Cooking with Sheridan 050112Here’s a terrific way to use leftover panettone from Christmas and New year celebrations.  The recipe is from the 2012 Paesanella Calendar which photographer Andrew Payne and I put together recently.

Place the blueberries and half the raspberries in a bowl. Combine 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier and 1 tablespoon sugar. Pour over the fruit. Leave to to macerate for one hour.
Make a coulis by pureeing the remaining raspberries with remaining liqueur, sugar and ¼ cup warm water. Taste for sugar. Set aside.
Toast the panettone slices on both sides until golden.  Place one round in the middle of four plates.
Spread the mascarpone over each round, leaving a little for the top.  Spoon the macerated fruit evenly over each pizza and top with a scoop of mascarpone. Drizzle each with the pulp of half a passionfruit.

This wonderful pudding is from my new book, The Cook’s Garden, a terrific one for the “down-under” Christmas table – not only are berries and currants in season, but it’s served cold (which makes sense on a hot summer day). You can use a mixture of red or black currants, blueberries, mulberries and pitted cherries – it is best if about 500 g (1 lb) of the fruit is composed of raspberries.  Start the preparation a day before serving.

Wash and destalk fruit. Put into a shallow pan with  the sugar. Heat gently until sugar dissolves and juices are running — do not cook beyond this stage.
Put a colander over a basin and tip the fruit into it. Trim crusts from bread. Dip each slice into the reserved fruit juices. Line a 750 ml (1½ pint) pudding basin with the bread, easing pieces together and filling gaps with triangular shaped slices. Half-fill the lined basin with drained fruit. Cover fruit with one layer of dipped bread, then fill with remaining fruit. Cover the top with bread, tucking in neatly to the edges of the basin.
Put a plate that fits inside the bowl on top of the bread and weight it lightly. Leave overnight in the refrigerator, reserving any leftover juice.
To serve, remove plate and tip pudding onto a serving platter, pouring over the reserved juice.
Serve with thick cream. Serves 4–6

Shaped like a top knot, and oozing luscious cream, burrata is a fresh Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream.   Faith Willinger, the American food writer who lives in Florence describes burrata  as “halfway between cheese and sex.”  You can buy it fresh from Pasesanella at their Marrickville factory in Sydney, which is also open to the public on Sunday mornings.  Here”s a different way (with a Moroccan influence) to use it over the coming summer months.

Cut the apricots into halves.  Remove the stone then slice each half into four crescents.  Place in a bowl, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, cover with plastic wrap and leave to macerate for an hour or until apricots begin to release their juices.
Dry the Burrata on a paper towel and place in centre of a serving plate.
Surround with the macerated apricots and pomegranate seeds. Drizzle over the pomegranate juice.  Cut the Burrata just before you serve so that it oozes its lovely creamy interior around the fruit.

This recipe is courtesy of Uwe Habermehl, executive chef at the Sydney Convention Centre.  Last week, Uwe and his chefs staged a stunning 7-course Fire-and-Ice banquet to honour painter Tim Storrier in one of the rooms overlooking Darling Harbour.  It’s a sensational season for mangoes and this refreshing sorbet, flavoured with fragrant kaffir lime leaves and saffron, is just the thing for summer entertaining.

For best results make the sorbet the day before and leave overnight to firm before serving.  Stir the sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat until sugar has dissolved, then increase heat and bring to the boil.
Remove from heat, add saffron threads and kaffir leaves (slightly bruise leaves in your palm to release the flavour, before adding to syrup). Leave to infuse until completely cool, or overnight if possible.
To make the mango purée, peel mangoes and cut flesh away from the seed. Freeze until required, then purée frozen mango in a food processor and weigh the required amount.
Pass the mango purée through a fine sieve into a large bowl. Stir in the liquid glucose, lime juice, salt, additional water and strained infused sugar syrup, and whisk until combined. Pour into an ice cream machine and churn, following the manufacturer’s instructions.
If you do not have an ice cream machine, pour the chilled mixture into a freezer-safe plastic container, cover and place in the coldest part of the freezer.
Check after 1½ hours, the mixture should have frozen around the sides of the container while remaining soft in the centre. Either beat for a few seconds with an electric hand-held beater, or quickly process in a food processor, until the mixture forms a uniform ‘slushy’ consistency.
Pour the mixture back into the container, cover and return to the freezer.
Repeat the beating or processing step at least twice every 1½ hours. Freeze overnight.
To serve, scoop the sorbet into serving bowls or small glasses and top with diced mango and grated lime zest.
Makes approximately 2 litres.

Tip: look for Kengsington Pride mangoes as they have the most flavour.

This is a terrific tart for any season, similar in style to a frangipane tart, but without the pastry base.  It can be made in a ceramic quiche or pie dish and served straight from oven to table. It’s also good with tinned fruit.

Preheat oven 180 C. Line a 26cm flan dish or tin with baking paper and brush sides with melted butter.
Melt butter and sugar together over low heat stirring until sugar is dissolved, approximately five minutes – it should be thick and honey-like in consistency. Remove pan from heat and cool for 10 mins. Add eggs and whisk together lightly.
In a separate bowl sift flour and baking powder and stir through almond meal. Make a hole in the centre and pour in the butter mixture.  Combine well with a wooden spoon.  Spoon batter into prepared flan tin or quiche dish.
Cover with fruit of your choice, starting from outside circle working in (for this tart, I used two apples, peeled, cored and cut into crescents and dotted them with raspberries).
Sprinkle top with flaked almonds. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre of flan comes out clean.

Tip:  the top can be glazed with warm apricot jam.

This lovely recipe is from Alain Fabergues, the fabulous French chef who owns The Loose Box at Mundaring, just outside Perth, W.A.   Truffles combine well with cream and sugar as you’ll discover in this dish.

For The Pannacotta: In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and caster sugar.  Bring to the boil, remove from the heat, add the truffle and infuse with a lid on for 15minutes. Soak gelatine in cold water then add the softened gelatine to the hot infusion. Place in plastic moulds (or use dariole moulds) and cover with plastic film to avoid a skin forming. Refrigerate.
For The Shiraz reduction: Bring the Shiraz to the boil and flambé to remove the alcohol, add the sugar and reduce till it thickens. Add the ground truffles and boil for two minutes. Remove from the heat and keep it in a glass jar till needed.
For The Salsa: Peel and dice the apples.  Peel and dice the pears – but you will have to wait for your salsa to be ready to be served to dice the pears as they will get brown.Mix the salsa in a bowl with 10g of peeled and diced truffles, add a pinch of sugar cover with a film and refrigerate until needed.
To Serve: Dip the bottom of each pannacotta in hot water for just a couple of second and turn out chilled moulds into a bowl and serve by sharing the salsa around the pannacotta.Finish with a drizzle of Shiraz and truffle reduction. Garnish as you like; it is time to make them look pretty, remember the last dish of a meal is an important statement so take that extra minute.

This quantity will make 15 Pannacotta.

Note: Alain suggests you try to find the “Green Star” apples which is a new West Australian apple.  “Please do as this apple doesn’t get brown  once peeled so you do not have to use lemon to keep it white – lemon is not a friend of truffle as its acidity cancels the subtle phenols of this fungus.”
In 2008, a farm near Donnybrook  at Kingswood Heights Orchard in South West W.A. grew a new variety of apple was picked for the first time in Australia. The apple is a cross between the Granny Smith and Delicious varieties and has been imported from Belgium.

What would you do with this fat strawberry? I’d use it in an Eton Mess (a mixture – or mess – of smashed meringues, whipped cream and berries).
Just where the name comes from is a mystery – some people say it may have come about when a Labrador dog accidentally sat on a picnic basket. But it probably originated in the dining halls of Eton College – you can imagine what went on!  If you buy a broken pavlova case or commercial mini meringues, you can assemble the whole thing very quickly.

To make the Meringues:

When making meringues, it’s a good idea to open a new bag of sugar to ensure there’s no extra moisture in sugar.
Preheat oven to 120degC (100 degC) if using fan-forced).
Line a baking tray with baking paper.Beat the egg whites and salt on low speed of electric mixer until frothy. Add cream of tartar.
Gradually add the caster sugar about a tablespoon at a time, beating between each addition until the mixture is glossy before adding the next tablespoon.
Continue until mixture is very stiff. Add the vanilla essence.
Spoon large spoonfuls (or use a piping bag with Size 11 tip) or shape between two spoons onto trays lined with baking paper.
Bake for one hour.  Ease meringues with a spatula and leave in the oven another 30 minutes or until dry.
Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place.

For the Eton Mess:

Whip the cream to soft peaks.  Hull and halve the strawberries.  Put the cream in a large bowl and throw in the strawberries.
Now for the best part: smash up the meringues and add them to the bowl.  Fold together and spoon onto individual dishes.
Tip: for a more elegant presentation, pile the “mess” into a pretty bowl and decorate with cut berries and mint or strawberry leaves.

The recipe for this luscious tart was given to me by Courtney Bracks, the talented owner/chef of Ciao Thyme and Café Viva in Darling St., Balmain, Sydney.  Courtney has cooked for the stars – but doesn’t have stars in her eyes.

Preheat oven to 220degC/200degC Fan Forced.  Grease a 35cm x 13cm tart dish with removable base.
Make the pastry: place flour, butter, salt, nutmeg and sugar in the food processor and pulse until crumbly.  Add water and process until it forms a ball around the blades.  Turn out, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Roll out pastry to fit the tart dish and level edges. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.  Remove tart base from fridge and bake blind in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside while preparing the fruit.
Prepare the fruit: cut the plums (or figs) in half, remove stones and toss in sugar.  Caramelise the fruit in a frying pan with some butter until well coloured.
For the frangipane filling: cream together the butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time then beat in the almonds and brandy.
To assemble the flan: fill tart case with cold frangipane filling, top with the plums (or figs). Lower oven temperature to 180degC (160degC fan Forced) and bake tart for 30 – 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Cool a little before serving.

The recipe for this luscious tart was given to me by Courtney Bracks, the talented owner/chef of Ciao Thyme and Café Viva in Darling St., Balmain, Sydney.  Courtney has cooked for the stars – but doesn’t have stars in her eyes.

Preheat oven to 220degC/200degC Fan Forced.  Grease a 35cm x 13cm tart dish with removable base.
Make the pastry: place flour, butter, salt, nutmeg and sugar in the food processor and pulse until crumbly.  Add water and process until it forms a ball around the blades.  Turn out, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Roll out pastry to fit the tart dish and level edges. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.  Remove tart base from fridge and bake blind in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside while preparing the fruit.
Prepare the fruit: cut the plums (or figs) in half, remove stones and toss in sugar.  Caramelise the fruit in a frying pan with some butter until well coloured.
For the frangipane filling: cream together the butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time then beat in the almonds and brandy.
To assemble the flan: fill tart case with cold frangipane filling, top with the plums (or figs). Lower oven temperature to 180degC (160degC fan Forced) and bake tart for 30 – 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Cool a little before serving.

Note: the pastry can be left in the freezer for 2 weeks.  The frangipane filling and fruit can be prepared two days before – you’ll find that the frangipane puffs up better if left in the fridge.

Ciao Thyme
212 Darling Street
Balmain Sydney
(02) 9555 5455

Cafe Viva
4/189 Darling Street
Balmain
(02) 9810 9028

The recipe for this luscious tart was given to me by Courtney Bracks, the talented owner/chef of Ciao Thyme and Café Viva in Darling St., Balmain, Sydney.  Courtney has cooked for the stars – but doesn’t have stars in her eyes.

Preheat oven to 220degC/200degC Fan Forced.  Grease a 35cm x 13cm tart dish with removable base.
Make the pastry: place flour, butter, salt, nutmeg and sugar in the food processor and pulse until crumbly.  Add water and process until it forms a ball around the blades.  Turn out, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Roll out pastry to fit the tart dish and level edges. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.  Remove tart base from fridge and bake blind in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside while preparing the fruit.
Prepare the fruit: cut the plums (or figs) in half, remove stones and toss in sugar.  Caramelise the fruit in a frying pan with some butter until well coloured.
For the frangipane filling: cream together the butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time then beat in the almonds and brandy.
To assemble the flan: fill tart case with cold frangipane filling, top with the plums (or figs). Lower oven temperature to 180degC (160degC fan Forced) and bake tart for 30 – 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Cool a little before serving.

Note: the pastry can be left in the freezer for 2 weeks.  The frangipane filling and fruit can be prepared two days before – you’ll find that the frangipane puffs up better if left in the fridge.

Ciao Thyme
212 Darling Street
Balmain Sydney
(02) 9555 5455

Cafe Viva
4/189 Darling Street
Balmain
(02) 9810 9028