Rich Chocolate Custard

July 7, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

Learning how to cook is, generally speaking, good for you. When you home cook food you usually wouldn’t dare add the same amounts of oil, butter, and sugar that you’d regularly find in restaurant dishes. And let’s not even consider fast food! But there are exceptions, of course. In my case, a most notable example is discovering how easy it is to make custard. Not the powdered stuff, but real, rich, velvety, delicious custard. It only takes three or four ingredients, roughly measured, and a little bit of patience when stirring. Once you get over the fear of scrambling it, you realise you can have proper custard any time you want. Just writing about now is making me drool, and I’ve only just had lunch! The only thing that saves me from myself, sometimes, is a lack of cream in the fridge. I usually use a combination of milk and cream to give the custard extra richness and flavour, and cream is the only ingredient I don’t always have on hand.

But nothing will save me now! Wanting a super-chocolatey sauce to go with some steamed puddings, I came up with a new recipe. With the richness coming from a hefty pile of dark chocolate, this custard needs no cream, oh no! (Oh yes!) Of course there is always chocolate in the pantry, so now all I have now is willpower (oh dear).

This stuff is seriously delicious and moorish. Serve it warm with cakes, puddings, or fresh fruit. There are tonnes of strawberries about at the moment, a perfect match!

Rich Chocolate Custard

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: About 350ml

Ingredients

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup milk
75g good quality dark (70%) chocolate, chopped finely

Instructions

Add the milk to a small saucepan and heat gently until it is scalding (don’t let it boil).
While the milk is warming, whisk together egg yolks and sugar in heat proof bowl until creamy.
Slowly add the hot milk to the yolk mixture, whisking all the time, until well combined.
Return to the saucepan over a low heat. Add the chocolate and cook, stirring regularly, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes, it will thicken further as it cools). Take care not to overheat it or you’ll get lumpy custard!

Lemongrass Poached Rhubarb Rice Pudding

June 25, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

Rhubarb is everywhere at the markets (and, indeed, supermarket) at the moment despite the cold weather. A bit of research suggests Aussie rhubarb is available pretty much year-round despite my impression of it as a summer crop: I’m guessing due to a combination of our temperate climate and greenhouse production? I couldn’t find a definitive answer but I’m grateful all the same: it is a plant with a unique flavour and colour that makes outstanding desserts.

I tend to think of it as a very English ingredient: e.g. warm apple and rhubarb pie with custard, a proper pudding! Yet as good as the traditional combination is I’ve been wanting different flavours recently, and found the addition of fragrant lemongrass to be a wonderful foil for tart poach rhubarb. Lace this combo into a rich rice pudding and you have a bowl of deliciousness that will warm any belly (and heart) on a cold winter night!

Lemongrass Poached Rhubarb Rice Pudding

Recipe Type: Dessert

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4-6

Fragrant lemongrass combines with tart rhubarb to bring a fresh zing to rich rice pudding.

Ingredients

For the rice pudding:
1 cup medium grain rice
200ml cream
800ml milk
3 tablespoons caster sugar
2 egg yolks
For the poached rhubarb:
400g rhubarb stalks, trimmed and chopped into 5cm pieces
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 lemongrass root, chopped into 5cm pieces
To serve:
Small handful pistachios, chopped finely

Instructions

Begin with the rice pudding. Combine the cream, milk, 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and rice in a saucepan. Bring to a low simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is soft (about 30 minutes). Add a little more milk if the rice dries out before cooked.
When the rice is cooked remove from the stove and stir in the egg yolks well, allowing them to cook with the residual heat of the rice.
While the rice is cooking you can make the rhubarb. Bruise the lemongrass pieces well by bashing with a pestle (or other blunt instrument of your choice). Add the lemongrass, rhubarb, water and 1 1/2 cups of caster sugar to a saucepan and bring to a very low simmer. Poach gently until the rhubarb is soft through (but not falling apart), about 8 mins.
Remove the lemongrass and discard. Strain the rhubarb and set aside, reserving the poaching liquid in a small saucepan. Return the liquid to the stove and bring back up to a boil. Continue boiling until it has reduced by at least half, into a syrup (test the consistency by cooling a small amount).
To serve: add some rice pudding and rhubarb to a bowl, pour over a little syrup and garnish with pistachios.

Baby Zest: Avocado and Tuna Sushi rolls

April 28, 2015 by Jane Sankey Leave a Comment

Despite being frustrated at times with Miss One’s overly discerning tastes, I am amazed at how today’s kids are so much more advanced and adventurous with their food than we were at their age. I would’ve been in my late teens before I tried my first sushi while my Miss One had her first taste pretty much as soon as she started solids at 5 months! And she took to it instantly! So our local sushi restaurant, Sushi Man, has become one of our most frequented favourites — it’s one restaurant when Miss One will happily sit (yes! they have high chairs) for more than five minutes. And sushi is particularly great as finger food (Miss One can feed herself so I get to eat at the same time as everyone else – bonus!) as well as being healthy.

So I decided to try my hand at making my own sushi rolls and make them a tad healthier (often, there is a lot of mayonnaise in the store bought ones). I bought some sushi rice, rice wine vinegar, seaweed and a sushi mat and I was set.

I followed the instructions for cooking the rice on the packet and it worked well, so that is what I have included in the recipe. To make the rolls bub-friendly I didn’t use as much vinegar and sugar as other recipes, but this is something you can adjust to your own taste. For the filling I used avocado and tinned tuna which is quite a common combo (and one I know Miss One enjoys).

I must say making sushi rolls was far easier than I had expected – it all stayed together, the texture of the rice seemed right, I didn’t tear the seaweed and the best thing is Miss One seemed to enjoy it as much as Sushi Man’s!!!! Woohoo!!! Next time I will be more adventurous and make some adult ones for us — yay, an easy meal for the whole family!

Unfortunately this is not a recipe that keeps well, the rice does harden and dry when refrigerated so I suggest making just enough for the immediate meal. The recipe I have given makes two sushi rolls (i.e. two seaweed sheets).

Have a go and add your favourite fillings! I’d love to hear what your favourite fillings are!

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Baby Zest: Avocado and Tuna Sushi rolls

Recipe Type: lunch, snack

Cuisine: Japanese

Author: Jane Sankey

Prep time: 25 mins

Cook time: 8 mins

Total time: 33 mins

Serves: 2 large rolls

An easy healthy finger food for your kidlets – great for lunch or even as an afternoon snack after school

Ingredients

1 cup sushi rice
1 cup water
4 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoon caster sugar
1/2 ripe avocado
150g tinned tuna (I used the springwater variety)
2 sheets of seaweed
bamboo sushi mat (these are easily found in Asian grocery stores)

Instructions

Wash and rinse rice until the water runs clear.
In a medium saucepan, add the rice and water and bring to a boil for 3 minutes, then reduce to a medium heat. When the water is almost all absorbed, reduce to a low heat and cook for another 5 minutes.
Pour the rice wine vinegar and sugar into the rice and mix thoroughly. Turn off the heat and let the rice stand for 15 minutes with a lid on.
In the meantime, prepare the filling. Simply cut the avocado into long strips about 0.5cm wide. Mash the tuna chunks with a fork.
Place a sheet of seaweed (shiny side down) on the bamboo sushi mat. Spread the rice in a thin layer evenly over the seaweed using a flat knife or spatula, leaving a 4cm edge uncovered on one side.
About 3cm from the opposite side, arrange the avocado in a row on top of the rice. Spread the tuna in a row alongside the avocado.
Brush the uncovered seaweed strip with a little water to help it stick. Starting at the side with the filling, use the bamboo mat to start rolling the sushi all the way up the uncovered strip. Pat down firmly where the seaweed joins.
Cut crosswise into slices with a wet knife and voila! Your own sushi rolls!

Fig and Rosemary Yoghurt Cake

April 16, 2015 by Jason Sankey 2 Comments

The in-laws’ fig tree is in full season now and we are spoiled with an abundance of beautiful fresh fruit. I decided that I should use some in a cake for a change, and had all sorts of ideas lined up before I hit the fridge … and saw we had almost no butter (gasp!). Leaving aside how we could ever be so lax as to let this happen, the problem was compounded by the fact that this was on Good Friday and the shops were closed!

Luckily, just a few weeks before, I had baked my first ever yoghurt cake: my Zest Test of the London Bakes Lemony Yoghurt Cake. Yoghurt and olive oil to the rescue! My recipe, though heavily based on this original, is tweaked to be slightly less sweet and more structured so it can accommodate the figs. The idea to throw in a bit of rosemary came from this amazing looking Honey and Rosemary Upside Down Fig Cake on Delicious Everyday. So with thanks to my fellow bloggers for their ideas, this Fig and Rosemary Yoghurt cake was born!

The results are gorgeous. Just like the original Lemony version on London Bakes this cake is amazingly moist and moorish, and the hint of rosemary laced through works brilliantly. It’s one of those little additions that delights and surprises on first taste — people will be asking you what is in this cake! 🙂

Fig and Rosemary Yoghurt Cake

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 50 mins

Total time: 1 hour 5 mins

A moist and moorish cake topped with delicate figs and laced with a rosemary surprise.

Ingredients

175g caster sugar
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
125g almond meal
50g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
180g greek or other natural yoghurt
120ml extra virgin olive oil
2 large eggs
For the top:
4 figs, trimmed and halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons brown sugar
To serve:
Fresh figs, quartered (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper (I recommend using a piece large enough lay right across the tin hanging out two sides so you can lift the cake out).
Add the caster sugar and rosemary to a large mixing bowl. Mash together with your fingertips to infuse some rosemary flavour in the sugar.
Add the almond meal, flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.
Whisk the eggs and add them to the mixture along with the yogurt and olive oil. Stir until thoroughly combined.
Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin, then arrange the fig halves, cut side up, on top of the cake.
Bake for 30 minutes, then quickly remove from the oven to top each of the fig halves with a pinch of brown sugar before returning to bake until browned and cooked through, roughly another 20 minutes.
When done carefully remove the cake from the tin (it can stick a little, so run a knife along the edges) and cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Serve with quartered fresh figs.

Baby Zest: Banana Bread and Butter Pudding

March 3, 2015 by Jane Sankey 1 Comment

All good things come to an end and I am approaching one of those endings – my time breastfeeding my little one is imminently over so I started looking into the nutritional needs of a One Year old.

According to Queensland Health 1-2 year olds are supposed to have:

3-5 serves carbs
3-5 serves vegetables/legumes
1-2 serves fruit
3 serves dairy
2 serves meat

Wow! These toddlers are serious eating machines! I’m not sure I eat that much as an adult! So this got me thinking. I definitely need to get Miss One’s dairy intake up now that She won’t get it from me. She isn’t a huge fan of drinking loads of cow’s milk so I need a way to combine it into something more appealing.

Aha! Something sweet! A dessert! And that is how this banana bread and butter pudding came about.

It uses lots of milk = dairy ✓
Fruit = vitamins ✓
Bread = carbs ✓
Egg = protein ✓

Genius! I had never considered bread and butter pudding as such a complete nutritional powerhouse!! 🙂

And if you are anything like our little household of 3, we never ever get through a whole loaf of bread before it enters stale territory so this recipe is perfect for rescuing that poor neglected half loaf. All the ingredients are pantry and fridge staples so it really is a handy little recipe to keep in your back pocket for that evening that you feel like a little bit of a sweet treat.

For this recipe, I have chosen to slow Miss One’s slippery slope towards getting a sweet tooth like both her parents so I limited the use of sugar by adding sultanas and cinnamon to the pudding as natural sweeteners. But as its a sizeable dessert, you can choose to jazz up half of it for grownup tastebuds and add some chopped hazelnuts or praline to the filling and serve with a dollop of cream or ice-cream!

Anyway, I’ve gone on too long – here is the magic recipe of a dessert that Miss One enjoyed both warm (on the first night) and cold straight out of the fridge on the second. Also because of the soft but dense consistency, it was perfect for Miss One to test out her spoon skills in self feeding.

NB : this is Mozart, our not-so-mini schnauzer (being quite the opportunist), loitering, just in case Miss One’s spoonfuls miss her mouth.

Zest Baby: Banana Bread and Butter Pudding

Recipe Type: Dessert

Prep time: 12 mins

Cook time: 18 mins

Total time: 30 mins

A simple dessert that surprises as a nutritional powerhouse!

Ingredients

6-8 thick slices of bread, with or without crust
25g butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten
2 heaped tbsp caster sugar
375ml full cream milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
Cinnamon, ground
1 large ripe banana
1/3 cup sultanas

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Whisk the eggs in a large measuring cup. Add vanilla essence, sugar and milk and whisk until well combined.
Butter both sides of your bread. Cut them into fingers. Arrange fingers in a single layer to cover the the whole base of dish. Pour 1/3 of custard mixture over the bread.
Cut banana into half centimetre slices and arrange on top of bread. Scatter most of the sultanas on top. Lightly sprinkle cinnamon over.
Arrange a second layer of bread fingers on top of the fruit. Pour remainder of custard mixture evenly over and sprinkle more cinnamon on top.
Allow to rest for 5 minutes while the custard soaks into the bread.
Bake for 18 minutes or until custard is set and top is golden.

Notes

The bread is really very flexible. Depending on the size of your bread, you will need 6-8 slices to have two layers coverage of your medium sized baking dish. You can choose to have the crusts on or off which will also impact the size of your sizes. [br]PLUS you can experiment with different breads eg fruit toast is one that I love using as it already has “in-built” sultanas and spice so even less work and more flavour!

Zest Test: Lemony Yoghurt Cake

February 26, 2015 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

Recipe

I don’t bake all that often (Jane certainly has that covered), and when it comes to cakes I’ve stuck to the pretty traditional butter, sugar, eggs and flour formula. But I’ve always been intrigued by yoghurt and olive oil based cakes, so when I came across this Lemony Yoghurt Cake recipe from London Bakes I stashed it away for later reference.

My opportunity came when Jane bought home a beautiful, weighty pomegranate with no plan to use it in mind. A little naughty, because this pom was imported from the US, but it was a stunner. (The season starts soon enough in Australia so you can hang in until then if you want to buy local.)

My Tweaks

I made a couple of tweaks to this recipe. The major one, no doubt, was turning it from a lemony cake into a limey one. Now I know this sounds terrible as a name, particularly to the English (sorry, London Bakes!) but I had a hunch the flavour would work well and stand out. Based on Kathryn’s tip on the original recipe I also increased the zest, using some lemon plus two limes (just check the name of this blog after all!).

My other tweak is pictured above: garnishing with a few crushed pistachios along with the recommended pomegranate. Certainly not necessary but I think it adds nice colour, flavour and texture!

Challenges and Tips

The recipe was clear and easy to put together, even easier than a more traditional cake. The batter is quite wet so easily spread into the tin. The only challenge I had was getting it out afterwards! I used a greased, non-stick tin and lined the bottom. Unfortunately, because the cake edges are quite sticky, one corner stuck and broke on removal! Next time I’ll use a better lining as you can see Kathryn does in her original post.

Verdict

Win. This cake came out super moist but not too heavy, laced with beautiful fragrant lime. It doesn’t rise too much and even sinks a little when it cools as Kathryn warns. It’s right on the edge of too moist I’d say, so I might try a little more flour next time just as an experiment. But the proof is in the eating and Jane and I (with a little help from Miss One) completely demolished this cake. It didn’t last long enough for any visitors to even see it, so it’s lucky we have photo evidence!

Syrupy Orange and Cardamom Steamed Puddings

September 16, 2014 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

This new creation is inspired by one of our most popular recipes from last year, the Fragrant Orange Cake with Spiced Golden Syrup. As a winter dessert I’d been wanting to create a proper steamed pudding to get that beautifully soft yet moist texture. It does take a little more effort to prepare the pudding cups for steaming, but you just can’t get the same texture in a regular cake.

After playing with different approaches, I’ve finally settled on the combination of fragrant zest and punchy cardamom, steamed into perfect little puds each soaked with sticky orange syrup. I’ve made the recipe to serve four as you can manage this with a single large orange (and four pudding cups just fit into my double steamer!). This portion makes plenty of syrup to serve on the side so you can keep drenching that pudding as you eat! Add a dollop of cream if you like, but I’ve moderated the sugar such that these little beauties are perfect just as they come.

Syrupy Orange and Cardamom Steamed Puddings

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 4

The perfect comfort dessert for a winter night, you’ll be glowing with citrus warmth!

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
75g caster sugar
3 eggs
125g self-raising flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
Zest of 1 large orange, finely grated
2-3 tablespoons milk
For the syrup:
160ml orange juice
120g caster sugar

Instructions

First you need to start the syrup. Finely grate the zest of your orange and set aside for later. Now juice the orange and strain 160ml into a small saucepan (to remove the pulp). (If you have less juice you can scale down the sugar in the next step.)
Add the 120g of caster sugar to the saucepan bring the mixture to a simmer over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve. Continue simmering for about 15 minutes to reduce to a thicker syrup. Cool small spoonfuls of syrup to test the thickness as it reduces. (Always keep an eye on a reducing syrup, as it reaches high enough heat it can boil over very quickly, if you see it frothing take it off the heat and check if it’s ready.)
While the syrup is reducing you can start your pudding batter. Add the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy (a standing mixer is best if you have one).
Add the eggs one at a time, combining each one well before adding the next.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift in the flour and cardamom and add the orange zest. Fold to combine the dry ingredients into the batter.
At this point you should have a smooth batter, but it may still be a bit thick. For moist puddings you need to bring the batter to a dropping consistency (where it will readily slide off a tilted spoon under its own weight) by gradually adding milk. Add milk a spoonful at a time, stirring well and testing the consistency until it is ready.
Grease four individual pudding cups with a little butter, then add a tablespoon of orange syrup to each one. Divide the batter evenly among the cups but be sure to leave some room for expansion (at least 1cm). Even out the surface of the batter in each cup.
Cover the cups with a square of baking paper then a square of foil, pleated in the middle allow extra expansion room. Secure the coverings to the cups with twine.
Cook the puddings in a double steamer over boiling water until just cooked through, about 22-25 minutes. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool slightly before uncovering and turning out of the cups. You may need to carefully run a knife around the edge of the cup to dislodge the puddings.
Serve warm with extra syrup at the ready!

Notes

If you don’t have pudding cups then ramekins or even teacups can be used in their place. Keep in mind that cooking time will vary based on the shape of the cups, though!

Chocolate Ganache and Blood Orange Tartlets

August 27, 2014 by Jason Sankey Leave a Comment

After my last post it probably comes as no surprise to see blood oranges feature again. The combination of orange and chocolate is a classic that came instantly to mind. My personal taste in chocolate desserts is maximum intensity in a small package, so I can enjoy each decadent morsel without feeling regret half way through. So it seemed natural to create these mini tarts with a dark, slightly bitter ganache offset by zesty pastry and fresh fruit segments.

You need just one decent sized blood orange for this recipe: the zest, finely grated, goes into the pastry and fresh segments are reserved for serving. Once set you should remove the tarts from the fridge so they can be served at room temperature, so the filling is softer and melts in your mouth for the full chocolate hit. Enjoy in moderation!

Chocolate Ganache and Blood Orange Tartlets

Recipe Type: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Prep time: 25 mins

Cook time: 3 hours

Total time: 3 hours 25 mins

Serves: 8-10

A rich chocolate filling is highlighted with zesty pastry and fresh blood orange segments.

Ingredients

For the pastry:
150g plain flour
100g butter, diced into 1cm cubes
60g caster sugar
1 egg
Zest of 1 blood orange, finely grated
pinch of salt
For the filling:
170g dark chocolate (I used 72%), chopped finely
20g butter
1/2 cup thickened cream
25g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
To serve:
Blood orange segments

Instructions

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the butter, blood orange zest and a pinch of salt, then rub the butter and flour together using your fingertips until there are no large lumps remaining (the mixture should resemble breadcrumbs).
Add the sugar and mix to combine.
Whisk the egg in a separate bowl, then add to the pastry a little at a time, mixing gently to combine. Once you have added enough egg (you won’t need all of it) the pastry should come together into a ball when mixed. Take care not to add too much egg or you will have a wet dough.
Flatten the dough into a thick rectangular block, cover in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Prepare 8 x 8cm tart tins or (if like me you don’t have such luxuries) a muffin pan for the pastry. If you have smaller tins or prefer shallower filling you can make more tarts. When using a muffin pan you need to make sure you can get the pastry out: a non-stick pan is suitable as-is, otherwise I recommend greasing lightly with butter.
Remove the dough from the fridge and place between two large sheets of baking paper. Use a rolling pin to flatten it out into a sheet about 2mm thick.
To make each tart shell cut a circle from the pastry that is a bit larger than your tins (I used a 9cm cutter for my 8cm muffin pan), then carefully line a tin by pushing the pastry right into the bottom edge. You may need to stretch/press it a little up the edges so it is at least 2.5cm deep, allowing for a little shrinkage.
Line each tart shell carefully with baking paper and fill with baking beads (or raw rice), then place in the oven to blind bake. After 10 minutes gently remove the lining, then continue baking until lightly browned all over and cooked through on the bottom, up to another 10 minutes.
When cooked, remove from the oven and allow to stand for a few minutes to cool a little (not completely or they could stick). When the shells can be handled, remove them from the tins and place on a wire rack to cool completely before you fill them.
Now make the ganache filling. Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently boiling water to melt, stirring occasionally to avoid any burning on the bottom of the bowl.
Add the cream, sugar and salt into a separate saucepan and warm slowly to dissolve the sugar. Heat the cream to just below boiling point to prepare it for combination with the chocolate.
Now comes the important part: add all of the cream quickly to the bowl of melted chocolate, whisking as you do so. You need to incorporate the cream as quickly as possible to form a smooth ganache (if this is done too slowly the chocolate may seize).
Remove the ganache from the heat and allow to stand and cool slightly. Divide the filling evenly among the tarts, then place them in the fridge to set for 1.5-2 hours.
To serve, remove the tarts from the fridge well in advance so they can return to room temperature. Top each tart with a segment of blood orange and enjoy!

Notes

If you’re lazy like me you can use simple greaseproof (i.e. not decorated on the outside) muffin cases to line your tart shells for blind baking. Despite the pleating I find these do less damage to the tarts than handmade paper linings (unless you spend a lot of time shaping your own linings).

Small Batch Meyer Lemon Marmalade

August 11, 2014 by Jason Sankey 4 Comments

Back in June, with the in-laws’ lemon tree in full fruit, I mentioned that I was contemplating marmalade. My problem, though, is marmalade recipes are always written for large quantities. It makes sense of course – you usually have a lot of fruit to preserve – but in my case it just shifts the problem into the future. Short of giving it away (a good option, which I still employ) there is just no way I can use all the different marmalades I’d like to make!

So I decided to try a scaled down recipe, just enough to fill a couple of jars (well, three, but only because two of my jars were minis). The meyer variety are particularly juicy so I only needed three large lemons, and a relatively modest amount of sugar as they are naturally less tart than a regular lemon. The result? Sunshine in a jar!

I always feel it’s risky to fiddle with preserve recipes, what if it doesn’t set? But in this case I lucked out: the marmalade has a gorgeous medium set and a wonderful rich flavour. Not as mouth-puckering as a really zingy lemon, but a warm depth that puts a smile on your face on a winter morning :). I gifted a small jar to my marmalade-doubting parents and think I have a couple of converts!

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Small Batch Meyer Lemon Marmalade

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour 45 mins

Serves: ~2 cups

A jar of warm sunshine to light up a winter morning.

Ingredients

3 large meyer lemons
450g caster sugar
water

Instructions

Place a small saucer in the freezer (to use for testing the set of your marmalade later).
Wash the lemons thoroughly (it’s best to avoid supermarket-bought as the skin will usually be waxed). Add to a small saucepan with enough water to cover the fruit, then bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat, cover and simmer the lemons for about 1 hour, when the skin should be completely soft and the fruit collapsing.
Remove the lemons from the water and set aside to cool slightly. Measure the remaining water and reduce it to 600ml (or top it up if you have less than 600ml already). Remove from the heat while you prepare the lemons.
When the fruit is cool enough to handle, cut lengthwise into quarters and scoop the soft flesh and seeds away from the skin. Wrap the flesh and seeds in a small piece of cheesecloth and tie securely.
Carefully scrape any remaining pith from the skin and discard, then slice the skin into fine strips. Take as much or little care as you have the patience for: the more effort the clearer your final marmalade with be!
Add the lemon skin, sugar and cheesecloth parcel to the pan of water and return to a high heat. Bring to a hard boil and keep it rolling until the marmalade is ready to set. This will take a while, at least 20 minutes, and you can test it using your chilled saucer. Take the saucer from the freezer and place a teaspoon of marmalade on it. Allow it to cool for a minute then push it with your finger: if it is ready to set then the surface of the droplet should crinkle. (If you have a candy thermometer you are aiming for a temperature of 105°C.)
When ready to set, let the marmalade cool for 10-15 minutes. During this time you may want to skim any impurities from the surface for a clearer result. When partly cool pour into sterilised jars and seal immediately.

Mango Coconut and Champagne Trifle

January 16, 2014 by Jason Sankey 1 Comment

Summer in Australia brings many good things: brilliant sunshine, long lazy days, endless cricket and — of course — mangos. And what better way to use this beautiful tropical fruit than that classic summer dessert: the trifle! The inspiration for the mango and coconut custard combination comes from a Martin Boetz recipe in the Delicious Wicked cookbook. I’ve taken this idea in a new, fresh direction by using sparkling wine in the jelly. Champagne jelly is simple to make and a brilliant foil for fruit, bringing a crisp and refreshing contrast.

For maximum visual impact I serve the trifles in individual glasses to show off the layers. You can simplify by making one large trifle in a single bowl, which is especially sensible if you’re scaling the recipe up for a crowd. Make sure you give this a go while the days are hot and the fruit is plentiful!

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Mango Coconut and Champagne Trifle

Prep time: 3 hours

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 3 hours 25 mins

Serves: 6

Sparkling wine adds some refreshing flair to this classic summer dessert.

Ingredients

3 mangos
1 pre-made sponge cake
50ml sparkling wine
1/3 cup shaved coconut, lightly toasted
For the custard:
350ml coconut cream
350ml milk
8 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
For the jelly:
450ml sparkling wine
100ml water
50-100g caster sugar
14g (1 tablespoon) gelatin powder

Instructions

Prepare six drinking glasses to serve the trifles. Glasses with a straight edge make it easier to layer things neatly.
Slice the sponge cake crosswise to create two layers about 1-1.5cm thick. Use one of the serving glasses to cut 6 neat rounds, 3 from each layer.
Spread the cake rounds on a shallow baking tray and sprinkle over 50ml of sparkling wine. Stand aside to let the wine soak in.
To make the jelly, add 50g of sugar and 450ml of sparkling wine to a saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Once all the sugar has dissolved cool a spoonful and taste for sweetness, adding up to 50g more sugar as desired (to account for differences in wines — remember the jelly should have a bit of zing to contrast the other sweet elements).
Dissolve the gelatin powder in 100ml of cold water, stirring well. Add the hot wine and mix well to form a clear liquid. Stand to cool, then place in the fridge to start chilling.
Reserve half of one mango for topping the trifles. Prepare the remaining mango by dicing into large chunks. Line the bottom of each serving glass with a compact layer of mango.
When the jelly mixture has cooled to below room temperature, pour a portion over the mango in each glass. The jelly layer should be about the same thickness as the mango. Place the glasses in the fridge for up to 3 hours to set the jelly.
While the jelly is setting, prepare the custard. Combine the egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk well to form a creamy mixture.
Combine the coconut cream and milk in a saucepan and heat to just below boiling point. Remove from the heat and gradually add to the egg mixture, whisking as you go.
Return the custard to the saucepan over a low heat and stir constantly until it thickens, about 20-25 minutes. Stay patient at this stage — if you use too much heat you will get scrambled eggs!
Chill the custard in the fridge until you are ready to serve the trifles. It will be cool by the time the jelly is set.
To complete each trifle carefully push a sponge round into each glass until it is flush with the jelly. Pour over a layer of custard, then top with slice or two of mango and a small scattering of toasted coconut.