FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUR
FOR MARINA HAMILTON-CRAIG, GRANNY’S CHERRY STRUDEL ON THE TABLE SIGNIFIED A CELEBRATION AND THAT THE HARD WORK WAS DONE.
A cherished family tradition lives on for Marina Hamilton-craig, who’s mastered her granny’s much-loved cherry strudel.
A BOWL OF FRESH CHERRIES is the essence of summer – and a strudel made with the delicious fruit is the cherry on top. Marina Hamilton-craig grew up enjoying this delight at every family festivity – including Christmas, of course.
“Our family’s favourite celebration dessert has traditionally been Granny’s cherry strudel,” says Marina, of Encounter Bay in South Australia. “The recipe comes from my European grandmother, Helen, who used to arrive at family parties bearing two giant baking trays, covered by starched green-and-white tea towels. We children knew what lay beneath, and looked forward to a wonderful treat.”
When the children were at her house, Granny enlisted their labour to create it. “It was our job to pit the cherries, which came from the orchard of friends,” Marina explains. And that was no easy task. “In those days, that clever little gadget, the cherry pitter, had not been invented, and we had to use a small knife or sit a cherry on top of an empty wine bottle, and then with a little stick poke the stone through and down into the bottle.”
Thankfully, the children were rewarded for their hard work – with one very important caveat: “The strict rule was: children were allowed to eat some cherries – how could we not? – but only those which were still unstoned.
A brisk slap on the wrist was applied to any little person who inadvertently ate a pitted cherry!”
If the cherry-pitting was a labour of love, so too was the pastry-making. From a small ball of dough, Granny created one enormous, tissue-thin sheet, which in Europe, where Marina’s family originates, was traditionally required to be so thin and translucent that you could read a newspaper through it. She stretched the sheet over the clean kitchen table “like a thin pastry tablecloth”, says Marina, who recalls it as “a miraculous skill, and one which we never tired of watching happen”.
As time passed, technology progressed, says Marina. “Over the years, cherry pitters, filo pastry, bottled cherries and non-stick baking paper appeared on the market, and the creation of this wonderful confection became quicker and easier, though the basic recipe, with the same delicious result, has stayed the same.” Taught to make the strudel by her aunt Agnes, her grandmother’s eldest daughter, who was almost 100 years old at the time, Marina has taken on the mantle of family strudel chef.
“I use fresh cherries in summer and bottled cherries in winter. We’ve served this dessert to many friends, who often ask for it when we invite them. Family tradition lives on.”
GRANNY’S CHERRY STRUDEL
Serves 8
670g jar pitted Morello cherries (see tip) 3 teaspoons cornflour
200g cream cheese, at room temperature ¼ cup (55g) caster sugar plus
2 tablespoons extra
1 large egg yolk or 2 small ones
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ cup (60g) ground almonds with skins (Granny said in the poor, old days people used toasted breadcrumbs, sprinkled with almond essence!) 10-12 sheets filo pastry
75g unsalted butter, melted
Flaked almonds, to decorate
Icing sugar, for dusting
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
Drain cherries, pat dry with paper towels, and roll in the cornflour.
In a food processor (Grandmother used a wooden spoon!) beat the cream cheese until soft, slowly adding sugar, egg yolk, vanilla and lemon rind, until mixture is smooth and glossy. Set aside.
Combine cinnamon, extra sugar and ground almonds in a small bowl.
Lay 1 filo sheet on a damp tea towel, and brush with a thin layer of melted butter, and then sprinkle lightly with a fine layer of the almond mixture.
Top with the next filo sheet; again brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with almond mixture, repeating the process until all filo sheets are used, and you have a little stack of buttered, sugared, almond-filled pastry.
Spoon cream cheese mixture over the top of the filo pastry stack, leaving a 5cm border of clean pastry at each end.
Evenly press cornfloured cherries onto the cream cheese mixture, and then carefully roll over filled pastry, to make a fat sausage. Gently tuck the ends underneath to seal the strudel.
Place strudel, seam side down, on to prepared tray. Brush top with remaining butter; sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the pastry becomes a lovely golden brown.
While still warm, add a final dusting of icing sugar.
TIP Serve strudel warm, with cream or vanilla ice-cream, or both! Strudel may be reheated, but omit the almond topping as it may burn on second time baking. If using bottled pitted cherries, make sure no pits remain. You can also use 750g fresh or frozen cherries.
SHARE YOUR FAMILY FAVOURITES
Do you have a recipe that has been passed down through generations of your family? Send it to us, along with the story behind it and a photograph of the relative who passed it on. Remember to include a telephone number. Email austcountrystyle@ aremedia.com.au or send a letter to Heirloom Recipe, Country Style, PO Box 4088, Sydney, NSW, 1028.