Fruit - Craig Cooks

Passionfruit Semifreddo with Blueberries

July 28, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

This dessert is a take on a dish by Ashleigh Bareham on Masterchef 2015. The recipe was online but seems to have been taken down, so I’m glad I saved a copy. Here’s my version.

Passionfruit Semi-freddo
Scoop the pulp from 4 passionfruit and strain the pulp. Keep the liquid.
Whip 250ml cream to soft peaks.
Whisk together 110g caster sugar, 2 eggs plus an egg yolk.
Place in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk until the mixture thickens and doubles in size. (I don’t think I’ve managed to achieve this yet…)
Gently fold the mixture into the cream with the passionfruit juice. Pour into moulds and freeze.

Ashleigh made a chocolate mousse with 110g dark chocolate and 3 e.g. whites. I made a chocolate ganache. It was a bit cold when I tried to serve it so it looks lumpy.

Candied Chilli
Boil 110g sugar and 125ml water. Add i red chilli, finely sliced and cook for 2 minutes. Drain.

I served mine with a disc of grated chocolate (next time I’d use hazelnuts with something), blueberry syrup, fresh passionfruit and blueberries, and pieces of pear caramelised with some sugar and tokay.

Quite tasty. Very sweet. If I could just work out the whisking I’d be happy.

Nectarine and Berry Tarts

January 13, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

I made these the other day with some fruit leftover from Christmas.

2 punnets of redcurrant
2 punnet of blueberries
2 ripe nectarines

These were simmered with some sugar, 2 pieces of orange rind, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, a few cloves and a splash of brandy and Cointreau.

I strained off the syrup to make mulled wine, then pureed the fruit.

Then I sliced 3 more nectarines and simmered them in the fruit puree.

Really tasty and simple.

Poached Pears in Red Wine

April 27, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Here’s a pear recipe that I invented. Serves 8 (halve the recipe for 4).

Simmer 1 bottle of red with 2 cups sugar until sugar dissolves.

Add 3 star anise, 2 cinnamon sticks, 6 pieces of orange peel, 1 split vanilla bean and 4 tbsp brandy for 10-15 minutes until the flavours combine.

Add 8 peeled halved beurre bosc pears. Cook on low heat for 30-40 minutes, turning the pears halfway through. Check with a skewer to see it they are cooked.

Optional: towards the end, add a few pieces of dark chocolate to the sauce.

Serve with marscapone cream.

Mango, Avocado and Goat Cheese Salad

February 8, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Here’s salad number 2 from my cooking adventure with my nieces.

Mixed garden leaves – lettuce, chard, spinach
Mango slivers
Halved cherry tomatoes (the purple kind)
Avocado
Diced chilli
Coriander
Goats’ cheese
Toasted pine nuts
Lime juice
Dressing of honey and lemon juice

We ate this with a bunch of skewers
– King prawns in garlic, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, diced chilli, lemon thyme leaves and pepper
– Atlantic salmon with crushed fennel seeds, salt and pepper
– Nile perch with coriander/cumin/pepper/salt and a slice of peach
– Fruit and veg (red onion, zucchini, mushroom, capsicum, peach) drizzled with honey soy sauce.

Also some sautéed small lebanese eggplant rubbed with some garam masala.

My sister cooked a marinated chicken. It was a very fine feast.