Decadent Delights

Food has become a creative passion for the culinary industry. When we dine out we assess how the food is presented and plated up and the art of gastronomy is so much about choosing to put ingredients together that not only compliment in flavour but also visually. Whenever the invention of a recipe comes about, it is often derived from positive food experiences.

Making little parcels of delights was the mission for the week. The famous doughnut is a forbidden food. But what if we can create a doughnut that is not as guilt ridden as the typically purchased type. This recipe is baked so the fat the doughnut would usually be cooked in cannot be absorbed by the dough. Therefore, reducing the fat content of the doughnut. And I love the non-traditionally influenced foods, we often refer to as fusions. So combining unusal flavours was the influence.

The dough needed to be influenced by a subtle flavour - lemon was the choice. It is refreshing and easy to use.

But what goes in the centre os a doughnut is the key. It needs to surprise you as you bite into the warm dough and squirt an arousing flavour into your mouth. Considering the dough has a hint of lemon it would be worth doing something citrus in the centre. 

Instead, I wanted to combine a different flavour that would also compliment the lemon. So I decided to try turkish delight in the centre. As it heats up it would slightly melt like a jam. The intense pistachio and rose water flavours would be reduced by the lemon in the dough. Sweet versus bitter.

Baked Turkish Delight Doughnuts

750g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 sachet (7g) yeast
Rind of 2 lemons
30g melted butter
250ml low fat milk
80ml butter milk
2 eggs

Place the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and combine. Combine the wet ingredients separately.

While the mixer is on slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. Once all combined leave the mixing on a moderate speed for 5 minutes. Until the dough becomes elastic.

Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to sit in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours.

Remove the dough from the bowl and roll into a 5mm thickness. Make 24 rounds about 8 cm each. Place 12 rounds on a baking paper lined tray. Place a small amount of turkish delight in the centre and cover with another round, sealing the edges together. Allow to stand covered for another 1-1.5 hours.

Heat the oven to 190 degrees celsius and bake the doughnuts for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and brush some melted butter over the top and cover with icing sugar.

Sweets and Roses

I read a great article today about the importance of the cake. Symbolically and socially cake is and has been for centuries part of togetherness. It cannot be a birthday without a cake, you often meet a friend for coffee and cake, visiting a grandparent often involves sitting down to cake and family activities include baking a cake. This can often end in disaster as to who is going to like the bowl or spoon. The sweet foods provide us with comfort and a sense of simple pleasure. Using fruit to provide flavour, sweeten or colour a cake is what can make the end product even more appetising.

Trying to find compatible flavours is experimentation. However, if you follow particular cultural cuisines you will often get it right. Combining flowers and fruits or flowers and spices can make for an exhilarating mix. A common middle eastern combination is rose and berry fruits. 

These delicious delights can be made into one big cake or small bite size parcels.


Meringues with Rose Water Cream and Berries

6 egg whites
200g icing sugar
200ml cream
2 tsp rose water
1 punnet strawberries, diced
1/2 cup shelled pistachios, crushed

Beat the egg whites until firm peaks form. Slowly add the icing sugar while the eggs are still beating. On an oven tray lined with baking paper make 12 circles (8cm diameter). Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes at 80 degrees celsius. Once baked leave to cool in the oven.

On a second tray, prepare the same as above, but sprinkle with pistachios. Bake as above.

Beat the cream and rose water until thickened. Place cream on the plain meringue and cover with strawberries. Place the pistachio covered meringue on top.

An Inspirational Kitchen Garden

An outing to Heidi Museum of Modern Art was more than I expected, even though it is one of my favourite haunts in Melbourne. We went to see the Callum Morton exhibition: In Memoriam. Stepping into someones creative space gives me an injection of inspirational motivation. Art and food nurture my soul. On arrival to Heidi we thought we had arrived at the wrong place. We were welcomed by a Le Pine funeral sign; we followed the right directions, I have been many times before, had Heidi been converted? Apparently Callum Morton was reluctant to do a retrospective as he believed there is a sense of associated death; the museum as mausoleum.

Wandering through the magnificent building, built in 1963, the exhibition was fantastic and was a mixture of works that took inspiration from the site. The show is sensory evoking as you get caught up in the pieces both visually and emotionally. While there, it was the perfect opportunity for a light lunch at Cafe Vue.

 




































The most unexpected part of the day, was seeing the magnificent kitchen garden in the grounds. At the moment massive cauliflowers, lots of variety of lettuces and herbs galore. This was enough to inspire me to go home and make something using flavoursome vegetables and herbs. So I decided to make a passata from scratch. I can use this base for soups, pasta sauces, pizza bases and my preference eggplant moussaka.

Passata

16 tomatoes (of which they can be a variety truss, vine, cherry)

Handful of lightly torn basil

Handful of lightly torn oregano

Olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

1 tin chopped tomatoes

3 cups white wine vinegar

3 tbs agave syrup

1 tsp sweet paprika

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Cut the tomatoes in half and lay them on a baking tray. Drizzle oil and lightly ripped basil and oregano over the tomatoes. Bake at 220 degrees for 40 minutes. 

In a heavy saucepan, cook the onion until golden. When the tomatoes are ready add them to the onions with all the other ingredients. Allow to simmer until sauce is reduced. This may take 20-30 minutes. 

This makes 1 litre of passata and can be frozen to be used later.