BERRY
TARTS WITH MASCARPONE
This
dessert was born out of sheer desperation when confronted with an almost
empty fridge… just a forgotten roll of frozen pastry, and a tub of
mascarpone a second away from its sell-bydate! The berries were hunted
down in the garden…you don’t need many.
The
tarts are fantastically colourful. Cherries from the market a springtime
delight.
1
roll puff pastry, thawed
125 ml castor sugar
250 g mascarpone
vanilla to taste
berries of choice
125 ml double-thick cream
(Serves 6)
Mould
puff pastry into flan ramekins. Fold the castor sugar into the mascarpone.
Add the vanilla, and fold a handful of berries – wild strawberries are
great! – into the cheese mixture. Put a dollop in each ramekin, and bake
at 180°C/Gas 4 for around 20 minutes. Remove. Add some fresh berries, and
serve with a scoop of thick cream.
‘Without lunch, what will become
of love?’ Lorenzo de Como
The Wednesday Market
ORANGE
CAKE WITH LIME MASCARPONE
This
is an excellent cake. I serve it in winter with a glass of Sauternes –
or any of our local botrytis wines. Makes 2 x 20 cm cakes, and serves 16
with plenty left over for your. Keeps well in a sealed container.
2
large oranges
6 eggs
550 g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
550 g ground almonds
10 g cinnamon
zest and juice of 2 limes
250 g mascarpone cheese
Place
the oranges whole into a saucepan with enough water to cover. Simmer for
an hour or until the oranges are completely tender. Change the simmering
water up to three times to get rid of any traces of bitterness. Cut the
oranges in half, remove the seeds, and purée the flesh and peels in a
blender.
Preheat
the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.
Butter
and flour 2 x 20 cm springform tins, and line the bottoms with baking
paper. Beat the eggs and 500 g of the sugar until pale and thick. Combine
the baking powder, ground almonds and cinnamon, and stir in. Fold into the
orange purée. Pour into the prepared tins and bake on the center shelf
for 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in to the center of the cake
comes out clean. Turn the cakes out onto a cake rack.
While
they’re cooling, make the lime mascarpone: combine the rest of the sugar
with the lime zest, juice and mascarpone. Adjust the lime juice and sugar
if necessary.
Serve
the cake in wedges with a spoonful of lime mascarpone and some mixed
berries.
‘Once a woman has forgive her
man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.’ Marlene Dietrich
Brocante
on a Sunday
BELLA’S
CHEESECAKE
Let’s
just do the crust the usual way, by crunching up a packet of short
biscuits and stirring the crumbs into 75 ml of melted, unsalted butter.
Line a greased baking tin with the crumb mixture and keep in the
refrigerator until you need it. Bella’s cheesecake filling is the best
that I can remember from my childhood days.
3
eggs
125 g castor sugar
500 ml smooth cream cheese
125 ml double cream
(Serves 10)
This
chair is a charming antique market find from a Sunday brocante in a
neighbouring village.
Whip
the eggs and castor sugar until foamy. Spoon the cream cheese into the
mixture and whip thoroughly. Fold in the cream. Pour the mixture into the
crust, and bake for 40 minutes in a preheated oven at 160°C/Gas 3. When
the cake has risen and set, turn the oven off and open the oven door.
Allow the cake to cool down within the oven. Serve in thick slices and
burst into song!
Brocante
On A Sunday
PAVLOVA
WITH STRAWBERRY SYRUP
What
a lovely alternative to the normal pavlova. Hubert Maetz, a French chef
with whom I’ve spent some time in the Alsace, always trained us by
pointing out the ‘cinema’ factor… he would love this!
350
g egg whites
450 g castor sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla paste
750 ml white wine
250 ml castor sugar
1 punnet strawberries
1 tsp pure vanilla bean paste*
300 ml thick cream
(Serves 6)
Beat
the egg whites until soft peaks form. Take care not to whip them until
they dry out – that will make the cooked pavlova brittle. Add half the
sugar, spoon by spoon, beating all the time. Add the cornflour, then fold
the rest of the sugar into the mixture. Make sure the sugar has dissolved,
and finally add the vanilla paste.
Spoon
the mixture onto a large metal or ovenproof tray lined with greaseproof
paper. I usually smear some unsalted butter over the greaseproof paper as
well. Shape the meringue into a small circular pavlova… try to get as
much height as possible, and to form a little ‘hill’ right in the
middle of the pavlova that is not higher than the sides.
Place
in a really warm preheated oven (about 220°C/Gas 7) and immediately
reduce the heat to 140°C/Gas 1. Bake for about 2 hours. The pavlova will
rise slowly and turn a light caramel colour with a crisp meringue look.
The inside will be light and fairycake-like. Remove from the oven and let
cool.
Bring
the wine and castor sugar to a fast boil in a deep pot, and let it reduce
to a syrupy consistency. Add two strawberries to the syrup. Add the
vanilla paste and allow to cool.
Whip
the cream until soft peaks form.
Just
before serving, remove the strawberries from the syrup, which will be a
lovely pink colour. Spoon the cream onto the cooled pavlova; heap the
fresh, unhulled strawberries on top of the cream; and spoon the lovely
pink syrup over.
*
Vanilla
paste is fairly new in South Africa but can be found at most deli.
Aux
Jardins des Thévenets
WHITE
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
The
sexiest little mousse imaginable!
3
x 100 g slabs of white Lindt chocolate
375 ml cream
2 tsp pure vanilla bean paste
1 bottle light white wine
500 g castor sugar
16 strawberries (2 per person)
(Serves 8)
Place
all the chocolate in a heat-resistant bowl and melt in a microwave at the
lowest power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring frequently until the
chocolate is nice and smooth. In the meantime, beat the cream until it
forms soft peaks. Stir in the vanilla. Stir the melted chocolate into the
cream mixture with a spoon, and spoon the mixture into pretty glasses.
Leave in a cool place (not the fridge).
Boil
wine and sugar until syrupy. Quickly dip the strawberries into the syrup
and arrange them on serving plates, alongside the glasses of mousse.
Drizzle with wine syrup. Finger licking is totally allowed!
Seagulls and Vineyards
SPICY
CITRUS CAKE
This
is simply the easiest, must-have cake. It travels wonderfully for picnics
and weekends away.
500
ml self raising flour
175 ml castor sugar
2,5 ml salt
125 ml sunflower oil
5 eggs, separated
200 ml water
zest of 1 orange
zest of 2 limes
5 ml vanilla bean paste
5 ml powdered cinnamon
10 ml butter
50 ml icing sugar
(Serves 10 with
abundance)
Mix
together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the oil, beaten yolks and cold
water, and whisk well. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks from, and
fold into the batter with the orange zest, lime zest, vanilla bean paste
and cinnamon.
Pour
the batter into a large, buttered spring from pan and bake at 180°C/Gas 4
for an hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cake cool before
removing it from the pan. Dust with a sprinkling of icing sugar.
For
further information
see Cook's
Corner
