Emily Loves Food

A moist loaf cake dotted with strawberries and peaches – the perfect way to get the taste of summer. And the produce doesn’t even have to be in season! Juicy canned peaches and a handful of frozen strawberries are totally acceptable and accessible. So there’s no excuse.

The addition of some wholemeal flour makes this a pretty good breakfast option. Wholemeal flour keeps you going for longer, and the yogurt gives you a good dose of protein - especially if you’ve made it yourself. We bought an EasyYo maker about a year ago, and haven’t bought any packet yogurt since. For $2.50 you get a litre of delicious, creamy low-fat greek that you can pop in the maker today, and it’ll be ready for consumption tomorrow. In terms of kitchen gadgetry, I cannot recommend them enough.

Even if you think you don’t eat much yogurt, you’ll find yourself subbing it in, I promise you. It makes fantastic sauces, and you can nearly always use it as a substitute for sour cream, or use it instead of copious amounts of butter in your baking.

Honestly, you wont regret it.

So this half of the semester is over – and I’m officially on break. Though I still have uni work to do, as well as a bunch of commissions and two jobs (at present, though not for much longer!) We’re planning to go down to our holiday home at Lake Taupo for a week or so, and the lack of internet there will force me to get a lot of that designey work done. Still, break is break and I can sleep in and leave my hair down and not scuff my boots on the long work into the city.

And I can sit at home and eat strawberry and peach loaf. Mhmmm.

Peach and Strawberry Loaf - Makes 1 loaf

Prep time: 10 mins  Cook time: 60-70mins

• 100g butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 100g low fat greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/2 cup milk mixed with 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 can sliced peaches, drained and diced

Preheat the oven to 180c, and line a large loaf tin with non-stick baking paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment  cream the butter and sugar for about three minuets  or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until the mixture billows out in a lovely mousey consistency.

Add in the vanilla, and remove the bowl from the mixer.

In a sperate bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add half of this dry mixture to the creamed mix, folding it in to just combine. Add half of the buttermilk and yogurt, and repeat. You want to be really gentle with this, so that your baking soda and buttermilk don’t get all excited before you get them in the oven.

Finally, fold in the strawberries and peaches.

Pop in the prepared tin, and smooth the surface.

Bake in the oven for 60-70 mins, or until there’s a crack along the top, the loaf springs back lightly when touched and a skewer comes out completely clean.

Allow to cool in the tin, then remove to an airtight container.

This is your one click pizza stop. The only recipe(s) you’ll ever need.

Perfect base, courtesy of Jamie Oliver (but a smaller version from his original 8 pizza write-up that used a kg of flour) and a quick, easy pizza sauce that’ll take your favourite toppings to the next level. No more gluggy tomato paste straight out of the can.

Don’t fret if you’re not a bread-maker – pizza bases are forgiving and easy. There’s only five ingredients, and you essentially bung them all together after letting the yeast foam, give them a quick knead, forget about it for an hour and viola – you’ve made pizza. You can make the dough up to three days beforehand and keep it in the fridge, or divide the dough into pizza-portions and freeze for future use. Easy peasy.

I handed in my notice at work yesterday, so in two weeks time I will have officially moved on from Auckland’s busiest department store, will have to hand over my badge and locker key and will have officially moved into my new job.

At a bra store.

I had my first day there on saturday – I’m going to possibly be sneaking in a couple of shifts and work two jobs in the next couple of weeks.

It was really time for a change. People came into my old work because they had to buy things, not because they wanted to. And typically they knew exactly what they needed and weren’t in the mood to engage. You get a lot of harassed mums and snarky old people, and it was draining and slow paced and I would stand there watching the clock.

Yes, time for a change.

On the plus side, we purchased our flights to thailand. It’s real. We’re going. Albeit in seven months time, but still – it’s tangible.

So pizza seems like a perfect celebratory meal.

I wont even bother writing down toppings, because it’s entirely personal taste… I am personally a fan of anything with chicken, especially BBQ chicken and bacon and chicken, cranberry and brie. YUM.

This recipe is equipped to take any toppings. If you like, you could add a squirt of bbq or sweet chilli sauce to the pizza sauce itself to boost the flavour if it’s appropriate, but a spiral over the top should be more than enough.

Perfect Pizza - Makes 4 pizzas

Prep time: 10 mins + 1 hour rising time  Cook time: 35mins

• 1 tbs instant dry yeast (1 8g packet)
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 350ml warm (body temperature) water
• 500g high-grade flour

• 150g tomato paste
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 tbs grated parmesan
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp black peppercorns
• salt to taste

In a small bowl, mix together the warm water, honey and olive oil. Sprinkle over the yeast, and set aside to foam up for 5-10mins. If the yeast appears to be ‘trapped’ in the oil on the surface of the water, give it a quick little stir.

Pop the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer, and make a well in the centre. Pour the yeast mixture into the well, and gradually mix the flour in, starting in the centre and working out. At the end, you may hand to get in there with your hands.

Don’t be alarmed if there appear to be little dry bits at this stage – those will knead out. Once you’ve pulled everything together in a ragged dough ball, fit the dough hook to the mixer and knead for 5-8 mins our until you have a very smooth, elastic, beautiful ball of dough.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and spray the inside with cooking spray. Replace the dough inside, cover with a damp tea towel, and place in a warm place (such as the airing cupboard) for an hour, or until doubled in size.

While the dough is doing it’s thing, prepare the pizza sauce. Mix together all the ingredients in a small bowl, cover with cling film and place in the fridge for at least an hour, to let the flavours mix and mingle.

Once the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and punch it down, then divide into four portions. You can use it now, keep it in the fridge for up to three days, or stick ‘em in the freezer.

When you’re ready to use them, roll them out to about 7mm thick and let them sit for 15-20 mins while you preheat the oven to 180c. Spread with the pizza sauce, top with your favourite toppings and bake in the oven for 25-35 mins or until the cheese is bubbling and everyone’s hungry.

All American apple pie meets classic Kiwi apple shortcake. In an apple pie shortcake. Big, juicy slices of apple with a warm cinnamon flavour, except it’s not wrapped up in thin pastry – this time around, you’ve got those thick, almost cakey layers of shortcake dough that turn the whole thing into a big warm appley hug.

Apple shortcake is another classic kiwi afternoon treat – though it’s traditionally cut into bars. And while there’s nothing wrong with bars, there’s something hugely satisfying about cutting a big fat wedge out of something.

Something just like this.

But before we get into the photo and the recipe, I have to get something off my chest.

I’m just finishing up the last of an animation assignment for uni – and animation is something I know a thing or two about. I devoted an entire year of full-time study and an eight thousand dollar price tag to it. So I was quite pleased to have a chance to stretch my wings and implement some of those skills.

Unfortunately, the tutor for the assignment has never animated anything in his life, though he is quite happy with his ground-level knowledge, and is content to stay at that level. Which is fine… save for the fact that he’s teaching it.

It’s incredibly frustrating to pay someone to teach you bad technique… especially when you know that it’s bad technique  and have to sit there and smile and try and pretend that you’re not dying on the inside. I understand that in that big ol’ ‘real world’ that everyone keeps talking about, we’re going to run into characters designed to make your life hell.
I can only hope they’re paying me, and not the other way around.

The perfect excuse for a comforting cuddle apple pie shortcake, yes?

What’s especially nice about it is that the cake takes an hour to bake, so you can pop it in the oven as you start dinner, and it’ll be hot and ready once dessert time rolls around.

Apple Pie Shortcake – Serves 8

Prep time: 20 mins + chilling time  Cook time: 1 hour

• 100g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 4 big ol’ cooking apples. Granny smith are nice, but use what you’ve got on hand.
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 5 tbs brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp of sugar mixed with 1/4 cinnamon, to sprinkle

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment  cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy – about three minuets.

Beat in the egg, lemon juice and salt for a further minute or so. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, roll up your sleeves and work in the flour and baking powder until you get a soft dough. (About the consistency of cookie dough).

Pop it in a plastic bag and place in the fridge for at least two hours, or until you’re ready to make the pie.

Line a small (9 in or 22cm) cake tin with non-stick baking paper, and preheat the oven to 180C.

Peel, core and chop the apples into one cm thick wedges. Toss them with the lemon juice, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon until you have a smooth juicy mixture. Set aside.

Chop the dough in half, and line the pan with half of the dough, working it up the edges. Evenly disperse the apple mixture in the centre, and roll out the second half of the dough as a lid. Drape it over the top, crimping it in at the edges. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Pop in the oven, and bake for 1 hour and the pastry is golden. If it browns too quickly, tent it with foil.

Serve in fat wedges with whipped cream.