I was home by myself today for the best part of the daylight hours and managed to get quite a few chores done with only minor dizziness/headache emanating from my MdDS. So, still feeling quite reasonable, I embarked on creating a little something for "mum and the kids" for "afternoon tea" when they returned from their respective work places this afternoon, from what was on hand in the pantry and the fridge. I knew my wife had bought some dates and we had plenty of dried fruit (sultanas, raisans and mixed - apricots, apple, peach, pineapple and cherry) so I went about making a fruit slice with the help of Australia's answer to the "holy grail" of folklore in the kitchen - The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook.
To cut a long story short, the only drama was grinding the third of a cup of rice for the short crust pastry with the trusty ol' mortar and pestle. OMG, what a job! My wife cacked herself laughing when I told her what I'd done. "Why didn't you just jump in the car and buy some ... save yourself all that grief?", she asked. "It's a long way to walk to the shops and back", I replied. (For me to jump into a car at the moment sets off major imbalance problems (when the vehicle comes to rest) so that wasn't on my radar). She got my point.
Anyway, I didn't deviate from the recipe much except I only used a little lemon peel from the lemons (we grow our own and have plenty at the mo') I extracted the juice and rind from. I used Bundaberg rum instead of the orange juice. I used cornflour instead of arrowroot. I've had a slice with a cup of tea this evening and I'm very happy with the result. One slice goes a long way. The family will, most likely, demolish the remainder before the next day is over, methinks. My dietician and diabetic specialist wouldn't be so happy if ate too much of it, but so far, so good.
Recipe
Fruit Slice
125g (4 oz) butter
1 and a half cups self-raising flour
one third cup of ground rice
one quarter cup of castor sugar
2 and a half tablespoons of cornflour
1 egg
Filling
250g (8 oz) dates
2 teaspoons of grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon lemon juice
125g (4oz) sultanas
125g (4oz) raisans
30g (1oz) mixed peel
60g (2oz) glace' cherries
2 teaspoons of sugar
30g (1oz) butter
1 teaspoon mixed spice
3/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon arrowroot (I used same quantity of corn flour)
1 tablespoon rum or orange juice (I used rum)
Method
Sift flour, ground rice, cornflour into basin, rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar and beaten egg. Knead lightly on floured board, roll out half the pastry fit into greased and lined 28cm x 18cm (11in. x 7 in.) lamington tin.
Cover with prepared filling. Roll out remaining pastry; cover filling.
Glaze with little cold water, sprinkle with extra castor sugar. Bake in moderately hot oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool; cut into slices.
Filling: Place in saucepan chopped fruit and all ingredients except arrowroot (corn flour) and rum; place over low heat, stirring continually, until thick. Blend arrowroot wirh rum or orange juice, stir into fruit mixture; return to heat, stirring, 3 minutes. Remove, cool completely.
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