Fruit - Craig Cooks

Grilled Figs with Goats Cheese

February 1, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Finally it’s fig season here, and I just LOVE fresh figs.

This dish is very simple. Brush figs with olive oil and place on foil under a hot grill. After a few minutes, remove figs, drizzle with honey and place back under grill for a few more minutes. Remove figs again, add a dollop of goats cheese, and grill a bit longer.

Transfer figs to a plate, drizzle with the honey that has collected on the foil. Drizzle place with some vino cotto (or reduced balsamic vinegar with added sugar). Quite amazing flavours.

Grilled Peach, Chard and Fennel Salad

January 31, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

I’ve become a fan of Jamie Oliver’s shared platters, so at least in the summertime they pop up fairly often in our house, either inspired by his “15 Minute Meals”, or my own simpler creations like this. Yes, I could have added some goat’s cheese, but I was saving that for dessert!

Lettuce and baby chard leaves from our garden
Cherry tomatoes (also from the garden)
Redo onion and fennel bulb, sliced thinly
BBQ grilled peach slices
Green and purple basil leaves (yes, garden too!)
Drizzled with honey and lemon juice
Freshly cracked black pepper and salt

Colourful. Tasty. Healthy.

Orange and Passionfruit Ice Cream

January 26, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

This is an excellent summer ice cream dessert that I concocted the other day – a variation on a passionfruit recipe in our ice cream maker’s recipe book.

Orange and Passionfruit Ice Cream

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Author: Craig Mitchell

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Australian

Ingredients

3-4 Passionfruit
3 tbsp Orange zest
1 Egg
1 Egg yolk
¾ cup Milk
2 cups Cream
¾ cup Sugar
2-3 tbsp Grand Marnier
⅓ cup Macdamia Nuts

Instructions

Beat egg and egg yolk together. Warm milk and cream in saucepan on low heat. When it starts to bubble, add sugar and stir until it dissolves. Roast or toast the macadamias and crush roughly.
Remove saucepan from heat. Add a little of the cream mixture to the egg. Whisk well until blended. Pour back into hot cream mixture and continue to whisk until it thickens and reaches 80C. Take off the heat and stir through 1 tbsp orange zest while it is still warm.
Allow to cool and refrigerate for at least an hour, or snap cool it in the freezer. It needs to be really cold before you make your ice cream.
Add the ice cream mixture to an ice cream churn along with the Grand Marnier (or Cointreau). Towards the end of the mixing add the pulp of 1-2 passionfruit.
Serve topped with more passionfruit, orange zest and crushed macadamias.