We have just had the nicest weekend camping. I know camping and nice don't always seem like two words that automatically sit together but this last experience was exactly that. After our rather uncomfortable night up at Lake Tarawera (with babies crying in the tent next door and the airbed springing a leak!) I resolved to address how to make things more enjoyable. So we invested in a bit more gear, bunks for the kids, stretcher beds and mattresses for us, a proper cooker fired by a decent sized gas bottle, more chairs and a proper camp table (that folds up into a teensy bag!). The investment paid dividends! Added to that we camped at an actual camp ground, with flushing toilets, showers and kitchen facilities! (washing dishes was soooo much easier!) There was also far more to entertain the children, a lovely big playground, games room, trampoline and it was situated next to a lovely beach......my kids could play for ages in the sand! There was a great mudslide nearby, which also contributed to the fun!



Kyle of course has accompanied us on most of our trips, he is the ultimate camping companion. This time he sorted out the fishing for us.....another thing you couldn't have paid me to do in past years, but was good entertainment, despite not catching anything!

This time I made bread to take with us (there is just something about home made bread that I love! even if my home made bread has been kneaded in the bread machine!!!), a yummy cherry pie, planned to make pancakes (they were blueberry and ricotta, topped with fried bananas and maple syrup, very nice!) and a blue cheese and brocolli pasta dish, and the rest kind of evolved. (kind of scary for me to let things evolve!!!!) The pasta was a throw together of quite a few things left in my fridge and came together quite well all in all. It also served as a budget meal coming in at $14.50 and serving 5 people generously!
Brocolli and Blue Cheese Pasta

1 onion, chopped .20c
I made a very yummy cherry pie to take with us. It was to use up the last of the cherries I ordered from Cental Otago which I cannot speak highly enough of. They come from "Out of Our Trees Cherries",
I have ordered them via email for the last few years, they courier them to me straight from the orchard (I love missing out the middle man!), they are extremely well priced and most of all they are HEAVENLY! We order them in 5kg lots as that is the most cost effective, they work out at around $14.00 a kilo with freight.
They are export quality though and this year I have not seen many cherries in the shops for less than $20kg and before Christmas (when I got them) there was nothing under $30kg. They keep so well too, normally we have scoffed them long before they get a chance to go bad but this year I have had so much food in the house I kept forgetting about them. If you would like to order them they are still picking....their email address is garyali@xtra.co.nz
Cherry Pie
Pastry:
Do NOT skip this part, it is absolutely necessary to get the best result. While its chilling stone the cherries and prepare the filling! Once ready slice into pieces and cover bottom and sides of 25cm flan dish, pushing together to get coverage.
Bake blind in oven at 200c for 10-12 mins.
Please excuse my manky baking tin, I had forgotten I no longer had a flan dish after breaking it last time I used it!
1 garlic cloved, chopped .10c
2 slices bacon $2.00
100g mushrooms $1.00
100g wedge blue cheese $2.70
1 tin evaporated skim milk $2.50
1 tbsp basil pesto $1.002 tsp cornflour .10c
1 head of brocolli, cut into florets and steamed $1.00
70 g pinenuts toasted $3.00
500g pasta shapes, cooked $1.00
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fry onion, garlic in oil, add bacon then mushrooms. Crumble in blue cheese and let melt and bubble before adding evaporated milk and pesto. Add a bit of water to cornflour to make thin paste and add to sauce to thicken. Add brocolli and warm through then add cooked drained pasta. Serve sprinkled with pinenuts.



This recipe is very much like the bakewell tart I made some time ago just with cherries plopped on top. It is absolutely rich and moist and delicious and would work well with any tart fruit, like plums, rasberries or even apricots. I will definitely use this recipe again. I served it with marscapone cream, it complimented it nicely.
Cherry Pie

200g flour
115g fridge cold butter
50g sugar
2 egg yolks
Blitz flour and butter in the food processor until consistency of fine bread crumbs. Add sugar then egg yolks and process until it starts clumping together. Take out and bring together to form a sausage. Wrap in clingfilm and put in fridge to chill for an hour.



Filling:
200g butter
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
70g flour
150g ground almonds
Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and incorporate well. Mix through flour and almond until smooth, don't fold but don't overmix! Chill a little while then spread over baked pastry
and top with 2 cups stoned cherries.
Bake 45-50 mins at 180C


3 comments:
Your cherry pie looks delish, lucky you getting cherries from the growers. Your camping trip sounds like a real success this time round
Gosh that pie looks lovely! We go camping every year so I can understand the allure :) looks like you ate very well!
I wish it was summer! That cherry pie looks great!
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