It seems that there is a market every Saturday...

One of the parents usually helps me at the market each week - packing the van, setting up the stall, keeping me sane and fetching me coffee.

This week however I was parentless so I had an entourage of willing helpers to get me through. Still I felt a little nervous so I kept the selection quite simple (and small after last weeks slow pace).

I did add a few new pieces or variations on failed/old pieces. For example, I changed the potato tart topping - mainly because there were no ready courgettes in the garden and our fennel is just begining to bulb again but keeps bolting because of the heat so I thought it needed picking. Also I found organic tinned tomatoes at the supermarket so I tried to make my own sort of tomato paste - so really they're almost like a pastry pizza.

I also changed the Empananda filling. I had had a few issues with oozing and explosion, so I made a simple (dry) vege filling with a bit of cumin and paprika (could of used more) and then just mixed an egg through to coat.

This made everything puff up in the oven but in stead of exploding the filling set, they looked great - more flavoursome next time.

Rocket and feta tarts still remain the same. I actually got to try one this week - not sure how I've managed not to before now - they were good.

The birds have masacred all our plums, except the later Louisa variety which I imagine they will be starting on now.

We bottled a lot of red plums this week so I can use those for my plum danishes for a while. The plums on these danishes however are the big black, very dense plums that are really good because the hold together so well, but we will see how the red ones have coped with the bottling process.

I am slowly running out of bottled apricots.

I again made eccles cakes and they turned out better, a little on the small side but no worries. The Macadamia tarts and the Blueberry tarts sold within the first hour which was nice.

Here you can see me first attempt at Millefeuille. Traditionally there should be three layers of the pastry but when I baked of the sheets of pastry, nicely cut into squares they puffed so high I didn't think one would be able to eat it very daintily.

The creme on the top is a mix of thick, strained yoghurt and mint with a bit of custard stired through to make it spreadable. Louisa plums sliced on the top.

(It was supposed to be strawberries but obviously my fridge is a bit to cold and they had frozen and turned to mush)

This last photo shows the little apple turnovers that I made. I have a deal with the organic lady next door - she gives me her apple seconds and I make her apple turnovers. It works out great for me. We dried some of the apples ate some of them and still had plenty to make turnovers for my friend and try out selling some. They sold ok but I think I might make them a little bit bigger, they seemed to be more pastry than apple.

I don't think I actually sold much more than the previous week but it felt like a good market. I had a lot of return custommers and some big sales so I was happy.