Fruit Crumble

For a quick wholesome (nearly) snack, a fruit crumble is always nice, I followed Jamie Oliver’s version from The Naked Chef. I also replaced half the flour with oats & used brown sugar as suggested to make it all a bit healthier. I really like the flavour the oats & brown sugar give over the refined white sugar & flour combo any day anyway. As a bonus I also got to use up some more of my Granny Smiths as well as some peaches & nectarines that were getting a bit old sitting around in the fridge. Sorry the photo is not the best but I find it hard to make crumble look exciting – its all in the taste instead.

Fruit Crumble

Crumble
225g plain flour (or sub half with oats)
115g butter
90g sugar
pinch salt

Fruit
455g fruit, washed & prepared
3 tablespoons sugar (or sub with brown sugar)

Serve with custard, ice cream, cream, mascarpone

Just stick all the crumble ingredients in a food processor & blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs (you can also do this by hand)

Put the fruit into a shallow ovenproof serving dish and sprinkle with the sugar. Spread the crumble mix over the prepared fruit. Give the dish a bit of a shake & bake in the oven at 200c for about 30 minutes or until the top is evenly golden.

Fresh Bircher Muesli with Stone Fruit

The other morning while up at the ungodly hour of 6.30am to water the garden in my allocated time for the weekend I thought I would be very good & gets some oats soaking for my very own bircher muesli. I’ve never made theis before so didn’t know what to expect. I always opt for richer, wicked foods when making brekky and this has never tempted me before as it seems to be so bloody healthy. The recipe I used was from Bill Granger's Bills Sydney Food - for me Bill is the King of brekky at the moment. Sorry you cant actually see the museli in the photo, just too much yummy fruit on top. For those of you who have not made or tried this before let me tell you it is scrumptious & quite filling, enough to keep one satisfied for hours. Something to make again & the fruit combo’s are of course endless to keep it interesting.

Fresh Bircher Muesli with Stone Fruit

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup apple juice
1 cup coarsely grated apple
½ cup natural yoghurt
juice of 1 lemon
½ cup sliced peaches & nectarines
¼ cup mixed berries
2 tablespoons honey

Place oats and apple juice in a bowl and soak for 1 hour, or overnight. Add grated apple, yoghurt & lemon juice to oat mixture & mix well. Spoon into serving bowls & top with fruit. Drizzle with honey.

Buttermilk pancakes with Caramelized fruit.

Sunday morning for brekky to use up my left over buttermilk from last weekend some more pancakes were in order, I found another recipe using buttermilk in Bill Granger Bill’s Food. Buttermilk is low in fat, there is not much sugar in the mix & it is served with fruit so I could even kid myself that I was being healthy once again. As with all of Bill’s breakfasts, these were great, seems l & easy too. The fruit was supposed to be plums which of course aren’t around yet so I used nectarines, these were nice & even gave a bit of a bitter tang for contrast, think sweet juicy plums would work even better. Oh & this week I halved the recipe & was still heaps for the 2 of us.

Buttermilk pancakes with Caramelized fruit.

250g (2 cups) plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
750ml (3 cups) buttermilk
75g unsalted butter, melted
unsalted butter, extra for greasing the pan

To serve

Caramelized fruit
Maple syrup
Yoghurt

Stir the flour, baking powder, salt & sugar together in a bowl. Add the eggs, milks & butter & whisk to combine.

Heat a large non-stick frypan over medium heat & brush a small mount of butter over the base. For each pancake, ladle 80ml (1/3 cup) of batter into the pan & cook for about 2 minutes until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip & cook for another minute. Transfer to a plate to keep warm while cooking the rest.

To caramelize fruit, heat a frying pan over high heat, cut the fruit in half, remove stones, sprinkle cut side with sugar & fry cut side down for about a minute.

Serve in stacks with fruit, yoghurt & maple syrup.

Nectarine & Limoncello Meringue Slice Saturday 4th Feb 2006

Having a bbq tonight so last night I whipped up this slice from Allan Campion & Michele Curtis’ 2006 Seasonal Produce diary The meringue part was very easy which surprised me as I have had trouble with meringues in the past, maybe I have finally mastered them, hooray! However when it came time to sandwich the whole thing together the filling was quite runny & kept slopping over the sides. Now that it is frozen it is fine & all holding together though as you can see from the photo prob doesn’t look as good as it should! If I make this again I would prob try & make the meringues slightly concave so that I could fill them & save the mixture running out. Also because of the runniness there was only so much I could use & there is a lot of leftover filling which I have frozen, will just have to eat it later as ice cream. Will give you the recipe now & comments on the tasting to follow

Nectarine and Limoncello meringue slice

This slice is best made the day before or at least early on the day you want to serve it. The meringue doesn’t freeze completely so you get a beautiful crisp texture, with the contrast of a creamy filling.

4 egg whites
300 g caster sugar
6 nectarines
60ml (1/4 cup) Limoncello
4 eggs, separated
55g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
250g mascarpone

Preheat oven to 160c

Line 3 baking trays with baking paper. Roughly draw a 10cm x 20cm rectangle onto each.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Add caster sugar, a third at a time, and continue beating until the meringue is glossy & firm.

Divide mixture between the 3 trays, spreading mixture to reach the four corners of each rectangle. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Turn oven off and leave to cool for 30 minutes more.

Dice 2 nectarines into 1cm chunks. Marinate in Limoncello for at least 40 minutes. Beat the 4 egg yolks with the 55g caster sugar. Beat in mascarpone until smooth. Add diced nectarines & Limoncello. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Whisk one spoonful through Limoncello mixture & then carefully fold remaining egg white through.

Lay 1 meringue as a base on a tray that will fit in the freezer. Spoon half the mixture on top spreading out to the corners. Add another meringue layer, the remaining mixture & then the final meringue layer. Cover loosely & freeze for at least 6 hours before serving, preferably overnight.

To serve, slice remaining 4 nectarines. Remove meringue from freezer, cut slices to suit, arrange on plate, garnish with nectarine slices.

Ok so now we have eaten the cake the verdict is delicious though a bit messy, I couldn’t seem to slice it & keep it in once piece. The meringue as promised was fantastic frozen, nice & chewy & a perfect match for the creamy frozen filling which will be very nice served as ice cream with some fresh fruit.

Thursday 11th Nov - Queen Vic Market Cooking class with Allan Campion

Last night I went along to the Queen Vic Market for 1 of their cooking classes, I have been to a couple before & they are always good fun. For those of you who havent been the term 'class' is a bit misleading I find as it is more of a demonstration.

The classes run year long on various nights/weekends & each class is different & is brought to you by a different chef & their specialities. Basically up to approx 15 people sit around a table watching the chef do his thing while drinking wine & firing away questions to gain the answers to all of those things a cook book just doesn’t tell you!
You then get to eat the magnificent results & take home the recipes to attempt yourself if you are game

Last nights class was 'The seasonal produce Diary' by Allan Campion now an annual 'bible'
In case you're not familiar with Allan Campion, he & his wife produce a 'seasonal produce diary' each year which as the name suggests lists Seasonal ingredients for each month of the year as well as recipes incorporating the same .
It is a fabulous little diary & also food & wine events in Oz are marked in the calender so you cant forget to go, a list of places to buy great produce as well as details on markets etc is also included. Apparently it sells out very quickly so grab one now before they run out

Last night he cooked up for us some fabulous recipes all from the diary, Sweet corn & ricotta hotcakes with rocket, smoked salmon & a basil & lemon dressing - is your mouth watering yet? & yes they did taste as good as they sound.
Next was a leg of lamb stuffed with preserved lemons, zaatar & herbs served with an almond pilaf - so easy & so delicious
And to top it all off a nectarine & limoncello meringue slice - need I say more?
Truly wonderful food & we should all try & follow his lead & only cook with the best seasonal ingredients to achieve maximum flavour in all we cook

Allan is fabulous & after the delicious celebration of foood he created for us last night just about everyone bought the Diary as well as various other cookbooks he has released, they all look sensational & very 'do able' (not sure it that is really a word).

Anyway check out the book & check out the classes, great fun