Persimmon & Shaved Fennel Salad

Posted on 13 August 2014 by Linda Peek

I’ve tried persimmons a few times and I have to say I wasn’t impressed. When firm and slightly underripe they were very astringent and by the time they tasted good they were so ripe as to be almost mushy.

The good news is that you can now buy a variety of persimmon called Fuyu which Woolworths are importing from New Zealand and which are non-astringent. I was inspired by my friend Franca to combine them with shaved fennel to make a delicious and unusual salad which goes particularly well with salmon.

Fuyu persimmons are ready to eat when they feel firm, like a tomato, not soft like a very ripe avocado.

2 firm Fuyu persimmons
1 bulb of fennel
Dressing:
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Pinch of sugar

Wash persimmons, remove calyx then halve and thinly slice downwards. Wash fennel, trim off stalks (saving a few green fronds) halve then shave into very thin slices using a very sharp knife or a mandoline.

Arrange persimmon and fennel in a serving bowl. Place all ingredients for dressing in a small jar with a lid and shake well. Drizzle over the salad then decorate with a few green fennel fronds.

Serves 4-6

Irish Soda Bread

Posted on 6 August 2014 by Linda Peek

A carton of buttermilk will keep in the fridge, unopened, for at least a month, so I always have one on hand to make Irish soda bread. This bread doesn’t contain yeast, so it’s quick to make. Delicious eaten fresh or toasted next day.

The owner of a bed and breakfast near Cork many moons ago taught me to make soda bread. She used sour milk – something people often ended up with in the days before refrigeration, when the recipe originated. As far as the method goes, our lovely Irish hostess said “just mix it up wit yer two hands”. As it’s a bit sticky, I usually use a spoon. I replace the sour milk with buttermilk, but a mixture of half plain yoghurt and half fresh milk also works well. You can use self-raising flour or plain flour with the addition of baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

This is a very flexible recipe. Use white flour or wholemeal as I have with these rolls, or half and half. Leave out the oats and use more flour. If you like, add a little honey. Grated cheese, herbs, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, dried fruit or nuts also help to ring the changes. Top with oats, sesame seeds or poppy seeds. The options are endless.

The recipe makes one large loaf or about a dozen small rolls. I recently bought a baking mold for 8 tiny loaf shapes and was dying to use it, so I ended up with eight loaves and four round rolls. As you can see in the photo, I sliced some of the loaves and topped them with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and red onion. Delicious.

3 cups wholemeal self-raising flour, sifted
Or 3 cups plain four + 1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
1 cup porridge oats (see note)
1 Tbs honey (optional)
1 Tbs vegetable oil
600ml buttermilk
Extra oats

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. I usually add a dash of water to the buttermilk container, swish it round and add that too. The mixture should be soft and slightly sticky – not as dry as a normal bread dough. Don’t over mix or knead. Place heaped tablespoonfuls onto a tray lined with baking paper. Or spoon into greased muffin tins or mini-loaf tins. Sprinkle with extra oats.

Alternatively, to make one large loaf, tip dough onto a floured surface and use floured hands to form it into a flattened round shape, place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper or in a large greased loaf tin and sprinkle with extra oats. Bake for 20-25 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on baking racks. A large loaf will take longer than rolls – around 45 mins.

Makes one large loaf or 12 rolls

Notes: You can use quick cooking oats or ordinary stone-ground ones. If using the latter give them a quick whiz in the food processor, to break them up a bit.

Chocolate-Espresso Self-Saucing Pudding

Posted on 30 July 2014 by Linda Peek

Every grandma worth her salt has a chocolate self-saucing pudding in her repertoire. They’re a cinch to make and because of the unique way the ingredients are assembled a delicious sauce forms under the pudding as it cooks.

Adding a couple of shots of espresso turns this into a more sophisticated dessert for coffee lovers. Adjust the amount of coffee to suit your taste or leave it out altogether and just use 2 cups (500ml) of boiling water. Kids will prefer it without the coffee.

1 cup self-raising flour
½ cup caster sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
60g unsalted butter, melted
½ cup milk
½ tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
Topping:
½ cup caster sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water and 1 cup hot coffee (2 shots)
To serve:
Cocoa for dusting
Thick cream or vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 180ºC and butter a 1.5L capacity ovenproof dish such as a lasagne dish. Sift flour, sugar and cocoa into a bowl and mix. Mix melted butter with milk and vanilla and beat in the egg with a fork. Mix thoroughly into flour mixture then tip into pudding dish and spread evenly. Mix sugar and cocoa for topping and sprinkle evenly over the pudding. Mix boiling water and coffee and carefully pour evenly over the top. Bake for 30 mins or until the top is firm.

Use a sieve to lightly dust the top of the pudding with cocoa powder. Serve with cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6-8

Variations: use brown sugar instead of caster sugar. Add some chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts.

Syrian Pita Bread with Falafel

Posted on 23 July 2014 by Linda Peek

I’ve made some lifelong friends through chance encounters – on trains, planes, buses, in doggy parks and supermarket queues. The kids say “Mum talks to everyone”, but I like to think that when two lives cross there’s a reason.

Eva Rishan works as a doctor’s receptionist and we got chatting while I was waiting for my turn. Eva was born in Syria, emigrated to Australia in 1989 and has since been joined by her parents, several siblings and their families.

Eva invited me and my family to join her family for what she called a Syrian all day breakfast. Number one son James and I went early, so that Eva’s mother Renelle could show us how to make pita bread and falafel. Renelle’s English is limited but cooking is an international language and it wasn’t long before we were both busy chopping and mixing.

The large back verandah has been enclosed with a corrugated iron roof and roll-down plastic blinds, in order to accommodate big family gatherings and keep the smokers out of the main house. Smoking – both ordinary cigarettes and flavoured tobacco smoke, inhaled through a hookah pipe – is still very popular among Syrians.

The rest of our family (three) and the rest of Eva’s family (I lost count) arrived in time for lunch. There were over 30 of us altogether, including numerous kids. The mountain of pita bread was soon disappearing, filled with crispy warm falafel, hummus and a selection of pickles and salads. My contribution was an Apple Strudel which went down well for dessert with some strawberries and whipped cream.

It was great fun to be part of a Syrian family for a day.

Pita bread
3½ tsp dry yeast
¾ cup warm water
6 cups plain flour
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 Tbs olive oil
About 1½ cups warm milk

Mix yeast with warm water and put aside for 10 minutes. Place flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add yeast mixture, gradually adding enough warm milk to hold the dough together. Knead dough until smooth and elastic but very slightly sticky, then leave in a bowl in a warm place – near a heater for example – covered with plastic wrap for an hour or two to rise, while you make the falafel.

Cut dough into 12 and roll into balls. Preheat oven to it’s highest setting and heat up a pizza stone in the oven if you have one. Roll out each ball to a circle about 20 cm in diameter, then bake for 5-10 mins or until puffed and slightly browned. This will result in pocket-style pita breads which you can fill with falafel and salad. If preferred, stretch the circles out into much thinner pita breads, about 40 cm in diameter, as you can see in the photos. There’s quite a knack to this, but Renelle can do it in her sleep! These are rolled around the fillings like a wrap.

Makes 12

Falafel
375g dry chick peas
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped coriander
1 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda, extra
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
¼ tsp each ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg
2 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs plain flour
Oil for frying (canola, sunflower or rice oil)
Sesame seeds

Place chickpeas in a bowl and cover generously with cold water. Mix in bicarbonate of soda and leave to soak overnight then drain. Using a food processor or a meat mincer, finely chop chick peas, onion, garlic, parsley and coriander. Add flour, salt, pepper, spices, extra bicarbonate of soda and oil. By hand or using a special gadget called a falafel scoop form mixture into small patties, dipping it into cold water between each.

Heat 4-6cm oil in a large deep frying pan or wok. When hot fry falafel on both sides until golden, remove and drain, then roll immediately in sesame seeds. Don’t overcrowd the pan – falafel should cook quite quickly otherwise they will be dry. Serve warm with pita bread, salads and hummus.

Makes about 50

Hummus

This recipe using canned chickpeas is quick to make and easy to halve.

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2/3 cup tahini paste, stirred
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
Garnish: (optional)
Chopped parsley
Toasted pine nuts
Extra olive oil
Paprika

Place chick peas in food processor with remaining ingredients. Process, adding enough water to give the consistency of a dip. Keep in the fridge, covered, until needed. To serve, add a little water if Hummus has become too stiff, then spread onto a shallow dish and decorate with chopped parsley, toasted pine nuts, paprika and a drizzle of olive oil. The garnish is optional, but it looks and tastes great. Serve at room temperature with pita bread.

Makes about 3 cups

Carrot and Ginger Soup with Crispy Pancetta and Cashews

Posted on 16 July 2014 by Linda Peek

As the weather in Canberra turned cold and wintry we discovered that our crop of carrots had got out of hand and become humongous. Their fate was sealed.

This is my basic creamy smooth soup recipe which can be adapted for any veggies – parsnip, asparagus (though you may have to sieve the strings out), pumpkin, sweet potato or a mix. The addition of ginger goes particularly well with root vegetables but leave it out if you prefer. Sometimes I add a clove or two of garlic when frying the onion.

If using spinach or broccoli, you might like to add a potato, to give the soup a bit more consistency. You can use leeks instead of onions and top with croutons instead of nuts, or just some chopped parsley. Try using a whole cauliflower (you can use most of the stalk) and serving the soup topped with grated cheese, or a hot slice of toasted cheese on toast, made from a French stick. Instead of ginger, with the green veggies try adding a bit of grated nutmeg, cinnamon or mixed spice. Vegetarians can just omit the pancetta.

Make a couple of batches of soup at the weekend, adding everything except the milk, to have ready in the fridge for the week ahead.

50g butter
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
1.2 kg carrots, peeled and chopped
Chicken or vegetable stock to cover (home-made or use cubes)
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger (or a bit more if you love ginger!)
Milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
To serve:
4 slices pancetta, prosciutto or similar ham (I used Aldi’s black forest ham)
4 Tbs raw cashew nuts
Finely chopped parsley or coriander
Cream or sour cream

Heat butter in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook onion gently till soft but not browned. Add carrots, ginger and enough stock to just cover the veggies. Simmer 25 mins or until carrots are cooked. Cool a bit then blend in a blender or food processor until smooth. Recipe can be made ahead to this point and kept in the fridge for several days.

Put soup back in the pan and add enough milk (or if preferred a mixture of milk and water) to make to desired consistency. Season to taste with S and P. Place pancetta on a tray lined with baking paper and cook in a very hot oven 220ºC for 5-10 mins or until crispy, remove, cool then break into chunks. Toast cashews in a dry frying pan over moderate heat.

Reheat soup and serve garnished with the pancetta, nuts, herbs and a swirl of cream.

Serves 4-6

Lamb and Date Tajine in a Slow Cooker

Posted on 9 July 2014 by Linda Peek

The two most popular posts on Café Cat are both made in a slow cooker, so I thought it was time to post another recipe.

While I probably only use it four or five times a year, a slow cooker is great for winter, when we eat more casseroles. It’s also perfect when you want something which looks after itself as it cooks.

This Lamb and Date Tajine came from my friend Kien who lives in Amsterdam. I’ve cut down a bit on the liquid which is all you need to do to adapt any recipe for a slow cooker. I couldn’t find any really small onions so I used nine larger ones and cut them in half. As with all casseroles, the leftovers were even better when reheated two days later.

1kg lean lamb cut into 2cm cubes (shoulder, leg)
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp fresh ginger, coarsely grated
Pinch of saffron
1 Tbs olive oil + extra
18 whole small onions, peeled
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbs plain flour
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 cinnamon stick, broken in two
450ml lamb or beef stock
4 Tbs chopped fresh coriander
Rind of one preserved lemon, diced (see note below)
100g dates, sliced
1 Tbs honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Marinate meat with ground coriander, ginger, saffron and olive oil for 24 hours in the fridge. Brown lamb all over in 2-3 batches in a non-stick frying pan over moderately hot heat – there’s no need to add any oil as there’s oil in the marinade – then place in slow cooker.

Add a little oil to the pan with the whole baby onions and cook until lightly golden all over, then add to slow cooker. Add garlic to the pan and cook gently for a minute or so, adding a little more oil if necessary. When soft add flour and continue to cook for a minute or so, stirring. Add stock gradually, stirring until thickened, then add to slow cooker with the cinnamon stick and tomato paste. Cover and cook on High until it starts to bubble, then turn to Low and cook for 6-7 hours or leave it on high for 3-4 hours. It might suit you to cook it for longer if you have to go out. Cooking times vary from slow cooker to slow cooker.

When meat is tender add honey, dates and preserved lemon and season to taste with salt and pepper. Preserved lemons are salty so you probably won’t need any salt. Cook for another hour or so. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with couscous.

Serves 4-6

Notes: While lamb is more authentic in a Moroccan tajine, cubed lean beef also works well in this recipe. Preserved lemons are sold in some gourmet shops. They give this recipe a distinctive flavour, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for them next time you’re in a gourmet shop. One jar is enough for several recipes. Or you can make your own as I do.

Moroccan Chicken

Posted on 25 June 2014 by Linda Peek

This is another great recipe from Delicious magazine, with a few slight changes and variations. A perfect mid-week dinner, with some leftovers for sandwiches.

The original recipe uses 2 Tbs of Ras el Hanout – a Moroccan spice blend available in some specialist shops. But it’s not difficult to make, so I have explained how to do this. Don’t worry if you’re missing one of the spices, just add something else.

In the salad the original recipe uses freekeh – an ancient, but now new and trendy grain. I used pearl barley instead. You could also substitute burghul (cracked wheat) or couscous. The second time I made this dish I served the chicken and onions on mashed sweet potato instead of the grain salad, which was also very tasty.

Costco sells two small punnets of fresh pomegranate seeds for about $10. Freeze them in ice cube trays, then you can whip a couple out to garnish dishes like this and add a splash of colour.

1.5kg whole chicken
2 Tbs Ras al Hanout (see below)
1 tsp salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
2-3 large onions, peeled and very thickly sliced
Grain salad:
1 cup barley
1 can lentils (or cook some dried lentils)
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or a mix
2 Tbs capers, rinsed and drained
½ cup dried cranberries, raisins or sultanas
1 cup coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 cup flat parsley leaves, finely chopped
½ cup mint leaves, finely chopped
Dressing:
2-3 Tbs lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To serve:
2 Tbs pomegranate molasses (see below)
Thick Greek-style plain yoghurt
Seeds from 1 pomegranate (optional)
Rocket salad

Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Rinse and pat chicken dry with paper towels. Mix Ras el Hanout with the salt, pepper and the 2 Tbs oil and brush all over the chicken, both sides and inside. Place onion slices in a roasting pan and sit chicken on top. Roast for between an hour and a quarter and an hour and a half, or until juices run clear when thickest part of chicken thigh is pierced with a skewer. After about 40 mins of cooking, turn chicken over and about 20 mins before it’s ready, turn it back over again. When you turn the chicken, move the onions around a bit so they don’t burn. Add about ¼ cup of water if they’re starting to burn and stick.

Meanwhile cook barley in boiling salted water for about 30 mins or until al dente. When almost cooked add the drained lentils. When barley is cooked drain both and place in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Mix dressing ingredients and mix with grains.

When chicken is cooked brush all over with Pomegranate Molasses then cover loosely with foil, turn off the oven and leave it in there for 10-20 mins or until you are ready to serve. The chicken will continue to cook, resulting in meat that is almost falling off the bone, but we liked it that way.

Carve chicken into portions and serve with some of the onions on a bed of grain salad. Top with a dollop of yoghurt and some pomegranate seeds and serve a rocket salad, dressed simply with a little olive oil and lemon juice, on the side.

Serves 4-6

Notes:

Ras al Hanout: An Australian tablespoon = 20 mls and a teaspoon = 5 mls. So to make 2 Tbs of spice mix you need 8 tsp of ground spices. Mix together 1 tsp of each of the following: cumin, coriander, paprika, ginger, cardamom or fenugreek and turmeric. Then add ½ tsp each of cloves and nutmeg. And ½ to 1 tsp chilli powder, to taste. For kids you may prefer to leave the chilli out altogether.

Pomegranate Molasses: a sweet and sour sauce from Morocco available in some specialist shops. If you don’t have any either leave it out, or substitute 1 Tbs Thai Sweet Chilli sauce or honey mixed with 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar.

Variations: instead of serving chicken on grain salad, serve it on mashed sweet potato or pumpkin (add butter, S and P).

Spanish Omelette

Posted on 18 June 2014 by Linda Peek

When I was sixteen I sailed from Southampton to Bilbao to spend the Easter school holidays with a Spanish family. I had been studying Spanish several times a week for six months, but most of it was stuck somewhere at the back of my head.

The Zubia family of five lived in an apartment in Bilbao. Nobody spoke a word of English, so I had to speak Spanish to survive. Needless to say, when I returned to the UK three weeks later I had made enormous progress and have never looked back. A month of language immersion in your teens is worth a year when you’re of a more mature age.

I was intrigued by a household which bought olive oil in 4 litre cans and used it to cook absolutely everything. My mother kept a very small bottle in the medicine cabinet and used it to treat earache.

Señora Zubia taught me to make several dishes, including Spanish omelette, which I still make according to her recipe below.

Bars in Spain serve a wide selection of tapas, mostly at room temperature and displayed along the top of the bar. When something takes your fancy you just point and the barman brings you as many servings as required for your group. On leaving patrons tell the barman what they’ve had and he adds up the bill. It’s all done on honesty.

Spanish omelette is usually served at room temperature, but have it hot if you prefer.

Spanish Omelette
1 large onion
4 large potatoes or 6 medium
6 eggs
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
To serve:
Roasted red capsicums (peppers) and aioli (optional)

Peel and chop onion as finely as possible. Heat a good slug of olive oil in a medium-sized non-stick frying pan, add onion and cook gently until soft. Meanwhile peel potatoes and cut into 2cm dice. Remove onions from the pan, add more oil if necessary (there should be a generous amount), add potatoes and cook gently, turning often, until they are cooked through but not browned. Remove potatoes from the pan and put with the onions in a sieve, so excess oil drains off.

Tip off all but 2-3 Tbs of oil. If there’s not enough oil left in the pan add some that has drained from the potatoes and onion. Place eggs in a bowl and beat with a fork. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in the potatoes and onions. Tip mixture into frying pan and spread out evenly. Cook for 8-10 minutes over moderate heat, or until set and underneath is golden. Check by lifting slightly with a spatula. Run spatula around the edge to make sure the omelette hasn’t stuck to the pan.

Place a large dinner plate over the frying pan and quickly invert so you end up with the omelette on the plate, cooked side up. Carefully slide back into the frying pan and cook the other side, which will take about 5 minutes. Serve at room temperature with roasted red peppers and aioli – for which there are plenty of recipes online, or just add some crushed garlic to mayonnaise, for a quick version. Cut into 3-4 cm squares Spanish Omelette makes great finger food, or tapas, to use the Spanish word.

Serves 4-6

Valli’s Amazing Lemon Tart

Posted on 4 June 2014 by Linda Peek

With every renewed subscription to Delicious magazine last month you got a free copy of their 300 page cook book “Love to Cook” by the magazine’s food editor, Valli Little. It normally sells for $40 so I was very pleased with myself.

It’s full of quick, easy and delicious recipes and I couldn’t wait to get stuck into them. Last Sunday we had guests for lunch so I made the Slow Roast Lamb with Chilli Mint Sauce. As an accompaniment I followed Valli’s suggestion and served her “Best Crunchy Potatoes” and Nigella Lawson’s Baby Eggplants with Picked Red Onions, which appeared on Café Cat in January. Lamb and eggplants always go well together and the potatoes were to die for. Cut into cubes, parboil for 2 minutes, drain thoroughly, then mix with a tablespoonful of flour, salt and pepper, then spread out on a cookie/biscuit tin lined with baking paper. Drizzle with melted duck fat or some oil and bake for 40 mins in hot oven.

Valli’s Lazy Lemon Tart was the perfect way to end the meal. It’s not the first recipe I’ve come across where you throw a whole lemon or orange in the blender – I have a very successful orange cake which uses a whole orange. You would think the pith would make it bitter, but it doesn’t. I decided to re-name this tart and call it amazing, because it really is.

Sweet shortcrust pastry:
1½ cups plain flour
125g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
1/3 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg yolk
Filling:
1 very large lemon, seeds removed, quartered (or use 2 small ones)
1¼ cups caster sugar
100g unsalted butter, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 large eggs
¼ cup thick cream or sour cream
To serve:
Icing sugar and thick cream

Grease a loose-bottomed metal 23cm tart pan. Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Make pastry: place all ingredients except egg yolk in food processor and process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add egg yolk and continue to process until it forms a ball. Tip out, gather into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 30 mins. Roll out thinly and line the tart tin. After trimming the pastry off level with the edge of the pan, go round and squeeze the pastry so it goes up above the edge a bit. This should compensate for any shrinkage in the oven. Line with baking paper and fill with rice, corn or pastry weights. If you have time refrigerate pastry for 15 mins. Bake 8 mins, remove paper and weights, then bake for 3 mins more until dry and crisp. Any leftover pastry can be used to make some jam tarts or similar.

Place lemon, sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs in a blender and blend until smooth. A blender is better than a food processor as it makes the mixture smoother. Add cream and pulse quickly to combine. Pour into tart shell – filling should come to the very top of the pastry shell. Bake 30 mins or until just set. Cool tart in pan, dust with sifted icing sugar. Serve at room temp with thick cream.

Serves 8

Matt Moran’s Pear Tart with Caramel Sauce

Posted on 28 May 2014 by Linda Peek

Make this tart when you have a spare couple of hours and you’re feeling creative. It’s a bit more time-consuming than most of the recipes which appear on this blog but not difficult. You may think it has a lot of sugar and it does. But there’s a lot less than the original version of the recipe, because I cut down on the amount of caramel sauce and crumble. The crumble is optional.

Caramel sauce:
¾ cup caster sugar
½ cup cream
60g unsalted butter, diced
Tart:
150-175g puff pastry (see note below)
100g marzipan
1 egg white
½ tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp flour
2-3 pears, peeled, quartered and cored
1 Tbs melted butter
1 Tbs caster sugar
Crumble:
½ cup plain flour
3 Tbs sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp ground ginger
To serve:
Vanilla ice cream – home-made or bought

Caramel sauce: place sugar in non-stick heavy pan and heat, swirling pan from time to time, until rich golden brown. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, then cream, until smooth, then cool. If you have a large piece of caramel which refuses to dissolve, put the sauce back on the heat for a minute or two and stir until it dissolves.

Tart: Pre-heat oven to 200ºC. Line a biscuit tray with baking paper and lay the pastry rectangle on top. It should be about 5mm thick and measure about 14-15 cm by 25-26cm. Place marzipan, egg white, vanilla and the ½ tsp flour in food processor and mix till smooth. Spread this evenly over the pastry, then cover with the thinly sliced pears. You may prefer to select only the best and larger slices of pear and eat the rest.

Brush with the 1 Tbs melted butter and sprinkle with the 1 Tbs caster sugar. Bake 15 mins. Remove from oven and drizzle with some of the caramel sauce (see below). Place a piece of baking paper on top, then another biscuit tin and flip the tart, so the pears are on the bottom. Put back in the oven with pears on the bottom for another 15 mins or until pears are nicely caramelised. Remove to a cutting board. If making ahead, leave tart on the paper-lined tray so you can put it back in the oven for a few minutes and serve it warm.

Crumble: While tart is cooking place all ingredients for crumble in food processor and mix until combined and starting to stick together. Tip onto a biscuit tin lined with baking paper and spread out. Bake for about 15 mins or until golden brown. Once or twice during cooking time break up the larger lumps and mix the crumble so it browns evenly.

To serve: Place a zig-zag drizzle of caramel sauce to one side on six serving plates. With a very sharp knife, cut tart vertically into two, then cut each half into three, so you have six slices each measuring about 14 by 4.5cm. Arrange a slice of tart on top of the caramel sauce. On the other side of the plate arrange a heaped tablespoonful of crumble and top with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6

Notes: Carême is the best brand of puff pastry in Australia. More expensive but worth it. Available from some IGA supermarkets. Each packet contains 375g of ready rolled pastry. I cut it in half and used one half – stuck the rest back in the freezer for another time. I ended up with a rectangle about 14x26cm.

Variation: use apples instead of pears. If you don’t like marzipan just omit that layer.