Month: October 2018

Roasted Plum Pavlova with Tarragon

~ louisehad ~ 1 Comment

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The book for this month’s Borough Market Cookbook Club is in fact the Borough Market Cookbook. Hot off the press, it was only published earlier this month. It is divided according to season, so as soon as it arrived, I dived straight into autumn.

After considering Autumn panzanella, Watercress, russet apple and cobnut salad, Beetroot dahl, I turned to the page with Roast plum pavlova with tarragon and the deliberation was over. It was the tarragon that did it; I love desserts with herbs and was curious to see how the tarragon and plum worked together. After I had roasted the plums with the tarragon, I tasted some of the syrup, it was divine. 

The plums and tarragon on their own would be wonderful with Greek yoghurt or with porridge so I was really glad I had roasted extra.

After I had assembled the two smaller pavlovas, I was thrilled with how they looked. This is a real show stopper and would wow anyone. Hope the Cookbook Club crowd like it!

I’m now writing this a few days later and am happy to report they loved it.

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Serves 6-8

Ingredients

For the roast plums

6 sprigs tarragon

150 ml water

1kg plums, halved and de-stoned

40g golden caster sugar

For the meringue

5 large egg whites (about 175g)

350g caster sugar (twice the weight of the egg whites)

70g toasted flaked almonds

To finish

600 ml double cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Leaves picked from 2 sprigs of tarragon

15g toasted flaked almonds

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Directions

  • Preheat oven to 200ﹾC fan/220ﹾC/gas mark 7.
  • Place the tarragon sprigs in a roasting dish with 150 ml water. Lay the plums over these, cut size up, ideally in one layer. Sprinkle the sugar onto the plums, macerate for 15 minutes, then bake for 20-30 minutes until soft but still holding their shape. Leave to cool for 15 minutes, then transfer the plums, juices and tarragon into a smaller container and refrigerate until needed.
  • Weigh the egg whites. Weigh double the amount of sugar. Set the oven to 130ﹾC fan/150ﹾC/gas mark 2 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
  • Add the egg whites to a stand mixer and whisk at a medium speed until they form stiff peaks. Increase the speed and slowly add the sugar in a steady stream. Continue whisking for 9 minutes until the mixture is glossy and has no hint of sugar crystals.
  • Scatter with half the almonds. Use a large metal spoon to carefully but confidently ripple through the nuts in two or three swoops. Spoon the mixture onto the lined baking sheet creating a circle of 26-28 cm in diameter, with high, wavy sides and an indent for the cream and fruit in the middle. Place in the centre of the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 110ﹾC fan/ 130ﹾC/gas mark ½ and bake for 2 hours, then turn the oven off and leave for 1 hour more. Remove the meringue from the oven and sprinkle the remaining almonds on top.
  • Whip the cream and vanilla extract in a bowl until they reach a loose stage, then spoon on top of the meringue. Arrange the plums and juices over the cream, then scatter with tarragon leaves and the flaked almonds.

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Orange and Star Anise Autumn Leaves

~ louisehad ~ 1 Comment

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I don’t often make biscuits but having watched The Great British Bake Off I felt quite inspired, though I wasn’t going to be making a biscuit chandelier! There is very much a sense of autumn in the air, and so the leaf cookie cutters I bought a year or so ago were brought out of their hiding place.

Ottolenghi’s Sweet book has this lovely recipe for orange and star anise biscuits. I really enjoyed the star anise when making the blackberry and star anise friands and since then I have been using this usually neglected spice as often as I can. I now use star anise in my porridge instead of cinnamon. I did simplify the original recipe as I only had plain flour not the two types of flour the recipe called for: rice and ‘00’.

I have to say that I ‘tested’ a significant number of biscuits and they were really delicious. The only thing I might change next time would be to increase the amount of orange zest. Otherwise these biscuits are a true celebration of autumn!

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Ingredients

430g plain flour

165g caster sugar

⅛ tsp baking powder

1½ tsp ground star anise (about 3 whole star anise)

1 tsp flaky sea salt

finely grated zest of 1 large orange (1 tbsp.)

scraped seeds of ½ vanilla pod

250g unsalted butter, fridge-cold, cut into 2cm cubes

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions 

1. Sift the flours, sugar, baking powder and ground star anise into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt, orange zest and vanilla seeds and mix to combine. Add the butter and use the tips of your fingers to rub it into the dry mix until there are no large bits of butter and the consistency is that of breadcrumbs. Add the egg and mix gradually, using your hands or a wooden spoon, until the dough comes together. Shape into a rectangle and wrap tightly in cling film. Set aside in the fridge for at least 1 hour to firm up.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. Line two baking trays with baking parchment and set aside.

3. Cut the dough in half and roll out one half on a lightly floured work surface until it is just under 0.5cm thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out the biscuits and place them on the lined baking trays, spaced 1cm apart. Re-roll the scraps to cut out more biscuits.

4. Bake for 16–17 minutes, in batches if necessary, rotating the trays halfway through to get an even colour. They should be golden brown on the edges, lightly golden in the centre and have a golden brown underside. Transfer to a cooling rack until completely cool.

5. The dough can be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge overnight; make sure you remove it from the fridge and allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling, so it becomes malleable. The dough can also be frozen before or after it is rolled and shaped; if the latter, bake from frozen and increase the cooking time by 1 minute.

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