Things are heating up in the kitchen AND in Mamamia’s Food Blogger Idol competition.
After receiving hundreds of amazing and delicious entries from some extremely talented home cooks, and after deliberating for many hours, we managed to narrow the list down to the five. And now? It’s time to vote.
So let’s meet our finalists…
Elly Jean-Louis
I’m Ellycia Jean-Louis aka Elly. My entire life I’ve had a name which no-one could pronounce unless they were french… then I’m faced with the perils of being spoken to in a different language. What’s worse is that I can only respond with the only french I know: “Hello, I live in Sydney and like to eat fish”. Let down, I know. What is an even bigger let down is that I don’t even eat fish, I’m a vegetarian!
So you now know how awful my bilingual skills are, luckily, one thing I can do well is cook. I try to eat everything as close to its natural form as possible. This is mostly achieved by making everything from scratch e.g. pastry, filling, cakes, salads, salad dressings, nut mylks etc. I like to experiment with raw/healthy food but I do splurge on indulgent meals from time to time. I also understand the importance of time and money and that food needs to be practical, that is why I try to be creative with my food and utilise all of the items in my pantry.
For the Mamamia’s next best Food Blogger I was inspired by Rachel’s black plum & roasted fig gourmet low fat bio-live yoghurt. Figs are a favourite of mine and as they are in season it was crazy not to use them. I didn’t make a typical chai seed yoghurt parfait with the yoghurt because I wanted to challenge the ingredient and I am so happy with the result, the tarts taste amazing!
Start by preparing your pastry. Simply process the flour, butter and icing sugar in a food processor or blender until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and egg yolk, then process until the dough comes together. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Shape into a flat disc and cover with plastic wrap (the flatter it is, the easier it is to roll later on). Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to rest.
Step 2
Remove pastry from freezer and place onto a lightly floured surface. Use a floured rolling pin to roll out into a 3mm-thick disc. Using one of the 4 small tart tins, measure the size of the pastry to fit adequately in the tin. Cut pastry to size and line the 4 tart tins.Trim any excess. Prick the base with a fork and place in freezer for a further 30 minutes.
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Step 3
Preheat oven to 200°C. Line the pastry cases with non-stick baking paper. Fill with rice or dried beans (on top of the paper). Bake for 5 minutes. Remove paper and rice or dried beans then cook for a further 8 minutes or until golden. Once golden, remove from the oven.
Reduce oven temperature to 150°C. Use an electric beater to beat the sugar, butter and Rachel’s Black Plum & Roasted Fig Gourmet Low Fat yoghurt in a bowl until creamy and pale. Then fold in the almond meal and add the eggs, 1 at a time.
Step 5
Spoon almond mixture into pastry cases and smooth the surface. Slice figs and place one slice in the centre of each tart. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and firm to touch. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Step 6
Cut figs in quarters and roughly assemble on the top of each tart,finish with scattered pistachios.
