It rained yesterday…

October 28, 2025October 28, 2025 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

Yes, it rained yesterday, not earth shattering news I know, but the gauge was full, and it’s been raining again today. It’s been so dry, and there are many among us who are excited, happy, relieved, to see the wet stuff falling from the sky. So with it cold and wet outside, it was a great reason to stay indoors, actually in the kitchen, and cook and keep warm, and that’s exactly what I did!

The evening before, I’d been working in the veggie patch and the parsley needed a good tidy up so had brought in a basket full and popped it in the fridge. That was the first job, it was washed, picked over and loaded into the dehydrator, with a little bunch set aside in a vase on the hob of the stove.

Preparing parsley for dehydrating.

Parsley ready for dehydrating

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Cook Book Club: The Food of France / La cuisine de France

October 9, 2025October 16, 2025 / sbaskitchen / 7 Comments

I may have one or two French, or French inspired recipe books on my shelves, and as you wander from room to room in our home, you are likely to find more!

My French food journey began in earnest, in 2009, on our first visit to France. As part of my planning, I read everything that I could get my hands on, in an attempt to learn about the culture, the traditions, the food, and did everything I could to try and grasp a little of the language, which is how I met my, now, best friend, Véronique. Continue reading →

Savoury Potato Pastry – Gluten Free

This pastry is so versatile. Use it to make pies, pasties, rolls, scrolls, quiches and tarts. It is the pastry used to make the savoury pastries during my catering days, and was always so very popular. It’s easy to make, freezes well, and re-heats well. For notes and tips, please see notes below.

Savoury Potato Pastry (Gluten Free) - 500g

Prep Time

40 mins

I have been making this pastry for many, many years, it was integral to my baked savoury pies and tarts during my catering years. It works well for pies, open and covered tarts, quiches and rolls (sausage rolls, etc), and it freezes well, so I make up a few batches and freeze ready for another day.

Category: Baking, Basics, Pastry

Style: Gluten Free

Keyword: Pies, Savoury Pastry, Tarts

Quantity: 1 tart

Author: sbaskitchen

Ingredients

260 g potatoes (you will need 190g potatoes, peeled, boiled, mashed and chilled)
150 g rice flour *
90 g butter, chopped
35 g cornflour *
10 g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 tsp sea salt flakes
¾ tsp xanthan gum
½ tsp baking powder *

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, and blitzing until they begin to come together.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it comes together in a ball.
Flatten the dough into a disc.
Wrap in plastic wrap or place into a lidded container and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Notes

Rice Flour:
When purchasing rice flour, try to avoid those that have not been finely milled. My preferred rice flour is from Thailand, it is inexpensive, and readily available from most Asian grocery stores. You are looking for a similar texture to cornflour.

Cornflour:
Make sure the cornflour is gluten free, surprisingly, not all cornflour is gluten free!

Baking Powder:
Similarly, always check the label on your baking powder to ensure that it is gluten free.

Potatoes:
I like to use sebago potatoes if available, otherwise a good all-rounder should work well.

Cheese:
While I like to use a locally produced, well flavoured dry cheddar, (Maffra Cloth Ashed Cheddar) I have stipulated Parmesan in the recipe as it is more universally recognized and known and it works nicely.

To make by hand:
Sift the flours into a large bowl and, using your hands, mix in the other ingredients until they begin to come together. Proceed from step 2.

Thermomix:
Mix all ingredients on speed 6 for approximately 20 seconds before turning out onto a lightly floured work surface and kneading.

Rolling Out:
I find it easiest to roll the pastry between two sheets of plastic wrap, lifting the top layer every now and then to free up the pastry .

Blind Baking:
If blind baking, line the uncooked pastry case with baking paper and weigh down with dry beans, rice or ceramic pastry beans and bake for 20 minutes in pre-heated oven at 170˚C (fan).

Reheating:
Reheat, covered in oven, 150˚C (fan).
Can be microwaved.

Last Updated:
16 September 2025

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With many thanks and kindness,
Julie.

7 x 10 & no longer working!

August 26, 2025 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

My sister just turned 7 x 10, she did not really want to celebrate, but I asked if we could come for a visit anyway. We were so excited to be with her for her birthday!

I planned the trip, and we traveled two and a half hours to our son’s home, where our other sister, Sonnie, joined us. She, Gary, and I then traveled another four and a half hours to Jan’s home. The itinerary took us around Melbourne, not through, and across so many different, beautiful landscapes. It was so much nicer than battling city traffic – always a good thing as far as I’m concerned, and didn’t take much longer than if we had battled the city traffic.

Sonnie and I had prepared a special menu for Jan’s birthday meal – we based it around a comment that she had made about how much she had enjoyed the meals during her travels through Sri Lanka and the Middle East. We made lots of little dishes that could be re-heated (if necessary) upon our arrival, and served in the middle of the table for all to share. As is our way, there was always much more than we could eat!

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A Jar Hunt!

July 14, 2025July 14, 2025 / sbaskitchen / 2 Comments

Earlier this week we had a day out. I was on a mission, I needed a particular style of large coffee jar, and I needed in excess of 20! Fortunately I had collected 10 already, but I needed more.

I mentioned to Gary that I was heading out to do some Op-Shopping (Charity Shopping), and he was keen to join me on my little adventure. After traveling from one town to the next, and running out of time before the little shops closed, I still needed three more jars, yes, I had managed to collect seven, but was a little anxious to get those last three jars.

In the last small town there were two beautiful Op-Shops, one in the main shopping area and the other at the Anglican Church – I was familiar with both, and I know why, they are not only treasure troves, the people in the stores are always so helpful and kind. The first shop didn’t have any of the jars I was after, even going to the trouble of checking that there were none stored away out the back, as others had done during the day. Our last stop, the Anglican Church Op-Shop, and there were two on display, I was so excited. Hearing that I needed just one more jar, they ducked out to their shed and found another two – I bought the lot!

What a fabulous day – not only did I get to meet with and chat to beautiful people, but I also got what I needed, and maybe a little more – I may have also purchased some beautiful knits for my wardrobe, books to be read, and a few other nic-nacs as well – I couldn’t help myself!