The thesis is finally over!! 15,000 words submitted on my first day in Lisbon, in a rush of realising that I had miscalculated my word count and still had 500 unexpected words to remove. I promptly plonked myself in a cafe and refused to leave until it was handed in, even going so far as to awkwardly borrow my neighour’s laptop charger – the last thing I wanted was for it to take up any more of my time in Portugal than necessary. Still hanging over us was the oral and poster presentation day back in Melbourne, but with that all over yesterday, it is a huge relief to be finished. (Until it comes time to rewrite it for publication, at least).
I have been living out of a suitcase ever since my last blog post 2 months ago, and there is way more to say about those months than I can do justice to in this post – first London, then the Cyclades in Greece, a week in Paris, those few days in Lisbon followed by a surf camp in the Algarve and a week in Israel – and now finally Melbourne. I am planning to collate some of my favourites from those trips in future travel posts, so watch this space for allll the coffee, restaurants, markets and photographs. In the meantime, you can find snapshots in my instagram story highlights!
One thing I have really missed this year – even more than I thought I would – is properly baking and blogging. Apart from one occasion of flaky berry galettes, a few chocolate cookies and a rhubarb pistachio slice, it has been a baking (and mostly cooking too) free zone. I have been continually inspired by what I’ve eaten travelling, at bakeries, and been cooked by friends: that sticky halva babka in Tel Aviv, the moist, syrupy Greek orange cake in Milos, sesame miso cookies in Paris and allll the warm, crispy-edged and custard-centred, cinnamon-dusted pastel de nata in Lisbon. That smoky whole eggplant served on creamy tahini and topped with chilli and grated tomato. The smashed peas served with hot, flaky panko crumbed fish and kraut. The marinated zucchini strips served simply with dollops of creamy burrata, chives and olive oil. The list on my phone where I jot down ideas is getting overwhelmingly long, ok? There were occasions last year, while surveying a mess of a kitchen, frustrated that something hadn’t worked out and stressed about the exam revision I wasn’t doing, I wondered why I bothered – who even saw it or cared, if I was just doing it for some warped perception of success – likes on social media, for example. Well, let’s just say any lingering doubts have been erased. As much as travel photography has filled some of the void, I can’t wait to get back to cook and photograph my own recipes rather than just admire that of others.
This honey, white miso & walnut pie is one I made right at the end of last summer. I have this thing with pies where I never fail to underestimate how long they will take from pastry to cooling, and end up cutting into straight-from-the-oven pie (whether to serve, or to photograph before it gets dark). It’s always a hot mess. This pie took a couple of tries before I managed to wait long enough to cut photographable straight slices! It’s inspired by a couple of different recipes: the salty honey pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds (eating a slice of that pie while looking at Brooklyn Bridge remains one of my favourite memories of NYC), and a wild honey & walnut pie from La Cigale Market back home in Auckland. I’ve added miso because of that gorgeous, can’t-put-your-finger-on-it salty unami-ness it lends, and kept the fresh walnuts and fragrant honey. Slightly sticky, salty, nutty and sweet, encased in golden flaky pastry and topped with sea salt and a dollop of creme fraiche. I don’t know how else to convince you!
Pie crust from Four & Twenty Blackbirds.
Honey walnut filling inspired by & adapted from Four & Twenty Blackbirds & La Cigale.
For an easy timetable:
- The day before serving: Make the all-butter pie crust and leave wrapped in the refrigerator
- The day of serving: Roll out the pie crust, crimp and place in freezer. Make the filling. Bake the pie and leave to cool for at least 2-3 hours. Allow 1 hour in fridge for sharp slices.
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon caster sugar
- 112 g (1 stick, 1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- ice cubes
- 300 g walnut pieces toasted gently (if they are halves, roughly chop after toasting)
- 150 g 3/4 cup caster sugar
- 170 g good quality honey (1/2 cup)
- 2 tablespoons white miso
- 120 g unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup cream
- 3 large eggs
- flaky sea salt to top
- Creme fraiche to serve
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Using a food processor or a pastry blender in a large bowl, stir the flour, salt and sugar together. Add the butter and cut into the flour mixture (or pulse briefly in the food processor) until mostly pea size pieces of butter remain. A few larger pieces are okay. If using a food processor, transfer the flour-butter mixture to a large bowl.
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Combine the water, cider vinegar and ice in a bowl. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the ice water over the flour mixture, and mix and cut it in with the bench scraper, spatula or your fingers until fully incorporated. Continue to add the ice water mixture, 1-2 tablespoons at time, until the dough just comes together with a few dry bits. This normally takes about 10-12 tablespoons total.
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Shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
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Roll out the pie dough to line a greased, 9 inch (22cm) pie pan: place the dough on a large piece of baking paper on your work surface with a sprinkle of flour (it may need to rest for 5 minutes to soften enough to roll). Use a rolling pin to roll out to about 30cm diameter. Move the dough onto the pie plate by folding the baking paper & dough in half over your rolling pin, peeling the backing paper over and unrolling the dough onto your pie plate. Press firmly into the bottom and sides of the pan and trim the edges, leaving about 1cm overhang of the rim for crimping.
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Crimp the edges as you like (see here for some useful instructions). Transfer the pie tin to the fridge at any time in this process if you feel like the pastry is getting gummy or gooey/warm - try again in 5 or 10 minutes.
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Place the crimped shell in the freezer until solid, at least 20 minutes.
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Preheat the oven to 180°C. In a small baking dish, roast the walnuts in the oven for 5 minutes, or until fragrant but not too browned. Roughly chop and set aside.
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In a medium pot, combine the honey and caster sugar and melt together. Add the miso and whisk until no lumps remain. Bring to a simmer where you have a few bubbles starting at the edges of the pot.
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Add the butter and whisk until melted. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
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Put a baking tray in the oven to cook the pie on so it is preheated (for the crispiest bottom crust!)
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When ready to bake the pie, whisk the cream and vanilla into the honey mixture until fully combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to combine between each addition until thick and shiny.
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Fold through the roughly chopped toasted walnuts .
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Pour the pie filling into the frozen pie shell.
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Place on the preheated baking tray in the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes until the pie crust is well browned, and the pie is set on the edges and just has a little bit of softness in the centre -this will set as the pie cools.
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Set aside to cool for at least 2-3 hours before serving. For the cleanest, sharpest slices, refrigerate for an hour before slicing.
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Top with flaky sea salt and serve with creme fraiche.
What kind of camera do you use?
And where do you get your inspiration?! this looks like a dream
Thank you! I use a canon70D. Inspiration from everywhere – cafes and restaurants, cookbooks, other bloggers, instagram.. I love social media for photography inspiration particularly.