STEWED APPLES & PEARS

30g unsalted butter

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored

and sliced

3 Packham or Beurre Bosc pears,

peeled, cored and sliced

150g caster sugar

To macerate the dried fruit mixture, combine the raisins, sultanas, lemon and orange zest, currants, spices, sugar, rum and slivered almonds in a large bowl with 90g of the melted butter and allow to macerate for 3 hours or overnight.

Meanwhile, for the stewed apples and pears, melt the butter in a large non-stick frypan over medium heat. Add the fruit and scatter over sugar and 1 tbs water. Cook, tossing frequently, for 15-16 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit has softened slightly. Remove from heat and cool completely. Once cooled, add to the macerated fruit mixture with the fresh breadcrumbs and flour, and mix to combine.

Heat oven to 200ºC. Place 4 sheets of pastry on top of a large piece of fabric, overlapping pastry edges by about 4cm. Brush overlapped edges with melted butter to seal the edges together to form a rough 80cm x 50cm rectangle. Brush with melted butter and layer 4 more sheets of pastry on top. Repeat brushing and layering with all the pastry. Place the pear and apple mixture in a strip about 45cm long along one of the short sides of the pastry, leaving 6-8cm around the short edge border. Using the fabric, roll strudel into a log and tuck the ends underneath. (Make sure you roll from the end of the pastry that has the filling on it to the opposite end, not the other way around.) Place log carefully onto a lined baking tray. Brush the top with more butter, sprinkle over flaked almonds and dust with icing sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Dust strudel with more icing sugar, cut into 8-10 even slices, and pour over cream, to serve.