Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Australia Day Passion


.....passionfruit that is! It's the height of the season & they are spectacular. Ripe, plump, juicy, sweet, highly perfumed & only $2.99 for a bag of 12. MOTH & I have had many a pleasure over the kitchen sink this past week, slurping away at as many passionfruit as our tummies will allow. So because I'm passionate about our amazing country, I thought I'd celebrate this special day with the joys of passionfruit & the Banana & Passionfruit Curd Pavlova is on the menu here at The Hedge today.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!

Passionfruit Yo-Yos with White Chocolate and Passionfruit Ganache
Makes 24
Yo-yos
180 gm. butter, softened
90 gm. pure icing (powdered) sugar
80 mls. (1/3 cup) passionfruit juice (see note)
225 gm. (1½ cups) plain flour
100 gm. (2/3 cup) cornflour (cornstarch)
White chocolate and passionfruit ganache
90 mls. pouring cream
45 mls. passionfruit juice (see note)
2 pieces lemon rind removed with a peeler
180 gms. white chocolate finely chopped

1. For the ganache, combine cream, juice and rind in a saucepan and bring just to the boil over medium-high heat. Place chocolate in a bowl, strain over hot cream mixture, whisk until smooth and refrigerate for 4 hours or until thick.

2.Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, add juice and combine. Add flours and mix until just combined, then turn onto a floured surface, form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

3.Preheat oven to 180C. Roll out pastry to 8mm thick and, using a 3cm-diameter cutter, cut rounds from pastry and place on baking paper-lined oven trays. Press scraps into a ball, re-roll and repeat. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until just golden, cool on trays for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

4.Spread half the biscuits with a teaspoon each of ganache, sandwich with remaining biscuits and stand until set. Uniced yo-yos will keep for up to 1 week in an airtight container.
Note: To make passionfruit juice, blend passionfruit pulp in a food processor to crack seeds, then strain through a fine sieve. Twelve passionfruit yield about 1 cup of juice.

Lemonade and Passionfruit Icy Poles (Popsicles)
Makes 12
500 mls. (2 cups) Traditional Lemonade (Schweppes) or Bitter Lemon soft drink (Soda)
12 iceblock (popsicle) sticks
12 passionfruit, pulp only
1 vanilla bean, coarsely chopped
200 mls. sugar syrup (see note)
2 limes, juice only

1.Divide lemonade among twelve ½-cup capacity dariole moulds or disposable cups and stand for 10 minutes to allow bubbles to subside. Place on a tray and freeze for 2-3 hours, then insert an iceblock stick into each one and freeze overnight.

2.In a food processor process the passionfruit pulp and vanilla bean to crack passionfruit seeds, then pass through a fine sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Measure 210mls. of passionfruit juice and combine with sugar syrup, lime juice and 2/3 cup water. Refrigerate until cold, then divide among moulds or cups with lemonade and freeze overnight. Unmould and serve.

Note: To make sugar syrup, combine an equal quantity of sugar and water in a saucepan and boil for 1 minute. One cup each of sugar and water will make 1½ cups sugar syrup which will keep indefinitely refrigerated in a sterile container.


Banana and Passionfruit Curd Pavlova
Serves 8

2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch), plus extra for dusting
6 eggs, separated (& yolks reserved for passionfruit curd)
2 egg whites
330 gms. (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
2 bananas, thinly sliced
Melted butter for brushing
To serve:
pulp of 2-3 passionfruits
Passionfruit curd
250 mls. passionfruit pulp (about 12 passionfruit)
55 gms. (1/4 cup) caster sugar
150 gms. salted butter softened & coarsely chopped
300 mls. thickened cream

1.Preheat oven to 120C. Line two oven trays with foil. Brush with melted butter, dust with cornflour, shake off excess and set aside.

2. Whisk eggwhites in an electric mixer until soft peaks form, gradually adding sugar until thick and glossy and sugar dissolves (4-5 minutes). Add cornflour and vinegar, whisking until just combined. Spread half the meringue into a 19cm x 28cm rectangle on one lined oven tray and smooth top with a palette knife. Repeat with remaining meringue on other tray and loosely peak top. Bake for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 100C and bake until meringue is dry and cracks when lightly pressed (30 minutes). Turn off oven and cool in oven with door ajar.

3. Meanwhile, for the passionfruit curd, process pulp in a food processor to release pulp from seeds, then strain through a fine strainer to yield 250ml juice. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, add reserved egg yolks, sugar and butter, whisk to combine. Stir continuously over a saucepan of simmering water until thickened (3-5 minutes). Cover with plastic wrap, set aside to cool, then refrigerate until firm (2-3 hrs).

4. Lay banana slices on top of flat meringue. Whisk cream until soft peaks form, then fold in curd and spoon mixture over meringue base. Top with remaining meringue and serve drizzled with extra passionfruit pulp.


Passionfruit Semifreddo
Serves 10

8 egg yolks
250 gms. caster sugar
250 mls. (1 cup) passionfruit juice (see note)
scraped seeds of 1 vanilla bean
juice of 1 lime
300gms. double cream
150mls. pouring cream, lightly whipped
pulp of 2 passionfruit, plus extra to serve

1. Whisk egg yolks in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (5-7 minutes). Meanwhile, stir sugar, passionfruit juice and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, then simmer until syrupy (4-5 minutes) and add to egg yolks with lime juice, whisking continuously until mixture is cold (5-6 minutes).

2. Combine creams in a bowl, whisk until soft peaks form. Fold into passionfruit mixture, fold in pulp, spoon into an 8cm x 22cm plastic-lined rectangular cake tin, smoothing top (there may be mixture left over), freeze overnight until firm. Slice thickly and serve with extra pulp spooned over.

Note: To extract passionfruit juice, process pulp in a food processor, then strain through a sieve (discard solids). Eighteen passionfruit yield about 250ml juice.

Matt Moran's Baked Passionfruit Tartlets
Serves 6

Filling:
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
150 gms. caster sugar
150mls. pouring cream
200mls. strained passionfruit pulp, from about 20-30 passionfruit
icing (powdered) sugar to serve

Sweet Pastry:
225gms. unsalted butter
100gms. icing (powdered) sugar
375 gms. (2½ cups) plain (all purpose) flour
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

1. For the pastry, mix the butter, sugar and flour in a food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add the egg and combine until a dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 2 hours in the refrigerator.

2. Preheat the oven to 160C. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to 3mm thick and use to line six 8cm-diameter tart tins, then place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Line pastry-lined tins with baking paper, then fill with pastry weights, dried chickpeas or rice, and blind-bake for 15 minutes. Remove weights and bake for another 5 minutes or until golden. While still warm, fill any cracks with leftover pastry, then brush the insides of the tartlet shells with the beaten egg yolk and return to the oven for 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

3. Reduce the oven temperature to 120C. To make the filling, lightly mix together the eggs, egg yolk and caster sugar in a bowl until sugar has dissolved. Stir in the cream and passionfruit juice and then strain through a fine sieve into a jug. Pour the filling into the tartlet shells and bake for 10-15 minutes or until just set – the filling should still wobble slightly in the centre. Leave to cool to room temperature.

4. Just before serving, dust the tarts with icing sugar and caramelise with a blowtorch or under a very hot grill.

Images & recipes: Gourmet Traveller

25 comments:

  1. JUST got back from a weekend in London where I over indulged of course. Thought to myself on the plane 'Thou shalt DIET as from your arrival.' Here I am now reminding myself that all that is missing from my kitchen are the passionfruit... You temptress you ;-) Well - I shall make my cuppa and off to bed before I write my blogpost, or start rummaging around in the freezer for frozen passionfruit and mango. HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

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  2. Happy Australia Day. We are having pavlova here too. Not very sunny which is a shame. have a great day xoxo

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  3. happy australia day, millie! steve and i have been glued to the tv this past week watching the australian open. unfortunately most of the good matches televise live in the middle of the night here, but there's always taped coverage the next day. pam

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  4. Yummo Millie!
    Happy Australia Day ... I might bake some ANZAC cookies!

    Oh, and I do love those passionfruit .... I can just picture the two of you slurping away at the sink!
    xx

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  5. Okay, I'd like one of each, please.

    Happy Australia Day to you and yours, Millie!

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  6. Happy Australia Day!!!!! Yummy recipes. Wish I was there. Entering a contest to win a trip to Sydney for a week of wine tasting and touring. Hope I win. Fingers crossed. Heidi

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  7. Happy Australia Day, Mill's.
    I have been staying up through the night, watching the Australian Open and Mr. Home has been watching the cycling, so we are very much in the Aussie mood. I think that it would be rude not to make a passion fruit pav under the circumstances, although passion fruit in January in the U.K.are very hard to find.
    You show the best recipes and, the only thing that I think would make it just that bit more special,, would be to eat it under a beautiful chandelier !!! hahaha. Somehow, I don't think that MOTH will go for that !
    Oh, and they are showing Australian Masterchef here at the moment. I was sort of half watching it when there was MOTH's girl Justine. I felt as if I knew her !! We have Australia everything over here at the moment.
    I wish you, MOTH and the family a brilliant Australia Day. I'll have a glass of something red, just to keep you company !! XXXX

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  8. Millie, your post title had me a little worried that you were a jingoist. Thankfully, it was more delicious than that! Enjoy the pav.

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  9. Happy Australia Day Millie and MOTH~ Hmmmm...passionfruit, this time of year-Oh yes you are so lucky. I would like a nice serving of that pavlova if you please. Then again- like Willow-I think maybe one of each would be just right.

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  10. Happy Australia Day! :)

    That Passionfruit Semifreddo ... holy geez ... looks spectacular.

    (I'm in love with the entire spread, actually)

    Enjoy yourself thoroughly!

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  11. millie,
    i can't believe you make all those gorgeous deserts yourself!
    they look yummy,
    but way to complicated for me to attempt.

    xx

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  12. What delicious looking recipes!! I love passionfruit and that semifreddo is especially tempting. Will definitely bookmark these gorgeous recipes for the future. Thanks so much for sharing. Enjoy the rest of your Australia Day x

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  13. Hey Millie...
    I am so full from our Aussie day BBQ, but I believe I just heard my stomach growl... It's like you picked all my favourite things and posted gorgeous recipes of them!! Thanks for sharing them, I am sure to enjoy making {eating} them. Enjoy your day, I hope it's a super fun Australia day on your side of our amazing country.
    :)

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  14. Fair suck of the sav Mills, that a few deserts you have there!! Although it wouldn't be Australia Day without a bit of pav and a bit of pasho !! Glad someone thought to bring it!! Looks yummo... will be over soon for a slice!! Happy Australia Day!! xx Julie

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  15. Happy Australia Day. I love passionfruit too, so will definately be recording these yummy looking recipes. I've had a bit of a craze on semifreddo, and we have just this evening finished off some of the lemon & honey one I made on the weekend.

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  16. Millie,

    What awesome recipes. Wow. Thank you soooooo much for your sweet comment on my blog. I truly appreciate it. Go back by and add to the FDO list. I know you've go some great things to add. Hope you have a great week sweet lady!

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  17. I'm sorry. It didn't even cross my mind. I am suffering from bathroom from hell for the last 16 years syndrome. I am ready to do something about it this year.

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  18. Happy Australia Day Millie and MOTH! Hope all is well over at the Hedge. My mouth is watering now thank you very much!
    I love the new profile picture.
    xoxoxo Lisa

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  19. BLISS!
    to pick a favourite, probably the little tarts. oh my that coffee looks good!

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  20. DELICIOUS post Millie! - I couldn't agree more, love the stuff.

    Can't say I was enjoying one of my favourite fruits this Aussie Day - I spent mine in bed with a bad bout of gastro - NOT. HAPPY. JAN.

    xx

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  21. Dear Millie - hope you had a wonderful Australia Day & enjoyed your passionfruit creation! Thanks for all the gorgeous recipes...& for making me laugh....Susie x

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  22. that just looks so delighful. I am a total passoionfruit fan and am certain to try some of these delic looking yummies ... thanks for sharing le

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  23. Yum Yum - just don't get any funny ideas about Australian's inventing the pav ;) Hope your well.

    V xx

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And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
~W.H. Auden

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