AUSTRALIAN HOUSE & GARDEN / 157Lattice tart
Prep: 20 mins + standing.
Cooking: 2 hrs. Serves 8.
435g sweet shortcrust pastry, such as
Carême Vanilla Bean Sweet Pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp milk
2 tbsp demerara sugar
Pure icing sugar, for dusting
Softly whipped cream, to serve
Rhubarb and strawberry compote
1kg rhubarb, washed, cut into 3cm pieces
500g strawberries, hulled and some
halved, some left whole
2 cups (440g) caster sugar
Juice and finely grated zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cinnamon quills
150g almond meal1 / To make compote, toss rhubarb and
strawberries with sugar in a bowl and stand
to macerate for 20-25mins. Place in a
saucepan, add orange and lemon juices, zest
and cinnamon. Simmer over medium heat,
stirring occasionally, until almost tender,
about 6-8mins. Remove from heat and
stand 5mins to soften. Strain liquid into a
clean saucepan, returning cinnamon quills
to pot. Transfer strained fruit to a large
bowl, fold in almond meal and set aside.
2 / Bring fruit cooking liquid to the boil
and cook until reduced to a thick syrup,
about 20-25mins.
3 / Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 ̊C
(180 ̊C fan). Place pastry on a sheet of
baking paper and trim edges to fit a 4-cup,
25cm pie tin with edges overhanging, then
use pastry to line tin. Cut remaining pastry
into 1.5cm-wide strips and refrigerate until
slightly firm. Pour fruit and almond meal
mixture into pastry case, brush edges with
eggwash and arrange pastry strips on top in
a lattice pattern. Trim edges, brush eggwash
on top, scatter with demerara sugar and bake
until golden, about 50mins-1hr. (Cover edges
with foil if pastry browns too quickly.)
4 / Dust pie with icing sugar and serve with
softly whipped cream and drizzled with warm
rhubarb-cinnamon syrup.Chocolate pots
Prep: 15 mins + chilling. Cooking: 10 mins.
Serves 6.
1 cup (250ml) pouring cream
1 cup (250ml) milk
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
4 egg yolks
80g raw caster sugar
300g dark chocolate (70% cocoa
solids), finely chopped, plus extra
grated to serve
Créme fraîche and biscuits such as
crostoli, to serve1 / Place cream, milk and vanilla seeds
in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over
medium-high heat. Remove from heat.
2 / Place yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk
until pale. Add warm cream mixture to yolks
and whisk to combine. Return mixture to
saucepan and stir continuously over medium
heat until mixture coats a spoon thickly,
about 4-5mins. Remove from heat, add
chocolate, whisk until smooth and combined,
then divide among 6x 150ml serving glasses.
Refrigerate until completely chilled and set,
about 3hrs.
3 / Serve topped with a dollop of créme
fraîche, dusted with extra grated chocolate
and biscuits for dipping on the side. #White bean salad
Prep: 30 mins + soaking.
Cooking: 1 hr. Serves 6.
3x 400g cans cannellini beans
½ cup (125ml) extra-virgin olive oil
110g baby capers in vinegar, rinsed
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice, or to taste
3 golden shallots, finely chopped
6 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
½ preserved lemon, pith and flesh
removed, zest finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup firmly packed mint, torn
1 cup firmly packed flat-leaf parsley, torn,
plus extra for garnish
Place all ingredients except herbs in a bowl,
toss to combine and season to taste. Add
herbs just before serving.
Roast beef fillet with
green goddess dressing
Prep: 25 mins + resting. Cooking: 30 mins.
Serves 6-8.
1½ tbsp vegetable oil
1.2kg beef fillet, trimmed and tied
Green goddess dressing
½ cup (125ml) mayonnaise
½ cup (125g) sour cream
2 tbsp (40ml) lemon juice, or to taste
2 cups loosely packed flat-leaf parsley,
finely chopped
2 golden shallots, finely chopped
7 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
¼ cup chives, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp capers, rinsed, finely chopped
1 / Preheat oven to 180 ̊C (160 ̊C fan). Heat
a large frypan over high heat, add oil, season
beef to taste and cook, turning occasionally
for 1-2mins, or until browned. Place on a
wire rack over a roasting tray and roast until
cooked to your liking (about 30mins for rare);
tent loosely with foil and set aside to rest.
Slice thickly just before serving.
2 / Meanwhile, combine all dressing
ingredients in a food processor and pulse
until combined; refrigerate until required.
Serve roast beef with some of the dressing
drizzled over and extra on the side.
At your service
Having good, ready-to-serve containers
is almost as important as what you put
in them. Screw-top jars are easy to
transport and a fun way to serve all
manner of goodies. There are plenty of
salad bowls with lids available too.
Transport chilled soups in thermoses so
they’re ready to pour, and stock up on
modern melamine plates to lighten your
load. The best picnic tools are of course
your hands. Don’t forget the napkins!