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

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.

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

You’ll find this delicious cake on the menu at Long Track Pantry, Jugiong.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Combine flour, almond meal, sugar, vanilla seeds and baking powder.  Add melted butter and eggs and mix well.
Add honey and combine.
Line a 24cm springform tin with baking paper and spread half the cake mixture over the bottom of the tin.
Place ½ of the sliced plums over the cake mixture and then top with the remaining cake mixture.
Arrange the rest of the plums on top and place in the oven for approx 35 mins.
Warm the glaze ingredients over low heat and set aside.  After the cake has been cooked for 35 minutes, glaze with honey mixture.  Cook for another 10-15 mins (glazing once more) or until a skewer comes out with a few crumbs clinging.
Brush cake with glaze once more and set aside to cool.
This cake is best served fresh and warm with cream and icecream.

Note: plums are in season at present and blood plums would be ideal for this cake.

www.longtrackpantry.com.au

If you’re looking for some of Long Track Pantry’s condiments (such as Pear &Ginger Chutney, Red Onion Relish, Apple Pear and Ginger Jam), they are now available in Sydney at Wild Basket, Neutral Bay:

www.wildbasket.com.au

Cherry clafoutis originated in the Limousin region of France where batter and fruit desserts are common. The dish’s name derives from the Occitan clafotís, from the verb clafir, meaning “to fill”

The beauty of this one is that you don’t need to pit the cherries, a time consuming and kitchen-spattering job at the best of times. In “The Flavour Thesaurus” (Bloomsbury), Niki Segnit points out that cherries have an almond-scented seed which is most easily detectable when the fruit is cooked with the stones in.

Preheat oven to 190degC.
Wash, drain and destalk the cherries.  Grease an earthenware or quiche dish large enough to hold the cherries in one layer (about 28cm in diameter).
In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and gradually add the sugar.  Keep beating until pale in colour.  Add the vanilla and melted butter.  Beat in the flour, then pour in the milk.  Keep whisking until you have a creamy batter free of lumps.
Pour the batter over the top of the cherries and bake 35 – 40 minutes.  It will rise during cooking and fall again when taken out of the oven.  Dust the top liberally with icing sugar and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Tip: you can use any soft fruits for this dessert (apricots, strawberries, pears, nectarines) instead of the cherries. For a richer batter, use half milk/half cream.

A dollop of this tangy marmalade on your morning toast will get your tastebuds going for the day.

When I’m at the farm, I usually sit out under the mango tree in the sun and prepare the fruit as it takes some time to cut all the fruit.  Sadly this year, the old mango tree had lost all its leaves – a fungal infection seems to have got into it.
To prepare the fruit: wash and scrub the cumquats (preferably the oval ‘Nagami’  variety which have a tart pungent flavour) .  Halve or quarter them, depending on their size. Remove the seeds and put them in a cup covered with water.
Place the cumquats in a large bowl and just cover with water. Cover with plastic wrap and leave them to sit overnight.
Next day, measure the cumquat/water mixture into a large pot or preserving pan. For every cup (250ml), allow 185g (3/4 cup) caster sugar.  Strain the seeds, adding the liquid to the cumquats.  Tie seeds up in a muslin bag and add it to the cumquats (best if tied to the sides of the pan).  Bring cumquats and water to the boil, turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes, skimming off any scum that forms on top with a mesh ladle.  While cumquats simmer, heat the sugar in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes.  Pour warm sugar into cumquat  mixture and stir well with a wooden spoon.  Bring back to boiling point, and simmer, uncovered, for about 40 minutes or until it reaches setting point.  A simmer pad is useful to prevent burning or sticking. From time to time, skim off any scum that forms on top.
Turn off the heat and ladle into warm sterile jars  Cover with a tight screw-top lid.

Tip 1: To test for setting point, place a saucer in the freezer for five minutes. Remove and drop a small amount of the marmalade, onto the saucer, let cool for about 30 seconds.  If it wrinkles when you run a finger through it, it is ready.  Look out for seville oranges – they also make a great marmalade.
Tip 2: Try using it in marinades for pork or duck dishes to add extra flavour.
Note: This recipe is from my first book, “The Cook’s Garden” (Harper Collins 1992).

For a simple yet impressive breakfast dish or snack.

Heat the grill. Toast the bread lightly on one side.  In a small bowl combine the ricotta with the maple syrup or honey. Spread this mixture over the un-toasted side.  Top with generous pieces of fresh custard apple (check that you have removed any black seeds).  Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar.    Lower grill heat to moderate and cook until the sugar begins to turn golden and the bread is toasted around the edges.
For the Cinnamon Sugar: mix 1 tablespoon caster sugar with 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

This is one of the delicious desserts served on the tropical island of Reunion, a French ‘departement’ east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean and 200km south-west of Mauritius.  It makes good use of a number of local ingredients: bananas, vanilla, sugar and rum.

Peel the bananas and slice in half lengthways.  Melt the butter in a frying pan or chafing dish. Add the vanilla pod.  Arrange the bananas in the pan.  Pour in the lime juice and add the sugar.  Cook over medium high heat, turning the bananas occasionally, until lightly browned.
In a small saucepan, heat the rum, pour over the bananas and set ablaze.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or cream.

A good old Aussie favourite, crispy on the outside, marshmallow within. Strawberries and cream finish it off.  I love to squeeze the pulp of 3 – 4 pasisonfruit over the top.  For something different, make a Brown Sugar Pav (see Tip below).

Preheat oven to 120degC.  Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.  Lightly a trace a 20cm diameter outline on the paper using a cake tin to guide you. Turn the paper upside down so that the outline is on the underside of the paper.

Whisk the egg whites with the salt and half the sugar until stiff and shiny.  Fold in remaining sugar, vanilla, vinegar and cornflour.  Spoon mixture onto prepared baking tray using the circle to help you shape it.  Smooth over the top with a spatula and shape the sides so they slope in to the centre.  Bake for 1 hour then turn oven off, leaving pavlova in the oven for a further 30 minutes. Remove and cool completely before filling.
Whip cream and liqueur until thick and stiff (don’t let it become too stiff).  Pile it onto the pavlova.

Hull the strawberries.  Halve some of them and combine in a bowl with the blueberries, passionfruit pulp and orange zest.  Toss gently and strew fruit over top of cream.

Tip: In her cookbook “Australian Cuisine”, Maureen Simpson points out that for best results the pavlova mixture should be about 6cm high for a good marshmallow centre and that it is important not to make the mistake of scooping out a dip in the centre.   If you wish to make a brown sugar pavlova, use 140g white sugar and 60g brown sugar.