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The Australian Women’s Weekly, Recipes and Secrets from our Test Kitchen cookbook, RRP $39.95, available where all good books are sold. 

Learning the tricks of trade from a home economist is such a valuable tool, and The Australian Women's Weekly new Recipes and Secrets from our Test Kitchen cookbook offers just that. Plus, a bunch of great recipes. And here at Kambrook, we couldn't go past the following two recipes:

- Quiche Lorraine

- Apple & Rhubarb Pie

We gave these a whirl using our Food Processor.

The food processor does most of the work — it's able to chop, puree, liquidise, grind, reduce meat to mince or a smooth paste, make pastry, make breadcrumbs and, with its extra discs, slice paper-thin (or thicker). It can also grate even the hardest, driest of cheeses. That’s a lot of “pros”— but there are some “cons”, too. A food processor can’t beat cream or egg whites, turns potatoes to glue if you attempt to puree them, and produces untidy, torn-looking chopped vegetables.

We're sharing these two wonderful recipes for you to make at home.

QUICHE LORRAINE

Photographer: Stuart Scott

Prep + cook time 1 hour 30 minutes (+ refrigeration)

serves 6

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium brown onion (150g), chopped finely
• 3 rindless bacon slices (195g), chopped finely
• 3 eggs
• 300ml (½ pint) pouring cream
• ½ cup (125ml) milk
• ¾ cup (120g) coarsely grated gruyère cheese

Pastry

• 1¾ cups (260g) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 150g cold butter, chopped coarsely
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• ⅓ cup (80ml) iced water, approximately

DIRECTIONS

1. Make pastry.
2. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F.
3. Roll pastry between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line a deep 23cm (9¼-inch) loose-based fluted pan. Lift pastry into pan; gently press pastry around side. Trim edge, place pan on an oven tray. Cover pastry with baking paper; fill with dried beans, uncooked rice or baking beads. Bake 10 minutes; remove paper and beans. Bake pastry a further 10 minutes or until golden brown; cool.
4. Reduce oven to 180°C/350°F.
5. Cook onion and bacon in a heated oiled small frying pan until onion is soft; drain on paper towel, cool. Sprinkle bacon mixture over pastry case.
6. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl; whisk in cream, milk and cheese.
7. Pour egg mixture into pastry case. Bake about 35 minutes or until filling is set. Stand 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Pastry: Sift flour into a bowl; rub in butter. Add egg yolk, juice and enough water to make ingredients cling together. Knead gently on a lightly floured surface until smooth; cover, refrigerate 30 minutes.

Q+A

Is it okay to make pastry in a food processor?

A food processor does a good job with pastry. Just take care not to overdo the processing at any stage. Pulsing the processor will give you the best results, particularly when at the stage of adding liquid.

Tips: When making pastry, ensure the water is icy cold and the butter is straight from the fridge. The key to success is suspending fat deposits of butter and shortening rather than fully incorporating them into the dough. The colder the fat remains, the easier it is to turn out perfect pastry. Some bakers even put the flour bowl and rolling pin in the fridge to cool down, particularly if the kitchen is warm.

OLD-FASHIONED APPLE & RHUBARB PIE

Photographer: Dean Wilmot

prep + cook time 4 hours (+ cooling & refrigeration) • serves 8

INGREDIENTS

• 5 large (1kg) apples, sliced thickly
• ⅓ cup (75g) caster (superfine) sugar
• ½ cup (125ml) water
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 500g (1 pound) trimmed rhubarb, chopped coarsely
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 egg, beaten lightly
• 1 teaspoon white sugar

ALMOND PASTRY

• 2½ cups (375g) plain (all-purpose) flour
• ½ cup (60g) ground almonds
• 1 cup (160g) icing (confectioners’) sugar
• 250g (8 ounces) cold butter, chopped coarsely
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon iced water

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine apple, caster sugar, the water and half the vanilla bean in a large saucepan, cover, bring to the boil. Simmer about 10 minutes or until apple is tender. Stir in rhubarb, cover, simmer about 3 minutes or until rhubarb is soft. Drain well, place apple mixture in a medium bowl; stir in lemon juice. Cool.
2. Make almond pastry.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease a deep 24cm (9½-inch) pie dish.
4. Roll two thirds of the pastry between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line pie dish. Lift pastry into dish; press into base and side, trim edge. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
5. Line pastry with baking paper, cover with dried beans or rice. Place on an oven tray. Bake 15 minutes; remove paper and beans, bake about 15 minutes or until browned; cool.
6. Spoon apple mixture into pastry case. Roll remaining pastry between sheets of baking paper until large enough to cover pie dish.
7. Brush edge of pastry case with egg. Place pastry over pie; pinch edge of pastry, trim edge. Cut out a 2.5cm (1-inch) round from centre of pie. Brush pastry with egg, sprinkle with white sugar. Bake about 35 minutes or until browned. Stand 10 minutes before serving.

ALMOND PASTRY: Scrape seeds from remaining half of vanilla bean. Process flour, ground almonds, icing sugar and butter until crumbly. Add egg yolks, vanilla seeds and most of the water; process until ingredients just come together. Knead on a floured surface until smooth. Enclose in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Serving Suggestion: Serve the pie with cream, ice-cream or custard.

** This Competition has now finished, thank you to all who participated! **

The two lucky winners for this competition were: Karen and Wendy.

NOW FOR THE WINNING PART

The lovely people at The Australian Women’s Weekly are giving two (2) lucky readers the chance to win one of their Recipes and Secrets from our Test Kitchen cookbooks. All you have to do is answer this simple question in the comments section of this blog post: Give us your best kitchen tip?

Two (2) lucky winners will be selected and each will win their very own copy of The Australian Women’s Weekly,  Recipes and Secrets from our Test Kitchen , RRP $39.95, available where all good books are sold and online at www.awwcookbooks.com.au

Remember, we will be showcasing, trialling and giving away a new cookbook each month, so keep checking back for future giveaways.

Please note:

• Only one entry per person
• Open to Australian residents only
• Two (2)winners will be selected by Kambrook
• The winners will be contacted by email and Kambrook reserves the right to announce the winners on our online site https://aperfectpantry.com.au
• This competition will run from 9am 16th September 2013 to 12pm 22nd September 2013

Click here for full Terms & Conditions

IF YOUR ENTRY EXCEEDS 25 WORDS YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED FROM WINNING!