Instant Pavlova

Posted on 29 April 2013 by Linda Peek

We were staying with our daughter and son-in-law in Newcastle last year when they hosted an Australia Day party for about 30 friends plus kids. We ran out of time to make the desserts and bought a couple of pavlovas from Woolworths supermarket. I always make my own and was quite impressed with these bought ones which were moist and marshmallowy in the middle and crunchy on the outside. Not as good as a home-made one, which has more crunchy bits, but not bad. Once you’ve added the whipped cream and fresh berries they’re pretty good as an instant dessert.

When I was shopping for the Easter weekend Woolies had their large pavlovas, which they say serve 20, for half the normal price. So I bought one. Then I started to wonder how to make it look more home-made.

The answer is to use a stacking ring and cut circles from the pavlova. Top with the cream and fruit and voilà – an elegant dessert in no time at all. If you don’t use it all, the rest of the pavlova will keep for several days, so you can cut more circles and serve it again. If you think the pavlova circles are too big, cut them in half horizontally, then you will get twice as many smaller servings.

If you don’t have stacking rings you can make one by cutting the top and bottom off an empty metal can with a suitable diameter. If it’s deep enough top the pavlova with the cream and fruit before removing the ring, as I did for this photo, which results in a neater finish.

I doubt if anywhere other than Australia and New Zealand sells pavlovas in their supermarkets, so I’m afraid this blog post won’t help people living in other parts of the world!

1 bought pavlova
Cream, whipped until thick
Fresh berries or passion fruit pulp

Spray the inside of a stacking ring lightly with some vegetable oil, to make removal easier, then cut circles from the pavlova. If the ring is deep enough, top with cream and fruit, if not do it afterwards. If liked drizzle some raspberry coulis around the plate.

After Eight Parfaits

Posted on 17 April 2013 by Linda Peek

These little frozen parfaits in shot glasses are perfect to serve after a heavy meal, when no-one feels like eating a large or heavy dessert. I’ve had this recipe for over 20 years. Sometimes I forget about it and don’t make them for a few years, but whenever I do they go down well.

A bottle of mint oil lasts for years. I’ve had mine so long I can’t remember where I bought it. In Canberra you can buy it at The Essential Ingredient in Kingston.

1 cup water
2 Tbs sugar
200g good quality dark chocolate, broken into squares
4 egg yolks
2-3 drops mint oil or essence, to taste
1 Tbs brandy (optional)
250ml cream
Mint chocolates to decorate

Boil sugar and water for 3 minutes. Process in food processor with dark chocolate until smooth. Press down on food processor so it doesn’t splash out. Add egg yolks and blend 15 secs. Add mint essence, brandy and cream and blend 10 secs. Pour into a jug then into 8-10 shot glasses and freeze overnight or until firm.

To serve, decorate each parfait with a mint chocolate. In the photo I used a mint chocolate bar which was green in the middle, roughly chopped. Alternatively use a fresh mint leaf. Remove from freezer 20-30 minutes before serving, so they are not rock hard.

Serves 8-10

Note: you can make this without a food processor. Just add chocolate to sugar syrup, stir to dissolve, then mix in remaining ingredients.

Bailey’s Tiramisu with Berries

Posted on 5 April 2013 by Linda Peek

Tiramisu is an Italian dessert consisting of sponge fingers (lady fingers or Savoiardi), egg yolks, mascarpone and a liqueur or fortified wine, traditionally Marsala. There are countless variations on this theme. This version uses egg whites instead of yolks, honey instead of sugar and Bailey’s Irish Cream instead of Marsala.

2 Tbs instant coffee powder & ½ cup boiling water
Or ½ cup strong espresso coffee
2 Tbs Bailey’s Irish cream liqueur
8 Savoiardi sponge fingers
250g mascarpone, at room temp
1 Tbs runny honey
2 Tbs Bailey’s Irish cream liqueur, extra
2 egg whites
Cocoa powder for dusting
Fresh berries to serve

Mix coffee with boiling water and stir to dissolve. Add Baileys. Break each sponge finger into three and add to coffee mixture, stirring to coat. Place 4 pieces of sponge finger in each of six Martini glasses. Divide any remaining coffee mixture among the glasses, pushing down to squash the sponge fingers a bit. Place mascarpone in a mixing bowl. Add honey then Baileys and mix well. In another bowl whip egg whites till soft peaks with electric beaters. Mix into mascarpone, then divide mixture among the six glasses. Chill several hours. Dust with cocoa through a sieve. Serve with berries on the side.

Serves 6

Italian Mince Pies with Panna Cotta & Berry Compote

Posted on 11 February 2013 by Linda Peek

When I’m looking for inspiration I browse through old cook books. I have quite a few, including some by Robert Carrier.

Born in the USA in 1923, Carrier’s success came in England, where he worked for most of his life as a chef, restaurateur and food writer. The Jamie Oliver of the 70s and 80s, Carrier tried to persuade the British public there was more to life than meat and three veg. He retired to France where he died in 2006.

Carrier said he acquired the recipe for Mezzorgiorno (which I have shortened to “Italian”) Mince Pies served with Panna Cotta and Berry Compote from The Don Camillo restaurant in Provence. It may seem like a complicated recipe, but most of the work is done by the food processor and you can spread it over three days. Make the pastry and filling for the pies on day one. Next day make the panna cottas, the compote and the pies. Refrigerate them covered, but uncooked. On the third day brush with egg and bake an hour or so before serving.

The pastry is not easy to roll out and you may find yourself using quite a bit of flour to stop it from sticking, especially on a hot day. Unfortunately too much flour makes pastry tough, so if you’re having difficulty try rolling it out between two sheets of baking paper. You could always substitute home-made or bought shortcrust or puff pastry.

Mr Carrier said to cut the pastry into 8cm squares, but I found this made the pies too big – 6 to 7cm is a better size. The original filling included brown sugar in addition to the honey, but the mixture is sweet enough with all that dried fruit and chocolate, so I left it out.

Panna cotta – which means cooked cream – is delicious served with just the compote. And the pies are nice served on their own as a change to traditional mince pies at Christmas. But all put together they make an unusual dessert.

Italian Mince Pies

Pastry:
½ cup caster sugar
150g unsalted butter at room temp
1 Tbs cinnamon
grated rind (zest) 1 lemon
3 eggs
2¾ cups (350g) plain flour
Filling:
125g good quality dark chocolate
150g dates, pitted
250g dried figs, stems removed (or substitute raisins)
3 Tbs honey
3 Tbs Marsala or port
100g pine nuts, toasted
Grated rind (zest) 1 lemon or orange
½ cup dried sour cherries (I substituted cranberries)
1 egg, beaten
Icing sugar for dusting

Pastry: Place sugar, butter, cinnamon and lemon rind in food processor and process until creamed. Add eggs and when mixed add flour. Process until dough comes together in a ball. Tip out, form into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 3 days. Can be frozen for several weeks.

Filling: Break chocolate into squares, then pulse in food processor until coarsely chopped. Tip into a bowl. Place dates, figs, honey and Marsala or port in food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add to the bowl with remaining ingredients except egg and icing sugar and mix well. Store in a covered container in the fridge. Keeps several weeks.

Assembly: Preheat oven to 170°C. Roll pastry thinly on floured surface and cut into 6 or 7cm squares. You should have enough to make 35-40, but it’s best to make only as many as you can eat on the same day. Also it’s easier to work with about a quarter of the dough at a time. Place one rounded teaspoon of filling on one side of each square, brush 2 sides with egg and fold over to form a triangle enclosing the filling, pinching well to seal.

Place pies in the cups of lightly oiled muffin trays, which is what gives them their interesting curved shape. If you don’t have muffin trays use flat baking trays. Brush with egg and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Don’t overcook or they will be dry. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

Pies are best eaten the day they are made, still warm from the oven, so it’s best to make just the right amount and store leftover pastry and filling for another time. While leftover cooked pies can be reheated next day, they are not as nice as on day one.

Vanilla Pana Cottas

4 Tbs water
3 tsp powdered gelatine
750ml cream
250ml milk
4-5 Tbs caster sugar, to taste
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla essence

Place water in a small bowl, sprinkle gelatine on top then zap in microwave to dissolve. Heat cream, milk, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan to boiling point, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add gelatine, mix well, cool a bit then divide among 10 half cup moulds. Refrigerate, covered, overnight. To serve, tip briefly in hot water, run a thin knife around the edge and tip out. Serve with Berry Compote and one or two Italian Mince Pies.

Serves 10

Berry Compote

750g – 1 kg fresh or frozen berries (one or more of the following: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, stoned cherries)
1 Tbs lemon juice
¼ cup cherry brandy, Kirsch or other liqueur (optional)
¼ cup sugar, or to taste

Slice or halve strawberries. Place all ingredients in a bowl and allow to macerate for several hours or overnight, stirring from time to time.

Serves 10

Ricotta Hot Cakes with Honeycomb Butter

Posted on 7 February 2013 by Linda Peek

Bill Granger owns three busy cafes in Sydney where he has made his name serving fantastic breakfasts and brunches. We went to the one in Surrey Hills on Sunday a couple of weeks back. You can’t book and by the time we arrived it was nearly 10.30 so there was quite a queue. We were told the wait would be 20-30 minutes, which unfortunately ended up being fifty.

Fortunately the meal was worth waiting for. I chose the Gravlax which was good, but not as good as the Ricotta Hot Cakes with Honeycomb Butter, ordered by one of our party, who generously gave me a taste. I’m sure you know the feeling when you realise you should have ordered what someone else is having!

Bill’s recipe was easy to find online. It says it serves 6 to 8, but it’s not something I would make if I had to serve that many people for breakfast. Let them eat toast! I halved the recipe which made a filling breakfast for two. By making the hot cakes a bit smaller, or serving two per person instead of three, we could have served a third person.

The Honeycomb Butter is delicious, but if you want to serve the hot cakes for breakfast you need to make it the day before as it needs to chill for a couple of hours. If you don’t have time for that just spoon it into a small bowl and serve it in dollops. Or forget about the Honeycomb Butter and just drizzle them with honey. At Bill’s they serve maple syrup on the side, for those who want to add more sweetness, but I don’t think you need it.

To serve the hot cakes as a dessert, make them half the size so you end up with 12 little cakes which will serve 4. They would also be delicious with stewed rhubarb or indeed any fruit – cooked or fresh – that you have available.

¾ cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs, separated
½ cup plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
pinch salt
butter for frying
fresh strawberries, halved or sliced banana
icing sugar for dusting
Honeycomb Butter:
125g unsalted butter at room temperature
50g Honeycomb or a Crunchie Bar
1 Tbs honey

Remove chocolate from Crunchie bar with a sharp knife and discard (or eat!). Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. Shape into a log on plastic wrap, roll up, seal and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Mix ricotta, milk and egg yolks in bowl. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Whip egg whites in another bowl until stiff peaks. With a metal spoon, fold thoroughly into batter in two batches. Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with butter. Make three hotcakes using about 2 heaped tablespoons of batter for each. Cook over medium-high heat for 2 minutes or until golden on the underside. Turn and cook on the other side. Transfer to a warm plate while you make three more, adding a little more butter to the pan.

Serve hotcakes with halved strawberries or thickly sliced banana and a slice of honeycomb butter. If you don’t have time to make the Honeycomb butter just serve drizzled with honey instead. Dust with icing sugar.

Makes 6 large hot cakes which serves 2-3

Note: if you can’t find ricotta you could use cottage cheese, whizzed in the food processor to remove lumps. South American readers could use queso fresco.

Rio Palace Waffles

Posted on 2 February 2013 by Linda Peek

Many moons ago when we were holidaying in Brazil our kids decided that the Rio Palace Hotel in Rio de Janeiro made the best waffles. I asked the chef for the recipe and somehow managed to write it down. Communication was hampered by the fact that he only spoke Portuguese and while I do speak Spanish, it’s similar but not quite the same!

His recipe started off with a dozen eggs and would have made enough waffles to feed an army, so I divided it by six. It wasn’t long before the kids had weekend waffle making down to a fine art, doubling the recipe if they had friends staying … and sometimes even when they didn’t. I was always amazed at how many they could demolish.

They’re great for breakfast with honey or maple syrup. For dessert try them with quartered strawberries sweetened with a little sugar and a dash of white balsamic vinegar, caramel sauce and whipped cream, as shown in the photo. The kids never bothered, but if you have time separate the eggs and fold in the lightly whipped whites at the end, by hand, which makes the waffles even lighter. You can use milk instead of cream and water, but the results are crunchier with cream.

2 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs
200g or 1¾ cups plain flour, sifted
½ cup cream
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar or honey
½ to ¾ cup water

Using electric beaters or a food processor mix all the ingredients for the waffles, adding enough water to make a thick batter. Preheat an electric waffle iron, butter it and cook the waffles according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Serves 8 for dessert (3 pieces each) or 2 hungry kids for breakfast

Mangoes in Ginger Wine

Posted on 17 January 2013 by Linda Peek

If you want to be sure to get every bit of flesh off the stone the best place to eat a mango is in the bath.

My mother in law once attended an official lunch at Government House in Hong Kong. For dessert the waiter passed round a platter of whole fruit. She was tempted by the mangoes, but knew that this would not be a good idea. Eating a whole mango delicately with a knife and fork is not easy and you wouldn’t want it to shoot across the table and land on another guest’s lap. Experienced guests like my mother in law played it safe and took a banana or an apple. One lady, through lack of experience or perhaps without thinking, chose a mango. Everyone finished their fruit quite quickly then sat back to watch this poor woman struggle with her mango. It took forever, but to give her credit she persisted and finished the task. Perhaps a round of applause would have been a nice gesture.

Here in Australia the mango season is in full swing. I’m always tempted to buy a case of 12, but there are just the two of us and after a few days the mangoes have ripened to the point where the remaining few need to be used immediately. Mangoes in ginger wine is a delicious solution and will keep in the fridge for a day or two. I think this recipe will appeal to my friends at the Sarojin Resort in Thailand and I’m sure they could cut up the fruit more decoratively than I have. Perhaps the chef can give me a lesson next time I’m there.

4 large fresh mangoes
¾ cup Stone’s ginger wine
2 Tbs chopped glace ginger or ginger preserved in syrup

Peel and slice mangoes and place in a serving bowl. Heat ginger wine with ginger and pour over. Chill and serve very cold.

Serves 4-6

Berry Meringue Ice Cream Slice

Posted on 7 January 2013 by Linda Peek

Not everyone likes Christmas pudding, so I like to serve two desserts on Christmas day, so people can choose. This Bill Granger recipe for an easy ice cream slice full of berries and chunks of meringue appeared in the December issue of Delicious. We have raspberries in the garden at the moment, so it was perfect.

Some people, who shall remain nameless, had both the Christmas pudding and the ice cream slice. They blamed this indulgence on me saying it was too hard to choose.

350g berries (I used raspberries)
600ml thickened cream or whipping cream
2 Tbs icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
50g bought meringues broken into chunks
To serve:
Runny honey and extra berries (I used a mix of raspberries and halved strawberries)

Grease a 1.5L loaf pan and line with plastic wrap or use a silicone pan which doesn’t need to be lined. Drop some berries into the loaf pan – these will be the top of the slice. Whip cream with sugar and vanilla to soft peaks then fold in berries and meringue. Pour into pan, shake to remove any air bubbles, and smooth top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours or overnight.

Remove from freezer 20 minutes before serving. Tip out and garnish with extra berries, drizzle with honey and cut into slices to serve.

Serves 8-10

Note: frozen raspberries are fine for the ice cream, but if you can get them fresh ones are best for the garnish. Mango and passionfruit could be used instead of berries.

Blueberry Pie

Posted on 14 December 2012 by Linda Peek

Fruit pies freeze well and are handy to whip out for dessert during the holiday season. Just bake for about half an hour, so it’s not quite thoroughly browned, cool and freeze, covered – a shower cap is ideal! When you want to serve the pie thaw (remove shower cap!) and reheat for 20-30 mins in a moderate oven to finish off the browning.

Pastry:
See recipe for Apple and Blackberry Pie
Filling:
About 450-500g frozen blueberries (pkt sizes vary)
grated zest 1 large lemon
juice ½ lemon
½ cup sugar
3 Tbs cornflour
1 punnet fresh blueberries (about 125g)
2 eating apples peeled, cored and diced
1 egg, beaten
Granulated sugar

Make pastry and chill wrapped in plastic wrap. Thaw frozen blueberries. Place in large saucepan with lemon zest and sugar. Heat to boiling point, then add cornflour mixed with lemon juice and cook, stirring until very thick. Add fresh blueberries and diced apple and cool.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Roll out half the pastry to line a large deep dinner plate or similar sized pie dish, trim off excess. Fill with blueberry filling. Roll out remaining pastry and cover pie. Trim off excess pastry, seal and crimp edges. Use any leftover pastry to make leaves to decorate the top. Brush with beaten egg, arrange “leaves” on top, brush those also. Bake for 35-45 mins or until well browned. Or bake for only 25 mins until light golden, remove from oven, cool then refrigerate or freeze until serving time. To serve put back into a moderate oven for 20-30 mins. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 12

Pavlova

Posted on 8 December 2012 by Linda Peek

My friend Chris Wride in Paris has just requested my recipe for Pavlova via the Café Cat Facebook page. He remembers I served it at a dinner when we were living there. Well his timing couldn’t have been better. We’ve just picked our first raspberries and one of the nicest ways to enjoy fresh berries, especially raspberries, is in a Pavlova. Chris your wish is my command! Here it is.

Australians and New Zealanders argue about where this dish originated and both claim it as their national dessert. It doesn’t really matter who invented it – it’s a world class dish by any standards. Sometimes I make individual ones but they’re a bit more fiddly. One big one can be whipped up in no time at all.

4 large egg whites (approx 125g) at room temp
250g caster sugar
1 tsp white or cider vinegar
1 tsp cornflour
400ml fresh cream, whipped
2-3 cups fresh berries such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries

Serves 10

Preheat oven to 170°C. Place a sheet of non-stick baking paper or foil on a large baking tray and draw a 25cm circle on it using a dinner plate. Place egg whites in a large bowl and whisk using electric beaters until soft peaks. A Kenwood or Kitchen Aid mix-master is ideal for this, but hand held beaters will do, although it will take twice as long. Gradually add sugar and keep whipping until you have a stiff, glossy meringue with no crunchy bits of sugar left. Halfway through stop the machine and scrape mixture down from sides of the bowl. Add vinegar and cornflour then pile the meringue onto the baking paper circle. Spread to an even thickness then remove some from the middle to the edges so you end up with a meringue which has a dip in the middle for the cream and fruit. Bake for 10 mins then turn off the oven and leave there till cool. Fill pavlova with unsweetened whipped cream and berries. Dust with sifted icing sugar (optional).

Notes:

leftover egg whites from a recipe which uses only yolks can be stored in a plastic container in the freezer, adding more on other occasions. Thaw and weigh: one egg white weighs 30g (1 ounce) more or less
if there is any trace of egg yolk left in the whites they will not whip
all ovens differ so you may need to adjust the oven temperature and/or the cooking time till you get this right
the finished meringue should be crisp on the outside but soft like marshmellow on the inside
passionfruit pulp is also nice on pavlova and some people like to use slices of kiwi fruit