This recipe is from a blog I recently discovered called “Citrus and Candy”. If this recipe is anything to go by, the author is some kind of diabolical pastry-chef genius. Also, I would love to be able to take photo lessons from her!
Imagine rich chocolate ganache. Add in a homemade pie shell. Then consider the additional of caramelised banana…and raisins (or in my case, sultanas) soaked in rum. Now do you see what I’m talking about? This recipe is larger-than-life. As a result, it’s a little bit time consuming, and a little bit fiddly. No element is particularly hard, but it takes time. And the recipe stretches over two pages. So, this is not a quick dish to throw together before a bbq – it’s a labour of love. But it’s worth it.
As the recipe is so long, I won’t attempt to reproduce it here. If you’re interested, click here. One thing to note – prepare the pastry first as this is the most time consuming element. You can even do this the night before to save some stress on the day.
If you can’t be bothered making it, you might have to just ask me very nicely to bring it along when you next have a dinner party…
My (soon to be) sister-in-law made this fantastic souffle for dessert the other night. It’s really easy, really rich and just delicious. The recipe below makes 1 large souffle, so just multiply by the number of people you’re serving (obviously!).
Thanks for sharing Lucy!
Ingredients - 25 grams Dark chocolate
- 1 tsp Cocoa powder
- 1 large Egg, separated
- 25 grams Caster sugar
- 1 tsp Grated orange zest
- 2 tsps Melted butter
- Caster sugar for sprinkling ramekins
Directions
- Melt the chocolate - a zap at a low temperature in the microwave will work, or else use a water bath on the stove.
- Prepare the ramekins - Brush with butter, stroking from bottom to top. Refrigerate then repeat the butter process. Coat with excess sugar, tip out the extra, then refrigerate until ready to put soufflé mix in.
- Add the cocoa, egg yolk and orange zest and mix well.
- In a separate bowl beat the egg white and slowly add the sugar until you get soft peaks.
- Add 1/3 of the egg white mix to the chocolate mix and mix gently, but not too cautiously.
- Add this chocolate mix back to the remaining egg white mix and fold very gently to keep in the air.
- Carefully pour into prepared soufflé ramekins.
- You can keep these in the fridge for a few hours before needed, they will just take a little longer to cook.
- Bake in a 180*C oven for about 15min or until risen, but still slightly wobbly.
- Serve with vanilla icecream.
This is only my second foray into the world of panna cotta, and as I am a novice when it comes to all things gelatine I took a “softly softly” approach. This recipe is actually terribly simple, but it does require some patience in waiting for the gelatine to dissolve. It is very important not to boil the gelatine or else you’ll end up with clumps that don’t taste particularly appetising.
This is a cheat’s version of raspberry coulis – you simply heat some frozen raspberries with some sugar (in the microwave works perfectly well!) until they soften and blend together. I really love the visual contrast of the bright red raspberry sauce with the cream panna cotta, speckled with vanilla bean seeds. The panna cotta was appropriately “wobbly”, and it slipped easily down the throat. The vanilla bean was strong and added so much additional flavour – far superior to vanilla essence (not that I’m knocking vanilla essence – it certainly has its place!).
Ingredients - 1 whole Vanilla bean
- 300 mls Thickened cream
- 2/3 cup Milk
- 2 tsps Gelatine
- 2 tbsps Caster sugar
- 1 handful Raspberries (frozen are fine)
- 1-2 tsp Sugar
Directions
- Grease 4-6 ramekins with butter.
- Scrape vanilla bean seeds into a small saucepan, add cream and milk and pop in the vanilla bean pod. Stir to combine.
- Stand the cream mixture for 10 minutes - this allows all the flavours to infuse.
- Sprinkle gelatine and sugar over the cream mixture.
- Turn the stove onto low and stir the cream mixture steadily until the gelatine and sugar dissolve. It is very important not to boil - better to take a long time than to ruin it with impatience! You can tell when they are dissolve as the little lumps of gelatine will be gone when you look at the mixture on a spoon.
- Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared rammekins. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours, or until set. You can leave overnight without any problems.
- Prepare the raspberry coulis - just a handful of raspberries with a teaspoon or so of sugar (to taste), and warm until the berries break down.
- You can serve the panna cotta in the ramekins if you wish, but for a bit of elegance, tip them out onto a plate and drizzle the raspberry coulis around. To extract more easily from the ramekins, try running a warm knife around the rim. I also found it helpful to keep the knife in on one side while tipping onto the plate, as this counteracts the suction effect.
This recipe is my first attempt from Matthew Evans’ enormous tome “The Real Food Companion”. Thanks Dad for the engagement gift!
Matthew Evans was a food critic from Sydney who gave it all up and moved to Tasmania to start a hobby farm and learn more about the origins of his food. He had a short tv-series on SBS that focused on the challenges of trying to live your ideals. The Real Food Companion is the result of his first year of farming – it looks at the various food industries in Australia and urges people to learn where their food comes from and to try and source the best and freshest produce available. In short, it’s right up my alley!
Aside from wanting to try out my new cookbook, this recipe gave me an excuse to try out another engagement present – our culinary blow torch!
Ingredients - 600 grams Thick cream
- 3cm strip lemon peel
- 1 Vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 6 Egg yolks
- 2 tbsps Caster sugar
- Extra caster sugar for burning
Directions
- Put the cream and lemon peel in a saucepan over high heat.
- Scrape the vanilla seeds into the pan and add the bean as well.
- Bring to a simmer.
- Remove pan from heat, whisk and set aside for 15 minutes. This allows the flavours to infuse.
- Strain the cream through a fine sieve, discarding the peel and bean.
- In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until pale.
- Whisk in the cream, then pour into a clean saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream thickens. The mixture should coat the back of a spoon.
- Don't overcook the custard or it will scramble.
- Pour into 6-8 ramekins, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate before serving (overnight if possible).
- Just before serving, sprinkle an even layer of caster sugar over the top of each custard.
- Caramelize the top using a blowtorch (you can also cook until a preheated grill but this doesn't produce as consistent a result).
- The top of each brulee should be dark, but not black.
- Allow to cool slightly before serving (melted sugar is exceedingly hot!).
- Serve to you guests and watch them crack away!
This is just a super quick post to let you know my recipe for healthy banana bread is being featured over at Gastronomy Gal as part of her month of healthy recipes.
Check it out here.
Thanks for the chance to do a guest post Eliza!
My first taste of macaroons was at Laduree in Paris. From my first mouthful I was hooked. But I’ve been scared to buy them in Brisbane, as I’m afraid they won’t quite live up to how I remember them in my mind. I finally decided to tackle them this weekend, since it was looking a bit quieter than normal. My expectations were not high but I figure I have to start somewhere.
Macaroons are hard to describe – they are basically a meringue cookie (containing ground almonds), filled with some kind of sweet filling. They are light and delicate, and the texture of the cookie contrasts nicely with the unctuous filling. For my first attempt I was aiming for aqua cookies with blackberry and mascarpone filling. I used this recipe from Tartelette (she’s French so she must know how to make them no?).
However, obviously I made mine green, as I’m hoping to make some to serve at my engagement party next weekend (the theme colours are aqua, blue and green). Instead of the raspberry filling that Tartelette proposes, I used blackberry jam. Unfortunately I was a little over-zealous with the food colouring, and as a result they look kind of like frogs with tongues poking out.
I’m also interested in experimenting with chocolate ganache, and fruit-based filling. I will keep you posted on my progress.
I actually experimented with two sizes – the ones in the photograph are my small size, and are only about an inch in size. I made larger versions but alas I didn’t cook them for long enough and they crumbled on the baking paper. I actually think I prefer the smaller size anyway, they are like little sweet pockets of air that dissolve in your mouth.
Based on my first experience, and thanks to the excellent instructions of Tartlette, I have to say I don’t think macaroons are hard, so much as fiddly and reasonably time consuming. Like most baking, there is a science and a process that must be followed. I am happy to follow instructions, which is why baking works for me.
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This recipe is from a blog I recently discovered called “Citrus and Candy”. If this recipe is anything to go by, the author is some kind of diabolical pastry-chef genius. Also, I would love to be able to take photo lessons from her!
05.09.10 | 
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