The Brick Kitchen

Plum, orange and ricotta cake

May 19, 2024

Plum Ricotta Orange Cake -the Brick Kitchen

Plum, orange and ricotta cake with almonds: jump to recipe here.

I would start with “finally, another recipe” but realistically long silences here have become the norm. My aspiration of regular weeknight recipes has remained aspirational – work-life balance is a work in progress. A long term goal, let’s say. This could quickly get personal but I think on this Sunday morning when my to-do list remains 20 points long we will stick to the recipe: a late summer plum, orange and ricotta cake. It is the sort of cake you put together in the morning when you realise people are popping over in a couple of hours, or need a vehicle for the not-quite-perfect stonefruit on the bench. Moist and bordering on cheesecake-like in the centre, it lasts well into the next day (although it may disappear before then).

It’s flexible – try nectarines or apricots, roast rhubarb in spring or maple poached pear in winter (just pre-bake hard fruit first). Don’t skip the flaked almonds and caster sugar on top if you can help it – it adds a sweet crust-like finish. Most importantly, don’t over bake it. This cake is much better slightly under done when the centre wobble is just disappearing: don’t be scared to remove it from the oven when a skewer inserted into the centre is still coated in crumbs. It will continue to cook and set as it cools, and is equally lovely served warm if your guests have already arrived.

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Summer corn, nectarine & haloumi salad

January 6, 2024

Corn Nectarine Haloumi Salad - The Brick Kitchen

Summer corn, nectarine and haloumi salad with fried zucchini, herbs and za-tar: jump to recipe here.

A record low single recipe here in 2023 – at least the bar for improvement is low. It’s not that I didn’t cook, but the cycle of study, exams and work meant time and motivation for recipe development and photos was missing. The rise of Instagram reels and Tiktok has resulted in a decline in traditional food blogging as it was when I started: many of my favourite bloggers have stopped all together, or switched medium to cookbooks, videos or pure social media content.

I’m not quite ready to give it up yet. Food remains both a huge way to show love (dinner parties and birthday cakes are IN for 2024) and a creative outlet, and combining those here in this format of words + photo + recipe is the only way I can continue to squeeze it into life in a more permanent way than disappearing moments within a deep phone scroll. Maybe an optimistic statement – only time will tell whether this holds me slightly more accountable!

This is the first of what will (hopefully) be a series of my favourite meals for weeknights or work lunches or dinner parties – mostly, for food with friends. It’s a summer corn, nectarine and haloumi salad, a favourite in the ‘fruit in salad’ category. The most important thing is perfectly ripe, juicy and sweet but not bruised or floury stone fruit. Nectarines or peaches ideally. Gooey haloumi fried at the last minute, smoky charred corn, fried zucchini for heft, lots of herbs and a lemon-y olive dressing make it a salad that can do it all: barbecue, pot luck, work lunch or quick dinner. Variants have been on repeat around here- use peaches and tomatoes if that’s what you’ve got, swap the haloumi for feta or a ball of burrata, use basil and shaved parmesan and add walnuts or pinenuts for a more Italian take.

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Passionfruit, lemon and olive oil cake

July 1, 2023

Passionfruit lemon olive oil cake - The Brick Kitchen

Passionfruit, lemon and olive oil cake, otherwise known as sunshine in cake form. Jump to recipe here.

IIt’s difficult to believe it has been a year since my last post here – thank you to the friends who reminded me that the pear chocolate crumble had sat at the top of the homepage for too long. My only excuse is study. The physician exams I sat this year were undeniably harder than anticipated or could imagine. Everyone told us to expect the most challenging period of medical training we may ever face, but you still had to dive into it with the assumption that you’d be fine – or it would be too daunting to ever start. It already feels like there is very little choice in the matter: you’ve come this far, right? You got into medical school, you got through your university exams, you started working (which got easier and more satisfying), you found an area you loved with a future you could imagine, and this was just the mandatory next step on the road there. Unsurprisingly, studying full time on top of work drained a lot of the fun out of it. We are still sitting in the unfortunate anxious period of not having exam results yet, which is a black hole where every time you accidentally relive exam day you deduct another 10% from your imaginary mark. Best avoided if possible. Maybe I’ll look back at this with rosier tinted lenses on the other side!

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Pear, walnut & dark chocolate crumble

June 13, 2022

Pear, Dark Chocolate & Walnut Crumble - The Brick Kitchen

Pear, Walnut & Dark Chocolate Crumble

A new recipe for you courtesy of work I did with Walnuts Australia towards the end of last year – incidentally perfect for Melbourne’s current ‘polar blast’ iciness and the dark evenings. It’s one of my favourite winter crumbles: thinly sliced pears in brown sugar, vanilla and lemon with a buttery, oat-y walnut studded topping, dark chocolate melted and oozing through the crevices. Previous iterations had involved cooking down the pears in a buttery caramel – which whilst delicious and still a recommended alternative, churns up significant time and dishes when you’re probably at the point of just wanting to get dessert in the oven.

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White chocolate, rhubarb and raspberry cake

May 2, 2022

White chocolate, rhubarb and raspberry cake with almonds, a hint of orange and topped with cream cheese frosting. Jump to recipe.

Apparently you can expect recipes to be a rarity from me this year – cake has slid further down the priority list than I would like. It seems like a fact of life that every year gets busier (with a brief pause there with lockdown baking time), but the addition of exam study and attempts at research on top of work has really tipped it over. I’ve always wished I was one of those people who could be incredibly productive until the small hours of the morning and survive on less sleep than the rest, but sadly sometimes fatigue means only a meaningless phone scroll (maybe an episode of euphoria) and bed is possible.

I am still eating (and therefore cooking) so maybe badly lit iphone photos of a thrown together risoni salad is all I can offer – but maybe that’s all you are out there making too? The reintroduction of social lives and the end of WFH really spelled the end for sourdough projects and time to page through cookbooks.

In better news, the New Zealand borders finally opened and I managed to escape back for a few weeks of annual leave. This white chocolate, rhubarb and raspberry cake was a product of Mum’s successful rhubarb plants (we also had rhubarb and raspberry tart for those with similar crops). It’s a variation on a theme – my favourite cakes are buttery, moist and rich, often nut based (almonds, pistachio, coconut or walnuts) and full of seasonal fruit, whether that’s apricots, plums or berries. It’s one layer (cleaning up 2 cake tins is just too much) and hastily dressed with a swoop of citrus-y cream cheese frosting. This one is studded with chopped white chocolate which partially melds with the batter – normally I find white chocolate too sickly (dark all the way) but it stands up to the sharp rhubarb and raspberries here perfectly.

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Baked spinach and ricotta gnudi in roast tomato eggplant sauce

March 7, 2022

Baked spinach and ricotta gnudi - The Brick Kitchen

Baked spinach and ricotta gnudi in roast tomato eggplant sauce. Jump to recipe.

Gnudi: Tuscan dumplings, akin to extra large ricotta gnocchi without the shaping and boiling steps. It often takes people aback when you say it, like they might have just heard you suggest nudes of some variety (gnudi does literally mean naked in Italian). The name apparently comes from the fact that they are similar to ravioli filling, only disrobed without their surrounding pasta. The term gnudi is more commonly used in areas near Florence, whereas they are also known as malfatti (meaning badly made) in Siena. This version were born of a day during COVID isolation when a friend dropped off a care package including ricotta, cherry tomatoes and a sourdough baguette (a friend that knew me well, clearly). True comfort food in a bubbling dish, and much easier than either ravioli or gnocchi – less potential for mishap.

As a sidenote, friends dropping off coffee and treats really got us through that home isolation period and I would highly recommend it to anyone else (especially New Zealanders right now who are in the midst of a COVID outbreak). Who knew how exciting a door knock would become when you weren’t allowed to leave the house – our days were bookmarked by what might come through it.

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Apricot, pistachio & cardamom cake

January 22, 2022

Lemon-y apricot, pistachio and cardamom cake. Jump to recipe.

I’m definitely a stuck record but I can’t believe its already been three months since a recipe here! Life is busy etc etc. To sum up – Victoria emerged blinking from lockdown, life outside of home resumed, everyone got covid (myself included, very mildly) and it has been a strange summer of lots of hospital work, cancelled plans because of isolation requirements, retail and hospitality closures with staff furloughs and everyone trying to reach this elusive “new normal” (I realise this is what the rest of the world probably went though a long time ago – we are a little behind). It still beats lockdown. The last hurdle left is border closures – NZ and WA remain the last islands standing, having somehow (luckily for them, unluckily for us) kept out omicron.

Baking has been a little neglected in the interim, but I’ve prioritised a version of my favourite summer cake (basically anything involving stonefruit and nuts in combination). It’s a lemony apricot, pistachio and cardamom cake, moist with an almost caramelised exterior and not too sweet. The apricots roast and soften on the surface, the cake just sturdy enough to keep them afloat. It’s also low maintenance, which is all I can really tolerate currently – one (to two) bowls, no mixer, no creaming butter, no frosting – just a few lashings of lemon glaze to decorate. Rave reviews received all round.

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My best banana bread

October 2, 2021

Best banana bread - The Brick Kitchen009

I know I’ve published three banana bread recipes before (a basic version fancied up with espresso mascarpone, a slightly alternative tropical passionfruit coconut version and a healthy-ish tahini heavy version) and there are literally millions to be found on the internet. Maybe even billions, who knows. I still think you need this recipe. It’s the only one I ever make anymore, and whenever anyone asks for the recipe I struggle because it only exists as an ingredients list on my iphone notes. It’s a one bowl mix frequently made the night before work and might be the only reason they kept me around (adjectives used included life changing).

It’s extra moist thanks to oil, tahini and yogurt, heavy on the banana with a thick sugar caramelised top (crucial) and studded with dark chocolate and toasted walnuts. Tahini delivers an extra subtle nuttiness, but you can substitute with extra vegetable oil if you don’t have any. The recipe originated in Violet Bakery’s buttermilk banana bread and has metamorphosed into this over a few years – I never have buttermilk on hand but always have yogurt, like the additional depth of tahini, and have changed quantities around a bit so it works in a standard size loaf tin. Walnuts and dark chocolate also never hurt.

Best banana bread - The Brick Kitchen001

Key points for optimal banana bread making

EXTREMELY ripe bananas. Almost black. A few spots doesn’t cut it. It also works perfectly with frozen bananas, so leave them to go almost black on the counter then freeze and defrost in the microwave when you want to use (make sure to use all the liquid that leaks out). Make sure to mash them very thoroughly until silky and shiny (warming them a bit in the microwave can also help here). Big chunks of bananas tend to sink to the bottom and don’t deliver the even moist bread you want.
Loaf tin size: somewhere along the way in making this recipe I lost my grandmother’s loaf tin, and then realised when finding another one that it was a bit larger than standard size, and really there is no standard size anyway. This recipe works well in either an 8.5 x 4.5 inch tin (21.5cm x 11.5 cm) or a 9 x 5 inch (23 x 12 cm) tin (won’t be quite as tall and will cook a bit faster).
If tahini isn’t your thing or you don’t have any, sub in the same weight vegetable oil.
Dark brown and demerera sugar– important! You could sub in regular brown sugar and caster sugar respectively, but the originals are worth it for the caramelised interior and dark sugar crusted top.
Cooking time: the last thing you want after going to all this effort is to overbake your loaf (my literal nightmare). When cooked, the top will spring back to touch with a firmness you wouldn’t associate with liquid batter underneath BUT a skewer may still come out with crumbs or even a little gooey batter attached (I put this down to hitting chocolate chunks / banana on the way down). I like to leave it to cool completely in the tin overnight and have never ended up with runny insides. I’ve suggested 40-50 minutes in a 180°C oven on fanbake as mine takes about 45 minutes, but it will all depend on the oven and tin that you’re using.

My best banana bread

Author: Claudia Brick

Ingredients

400 g very ripe banana (approx 3 medium) + 1/2 banana sliced lengthways to top
80 ml vegetable oil (1/3 cup / 80g)
40 g runny tahini (50ml)
150 g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
60 g full fat greek yogurt (1/4 cup)
160 g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup toasted walnuts roughly chopped
80 g dark chocolate roughly chopped
3 tablespoons demerera sugar to top (can use caster sugar if you have none)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a loaf tin with baking paper, extending the baking paper about 2 cm up over the sides of the tin
Mash the bananas until fairly smooth and shiny.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, tahini, dark brown sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, and whisk until silky. Stir in the yogurt and banana.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt with fork.
Add to the banana mix and fold in to just combine. Fold in the dark chocolate and walnuts.
Pour into your prepared loaf tin. Place half a banana (sliced lengthways) on top to decorate. Scatter a layer of demerera sugar over the surface of the loaf.
Bake for 40-50 minutes until the surface springs back to touch. A skewer inserted may still come out with crumbs / bits of batter but not be completely runny.
Leave to cool completely in the tin.