
finely grated zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley or sage
1 egg yolk
50g dried breadcrumbs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
10-12 slices prosciutto

Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Place the chicken, haloumi, lemon zest, parsley, egg yolk and breadcrumbs in a bowl.  Season with the salt and pepper and combine well.  Shape the mixture into small meatballs, no bigger than a golf ball.
Cut the prosciutto into thick strips, wide enough to wrap around the meatballs.  Wrap each meatball with a strip of prosciutto and place on the baking tray.  Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until cooked through.

Roast Tomato & Broad Bean Salad with Haloumi

I know, not baking, but hey – wotcha gonna do?  Simon and I made this last weekend to go with our dinner before we had the Raspberry and Ricotta Cakes.  The recipe comes from Foodtown Magazine, issue 56, December 2010 / January 2011.

Serves 12 as part of a buffet.

250g punnet of mini tomatoes, halved
olive oil spray
salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g packet frozen broad beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
125g haloumi, sliced into ½ cm thick slices
1 tablespoon lemon juice
130g packet baby spinach leaves
½ cup balsamic dressing

Preheat oven to 200˚C.  Place the tomato halves on a baking tray lined with baking paper.  Spray with the olive oil spray and season with the salt and pepper.  Roast the tomatoes for 20 minutes or until they are soft and lightly browned.  Remove the tray from the oven and set it aside for the tomatoes to cool.

Meanwhile, bring a medium sized saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil.  Add the frozen broad beans, bring back to the boil and blanch the beans for one minute.  Drain, run the beans under cold water to cool, then peel them.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.  Add the haloumi slices and cook them for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden.  Sprinkle the cooked haloumi with the lemon juice.

Place the baby spinach on a serving platter.  Top with the tomatoes, broad beans and haloumi.  Drizzle over the balsamic dressing and serve immediately.

*Gluten free, Diabetes friendly :)